1 00:00:01,760 --> 00:00:07,280 Speaker 1: Col Zone media. 2 00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:10,879 Speaker 2: In nineteen forty eight, there was a rash of crossburnings 3 00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:15,240 Speaker 2: in Suffolk. Virginia newspapers throughout the late forties and all 4 00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:18,360 Speaker 2: through the fifties assure the reader that there is no 5 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:22,840 Speaker 2: Ku Klux clan activity in Virginia. Local clan groups had 6 00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:25,119 Speaker 2: more or less died out in the mid forties, and 7 00:00:25,239 --> 00:00:28,520 Speaker 2: Virginia wouldn't really see a rise in widespread organized clan 8 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:31,840 Speaker 2: activity until the threat of integrated schools whipped aggrieved white 9 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:35,280 Speaker 2: men back into a frenzy in the fifties. But the 10 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:38,280 Speaker 2: lack of a clear leadership structure or the formal blessing 11 00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:41,040 Speaker 2: of some grand dragon or imperial wizard in some other 12 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:44,400 Speaker 2: state didn't seem to deter the one hundred men in 13 00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:47,920 Speaker 2: robes who set fire to a twelve foot cross in 14 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:51,960 Speaker 2: a peanut field in Nurneville. And whether or not the 15 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:56,160 Speaker 2: local prosecutor believed that the clan still existed, everyone in 16 00:00:56,160 --> 00:01:00,520 Speaker 2: the South knows what a burning cross means. The third 17 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:05,640 Speaker 2: one in that neighborhood. In recent months, the local prosecutor 18 00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:10,560 Speaker 2: had simply shrugged, it's not illegal to burn across two 19 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:13,480 Speaker 2: thousand members of a local peanut workers union approved a 20 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:17,000 Speaker 2: resolution demanding a response from the Governor and Attorney General, writing, 21 00:01:17,920 --> 00:01:21,440 Speaker 2: we reject the hair splitting thinking of some Commonwealth authorities 22 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:25,160 Speaker 2: regarding what constitutes violation of the law. The fact remains 23 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:28,240 Speaker 2: that one hundred white robed persons burned across in the 24 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:32,000 Speaker 2: field of NH. Bradshaw. Whether this group was the KKK 25 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:37,560 Speaker 2: or a similar organization is not important. The tactics of intimidation. 26 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:39,000 Speaker 1: And terrorism are. 27 00:01:41,319 --> 00:01:45,800 Speaker 2: That same year, nineteen forty eight, twin boys, Barry and 28 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:50,800 Speaker 2: Bruce Black were born in Pennsylvania. Berry didn't burn that 29 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:53,360 Speaker 2: cross in the peanut field. He was just a baby 30 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:57,480 Speaker 2: then given some time to grow. Though his name would 31 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:02,200 Speaker 2: one day become synonymous with cross burning in Virginia, he 32 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:04,800 Speaker 2: was barely out of diapers when Virginia did finally outlaw 33 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:08,720 Speaker 2: cross burning in nineteen fifty two, and he was decades 34 00:02:08,760 --> 00:02:10,760 Speaker 2: into his career as a clan leader when he lit 35 00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:13,480 Speaker 2: the cross that would take him all the way to. 36 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:14,440 Speaker 1: The Supreme Court. 37 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:37,760 Speaker 2: I'm Molly Conger, and this is weird, little guys. There 38 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:41,760 Speaker 2: is a story that I've been writing and rewriting for years, 39 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:44,680 Speaker 2: digging deeper into the past while I wait for the 40 00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:48,359 Speaker 2: future to deliver some kind of ending. I have notebooks 41 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:51,799 Speaker 2: full of scribbled transcriptions of courtroom testimony, and a hard 42 00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:56,480 Speaker 2: drive full of grainy footage, and folders upon folders labeled 43 00:02:56,480 --> 00:03:00,480 Speaker 2: with men's names, each one containing varying degree of a 44 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:03,160 Speaker 2: half baked biographical sketch of a man who lit a 45 00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:08,160 Speaker 2: torch one summer night in twenty seventeen. Lately, I'm combing 46 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:10,519 Speaker 2: back through my notes about the events of August eleventh, 47 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:14,000 Speaker 2: twenty seventeen, because unless something changes in the next week 48 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:16,679 Speaker 2: or so, I'll be spending a few days in October 49 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:19,960 Speaker 2: sitting in my favorite seat at the county courthouse. It's 50 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:22,480 Speaker 2: the aisle seat in the second row, on the defendant 51 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:25,200 Speaker 2: side of the bench. I don't know why that one's 52 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:27,880 Speaker 2: my favorite, but if I can't sit there, this is 53 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:31,359 Speaker 2: not right. To date, twelve men who march with the 54 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:34,200 Speaker 2: torch here in Charlottesville seven years ago have been charged 55 00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:36,600 Speaker 2: under a Virginia law that makes it a felony to 56 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:38,640 Speaker 2: burn an object with the intent to intimidate. 57 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:42,600 Speaker 1: And I'm going to tell you about some of those men. 58 00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:47,119 Speaker 2: I am there is some real weird little guy behavior 59 00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:51,680 Speaker 2: going on in a lot of their backstories, but not today, 60 00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:57,360 Speaker 2: as always we have to start before the beginning. In 61 00:03:57,400 --> 00:03:59,880 Speaker 2: the year and a half since those charges were first filed, 62 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:04,360 Speaker 2: I've written the case citation Commonwealth v. Black in my 63 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:09,160 Speaker 2: little notebook probably one hundred times. Commonwealthy Black was the 64 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:11,840 Speaker 2: Supreme Court case that held that the original version of 65 00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:16,600 Speaker 2: Virginia's crossburning law was unconstitutional. The law was rewritten in 66 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:18,919 Speaker 2: response to this challenge, and the current version of the 67 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:21,600 Speaker 2: statute is what's being used to prosecute the torch marginers. 68 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:27,320 Speaker 2: So Commonwealthy Black, that's all I really needed to know. 69 00:04:28,400 --> 00:04:31,800 Speaker 2: Some clansmen burned across and he challenged the law, and 70 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:36,360 Speaker 2: he won, and we changed the law. That's good enough 71 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:39,880 Speaker 2: to get by. But how many times can you write 72 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:43,720 Speaker 2: a man's name without bothering to find out who he was? 73 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:47,040 Speaker 2: So I set out to get a little more context 74 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:50,040 Speaker 2: on the man who brought the case. But what I 75 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:54,360 Speaker 2: found wasn't just some boring bit of backstory about constitutional 76 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:56,240 Speaker 2: law and legislative history. 77 00:04:56,400 --> 00:04:58,440 Speaker 1: I mean, we're definitely going to do some of. 78 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:03,000 Speaker 2: That, But they found was a complicated story of small 79 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:05,400 Speaker 2: town bigotry and the people who stand up to it. 80 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:09,240 Speaker 2: Barry Black was the leader of a clan group in Pennsylvania, 81 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:12,080 Speaker 2: whose hatred touched the lives of people whose stories are 82 00:05:12,080 --> 00:05:16,200 Speaker 2: worth knowing. This episode is just the first half of 83 00:05:16,279 --> 00:05:18,320 Speaker 2: Barry Black's story, and we won't even get to his 84 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:20,320 Speaker 2: precedent setting appeal until next week. 85 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:23,400 Speaker 1: This week, it's. 86 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:25,039 Speaker 2: Just a strange little stroll through some of the side 87 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:27,680 Speaker 2: characters in the life of a man who donned a 88 00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:30,120 Speaker 2: pointy hood to infringe on the civil rights of everyone 89 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:33,520 Speaker 2: around him, but just kept going to court to fight 90 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:36,800 Speaker 2: for his own. So before we can talk about a 91 00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:39,720 Speaker 2: lit tiki torch on a college campus, we have to 92 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:43,600 Speaker 2: talk about a fiery cross on a hillside. We have 93 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:46,880 Speaker 2: to talk about Barry Black, the clansmen who fought the 94 00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:50,080 Speaker 2: law all the way to the Supreme Court and won. 95 00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:56,400 Speaker 2: Barry Elton Black and his twin brother, Bruce, were born 96 00:05:56,440 --> 00:06:01,160 Speaker 2: two months before their mother's seventeenth birthday. Their twenty three 97 00:06:01,200 --> 00:06:06,279 Speaker 2: year old father, also named Bruce, didn't stick around. When 98 00:06:06,279 --> 00:06:08,760 Speaker 2: the boys were two, The nineteen fifty census shows they 99 00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:11,240 Speaker 2: were living with their mother at her parents' home, and 100 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:13,240 Speaker 2: their father was living a few miles down the road 101 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:17,760 Speaker 2: as a lodger in an elderly divorcees boarding house. Barry's 102 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:20,680 Speaker 2: obituary says he was a Vietnam veteran, that he was 103 00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:25,320 Speaker 2: in the Navy. That's the only place I found that information. 104 00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:29,880 Speaker 2: Decades of newspaper articles about his clan hijinks never mention it. 105 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:34,000 Speaker 2: I will absolutely concede that it is entirely possible that 106 00:06:34,040 --> 00:06:35,839 Speaker 2: he joined the Navy right out of high school and 107 00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:38,840 Speaker 2: maybe was on one of the earliest deployments of the war. 108 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:42,800 Speaker 2: He was eighteen in nineteen sixty six, so it's possible. 109 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:47,120 Speaker 2: But by nineteen sixty eight he was too busy going 110 00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:51,320 Speaker 2: to jail to go to war. In the summer of 111 00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:54,120 Speaker 2: nineteen sixty eight, Barry and his brother were caught stripping 112 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:57,640 Speaker 2: parts of a car in a salvage yard. Two years later, 113 00:06:57,720 --> 00:07:01,919 Speaker 2: Barry was back in jail again, reports Barry, and lacks 114 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:04,919 Speaker 2: specificity as to exactly why he was in jail in 115 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:06,799 Speaker 2: nineteen seventy. 116 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:07,640 Speaker 1: One report at. 117 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:11,240 Speaker 2: The time says it was a morals charge. Another says 118 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:14,440 Speaker 2: it was a paternity case. A list of his arrests 119 00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:16,640 Speaker 2: that appeared in an article decades later says he was 120 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:21,920 Speaker 2: awaiting trial in nineteen seventy on charges of bastardery and fornication. 121 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:25,240 Speaker 2: Sounds like he might have just been guilty of having 122 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:28,800 Speaker 2: a good time, but he got himself into some extra 123 00:07:28,920 --> 00:07:33,120 Speaker 2: trouble by escaping from the jail. Barry and two other 124 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:36,880 Speaker 2: inmates climbed a pipe, crawled through an air vent, got 125 00:07:36,920 --> 00:07:40,640 Speaker 2: into the adjoining courthouse, and escaped by jumping out an 126 00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:45,000 Speaker 2: open window in the judge's chambers, and no one even 127 00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:47,840 Speaker 2: noticed the men were missing until Barry's brother called the 128 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:51,000 Speaker 2: sheriff to say he'd gotten a call from Barry earlier 129 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:53,800 Speaker 2: that afternoon and he wanted to know if his brother 130 00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:58,800 Speaker 2: had posted bond The sheriff assured Bruce that no, Barry 131 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:02,880 Speaker 2: hasn't bonded out. He's still in his cell, but he 132 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:07,800 Speaker 2: was not. Barry was only free for about six hours 133 00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:11,520 Speaker 2: after this daring jail break. The other two men hid 134 00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:14,240 Speaker 2: out in barns for over a week before being recaptured, 135 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:17,720 Speaker 2: but a deputy found Barry limping around town later that 136 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:20,800 Speaker 2: same evening. He'd broken bones in both of his feet 137 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:24,640 Speaker 2: jumping out of the judge's window. A judge ordered him 138 00:08:24,680 --> 00:08:27,440 Speaker 2: to pay one hundred dollars fine and the medical costs 139 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:30,400 Speaker 2: in his paternity case, and he got another year for 140 00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:34,840 Speaker 2: the escape. It's not clear what the paternity case entailed, 141 00:08:34,880 --> 00:08:37,120 Speaker 2: and if there is a secret child out there of 142 00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:41,199 Speaker 2: berry Black, I couldn't find any record of it. In 143 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:43,640 Speaker 2: nineteen seventy one, he went back to jail for a 144 00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:47,360 Speaker 2: burglary of an autopart store, and between stints and jail, 145 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:50,240 Speaker 2: he married his wife, Judy in nineteen seventy four, and 146 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:53,199 Speaker 2: they had their first of six children in nineteen seventy five. 147 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:56,559 Speaker 2: And then he went back to jail in nineteen seventy 148 00:08:56,559 --> 00:08:58,520 Speaker 2: six for stealing a gun from his brother. 149 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:01,880 Speaker 1: He escaped again, this. 150 00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:04,679 Speaker 2: Time just walking right out the front door of the 151 00:09:04,720 --> 00:09:07,480 Speaker 2: psychiatric hospital the jail had sent him to for observation. 152 00:09:08,679 --> 00:09:10,800 Speaker 2: But he was out again by nineteen seventy seven, when 153 00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:12,560 Speaker 2: he was arrested for trying to buy a car with 154 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:15,880 Speaker 2: a check from a closed bank account. This time he 155 00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:19,360 Speaker 2: just caught probation, and he was given probation again when 156 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:22,120 Speaker 2: he was convicted in nineteen eighty six for illegally possessing 157 00:09:22,120 --> 00:09:26,080 Speaker 2: a revolver. And that's all there really was to know 158 00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:29,160 Speaker 2: about berry Black until the late eighties. He had a 159 00:09:29,200 --> 00:09:31,920 Speaker 2: couple of kids, his wife worked as a clerk. He 160 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:34,960 Speaker 2: drove a truck and after going to jail half a 161 00:09:34,960 --> 00:09:38,080 Speaker 2: dozen times. In his twenties. He mostly stayed out of trouble, 162 00:09:38,120 --> 00:09:41,440 Speaker 2: except for that gun charge in nineteen eighty six, but 163 00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:47,760 Speaker 2: by nineteen eighty nine he's a klegal in his local clan. Now, 164 00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:51,360 Speaker 2: I don't want to sound like I'm being dismissive of 165 00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:54,440 Speaker 2: the Ku Klux Klan as a bunch of silly guys 166 00:09:54,440 --> 00:09:57,280 Speaker 2: in costumes who do live action role playing and who 167 00:09:57,280 --> 00:09:59,640 Speaker 2: would have been better off doing something like joining this 168 00:09:59,679 --> 00:10:03,600 Speaker 2: society for creative anachronism or getting into dungeons and dragons. 169 00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:04,080 Speaker 1: I don't know. 170 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:08,080 Speaker 2: I'm in no way trying to minimize the decades and 171 00:10:08,440 --> 00:10:12,480 Speaker 2: decades of vicious racial terror, the violence, the lynchings, the 172 00:10:12,640 --> 00:10:15,360 Speaker 2: campaigns of terror waged in towns across the country for 173 00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:19,880 Speaker 2: over a century. The clan was very real. It was 174 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:26,120 Speaker 2: very dangerous. People died, But oh my god, do they 175 00:10:26,160 --> 00:10:28,800 Speaker 2: make it hard to take them seriously with their special 176 00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:35,560 Speaker 2: clan vocabulary. A klegal that's spelled like beagle, but with 177 00:10:35,679 --> 00:10:41,160 Speaker 2: a kl upfront. It's an official clan office that's basically 178 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:44,600 Speaker 2: just the local recruiter. So in nineteen eighty nine, Barry 179 00:10:44,679 --> 00:10:47,480 Speaker 2: was responsible for recruiting new members to his local clan 180 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:50,560 Speaker 2: chapter and at this point he's still a member of 181 00:10:50,600 --> 00:10:54,280 Speaker 2: the Invisible Empire of the ku Klux Klan. So the 182 00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:58,720 Speaker 2: Invisible Empire is the overarching national organization with an Imperial 183 00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:03,920 Speaker 2: Wizard overseeing it. The Empire is subdivided into realms by state, 184 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:07,400 Speaker 2: and each realm has a Grand Dragon, and within each 185 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:10,840 Speaker 2: realm there are provinces. Each one is made up of, 186 00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:13,880 Speaker 2: however many counties the Grand Dragon sees fit to assign 187 00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:18,400 Speaker 2: the Grand Titan who oversees them. The Clan had two 188 00:11:18,559 --> 00:11:22,080 Speaker 2: main eras, so first in the Reconstruction era right after 189 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:24,240 Speaker 2: the Civil War, and then it sort of died out, 190 00:11:24,880 --> 00:11:26,520 Speaker 2: and then it had a second era when it was 191 00:11:26,559 --> 00:11:29,719 Speaker 2: revived in nineteen fifteen. And the second era of the 192 00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:32,719 Speaker 2: clan kept a lot of the goofy nineteenth century made 193 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:35,520 Speaker 2: up words, but it seems like they lost some of 194 00:11:35,559 --> 00:11:38,840 Speaker 2: the finer subdivisions. It used to be that the Grand 195 00:11:38,840 --> 00:11:41,400 Speaker 2: Titan could appoint a Grand Giant, who could in turn 196 00:11:41,400 --> 00:11:45,680 Speaker 2: a point henchmen called goblins. I don't think they kept 197 00:11:45,720 --> 00:11:49,000 Speaker 2: the goblins the second time around, which just seems like 198 00:11:49,040 --> 00:11:50,520 Speaker 2: a huge loss, you know. 199 00:11:51,960 --> 00:11:54,080 Speaker 1: But anyway, so. 200 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:58,480 Speaker 2: By nineteen ninety, Barry is the Grand Titan of western Pennsylvania. 201 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:03,160 Speaker 2: Sylvania has a Grand Dragon, and the Grand Dragon appoints 202 00:12:03,160 --> 00:12:07,480 Speaker 2: the Grand Titans, and Bury's the Grand Titan. A nineteen 203 00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:10,040 Speaker 2: ninety one report on clan activity in the United States 204 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:14,880 Speaker 2: estimates nationwide membership at about four to five thousand clansmen, 205 00:12:15,440 --> 00:12:18,840 Speaker 2: with an estimated three hundred members in Pennsylvania and with 206 00:12:19,080 --> 00:12:21,440 Speaker 2: most of that activity being in the western half of 207 00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:27,000 Speaker 2: the state in Barry's province. Under Barry's leadership, the clan 208 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:31,720 Speaker 2: was growing again in western Pennsylvania, and he was very active, 209 00:12:32,480 --> 00:12:35,480 Speaker 2: holding multiple marches and little towns all over the state 210 00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:40,840 Speaker 2: every year, and nobody wanted it. Nobody's excited to see 211 00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:45,480 Speaker 2: the clan. In January of nineteen ninety one, they marched 212 00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:49,040 Speaker 2: in Westchester, Pennsylvania to protest Martin Luther King Junior Day. 213 00:12:50,040 --> 00:12:53,000 Speaker 2: In September of nineteen ninety one, Barry held a march 214 00:12:53,040 --> 00:12:57,600 Speaker 2: in his own hometown of Carmichael's, Pennsylvania. The town fought 215 00:12:57,600 --> 00:12:59,760 Speaker 2: tooth and nail to prevent it, but he was to 216 00:12:59,840 --> 00:13:01,839 Speaker 2: turn to put on a show and even tried to 217 00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:04,280 Speaker 2: rope the ACLU into forcing the town to give him 218 00:13:04,280 --> 00:13:08,640 Speaker 2: a permit. Ultimately, the tiny town resigned themselves to this 219 00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:11,800 Speaker 2: clan invasion, and they didn't make Barry take them to court. 220 00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:15,520 Speaker 2: The town closed down every shop and restaurant that day 221 00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:18,200 Speaker 2: out of protest, and residents lined the streets to watch 222 00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:21,640 Speaker 2: a few dozen men walk about half a mile with 223 00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:24,120 Speaker 2: Barry leading them a chance of what do we want 224 00:13:24,679 --> 00:13:25,520 Speaker 2: white power? 225 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:32,199 Speaker 1: When do we want it now? Scoofy. 226 00:13:32,480 --> 00:13:34,600 Speaker 2: The Sener Daily Times ran a story the next day 227 00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:39,120 Speaker 2: with the headline forty Clan members stage march in depressed town. 228 00:13:40,679 --> 00:13:44,760 Speaker 2: Even after reading the article, it's not actually clear whether 229 00:13:44,800 --> 00:13:49,760 Speaker 2: the paper meant the town was depressed, like economically. It 230 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:52,960 Speaker 2: kind of just sounds like the town was just depressed 231 00:13:53,040 --> 00:13:56,720 Speaker 2: at having to look at the clan. Every resident quoted 232 00:13:56,760 --> 00:14:01,080 Speaker 2: in the paper sounded very unimpressed when man told the paper, 233 00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:05,560 Speaker 2: I think they are a joke, and added Hitler tried 234 00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:09,800 Speaker 2: this once and it didn't work, did it. Barry told 235 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:13,920 Speaker 2: the paper that his marches weren't a racial thing, but 236 00:14:14,040 --> 00:14:16,600 Speaker 2: that it was about bringing white people together to fight 237 00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:19,360 Speaker 2: for their civil rights and against what he called the 238 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:23,960 Speaker 2: deterioration of our race. He just wanted to raise awareness 239 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:27,080 Speaker 2: about important issues, like how the banking system is controlled 240 00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:30,040 Speaker 2: by a Jewish conspiracy and how the government is giving 241 00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:33,960 Speaker 2: away white men's rights to black people and Asians. I 242 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:37,920 Speaker 2: don't know what that means, giving them away, like there's 243 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:41,600 Speaker 2: only a set number of them. Two months later, in 244 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:45,400 Speaker 2: November of nineteen ninety one, Very Black was elected to 245 00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:50,240 Speaker 2: the office of constable in Johnstown, Pennsylvania's twenty first ward. 246 00:14:51,280 --> 00:14:54,160 Speaker 2: The office of constable is kind of a holdover from 247 00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:58,360 Speaker 2: the olden days. It's kind of a cop, but not really. 248 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:02,840 Speaker 2: Their function varies from state to state, with powers ranging 249 00:15:02,880 --> 00:15:08,120 Speaker 2: from largely ceremonial to full policing authority. In Rhode Island, 250 00:15:08,200 --> 00:15:12,160 Speaker 2: constables aren't allowed to carry guns. In Vermont, one of 251 00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:15,920 Speaker 2: the main roles of the constable is the destruction of 252 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:20,400 Speaker 2: dangerous dogs. So I guess there are guys in Vermont 253 00:15:20,480 --> 00:15:24,840 Speaker 2: running for the office of dog murderer. And in Pennsylvania 254 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:27,680 Speaker 2: the office has undergone some reform in the last few decades, 255 00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:31,120 Speaker 2: but in the nineties the constable's duties were mainly prisoner 256 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:36,080 Speaker 2: transportation and process service. But it's an elected office, and 257 00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:38,360 Speaker 2: the office he won was for constable in a single 258 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:40,680 Speaker 2: ward of a borough of a county, and he was 259 00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:44,120 Speaker 2: able to secure a victory without even really running. He 260 00:15:44,200 --> 00:15:46,840 Speaker 2: won with just a few dozen ride in votes because 261 00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:51,800 Speaker 2: no one was running. I looked up some recent voter 262 00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:56,120 Speaker 2: turnout stats for Cambria County, Pennsylvania, and Johnstown's twenty first 263 00:15:56,160 --> 00:15:59,360 Speaker 2: ward had four hundred and four registered voters in twenty 264 00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:02,000 Speaker 2: twenty three, and only one hundred and seven of them 265 00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:05,280 Speaker 2: voted in the November twenty twenty three election. So it's 266 00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:07,960 Speaker 2: not hard to imagine someone mounting a successful write in 267 00:16:08,080 --> 00:16:12,640 Speaker 2: campaign by buying a few rounds at the bar. But 268 00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:15,640 Speaker 2: it wasn't meant to be. There's nothing I can find 269 00:16:15,680 --> 00:16:18,680 Speaker 2: in any local news from that time that indicates there 270 00:16:18,720 --> 00:16:22,720 Speaker 2: was any kind of specific issue. The Constable of the 271 00:16:22,760 --> 00:16:25,160 Speaker 2: twenty first ward of the Borough of a County probably 272 00:16:25,160 --> 00:16:28,200 Speaker 2: doesn't have enough to do to really do much damage. 273 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:30,960 Speaker 2: But a few months in too Barry's six year term 274 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:36,720 Speaker 2: as constable, Cambria County District Attorney Timothy Creeney noticed that 275 00:16:36,760 --> 00:16:40,960 Speaker 2: they had a klansman serving papers for the court. How 276 00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:43,360 Speaker 2: much he could really do about that, though it's not 277 00:16:43,520 --> 00:16:47,280 Speaker 2: against the rules to be in the clan, but Barry 278 00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:50,240 Speaker 2: did have a pretty long rap sheet. He'd been arrested 279 00:16:50,280 --> 00:16:54,120 Speaker 2: for burglary, he'd escaped from jail twice, and he had 280 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:58,680 Speaker 2: a conviction for illegal possession of a firearm, so Creaney 281 00:16:58,720 --> 00:17:01,080 Speaker 2: filed a petition to have Bear he removed from office 282 00:17:01,160 --> 00:17:04,320 Speaker 2: on the grounds that Pennsylvania doesn't allow people convicted of 283 00:17:04,359 --> 00:17:08,960 Speaker 2: what are called infamous crimes to hold positions of public trust. 284 00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:12,639 Speaker 2: The judge agreed, and Barry was ordered by the court 285 00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:16,240 Speaker 2: to cease and desist his duties of constable in April 286 00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:20,840 Speaker 2: of nineteen ninety two, just a few months after taking office. 287 00:17:20,880 --> 00:17:23,480 Speaker 2: When he filed his appeal a month later, he walked 288 00:17:23,520 --> 00:17:27,159 Speaker 2: the papers into the courthouse himself, dressed in a white robe, 289 00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:31,400 Speaker 2: a pointy white cap, a green cape, and the kind 290 00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:33,920 Speaker 2: of sunglasses my grandmother wore when I was a kid. 291 00:17:35,320 --> 00:17:38,240 Speaker 2: A dozen robed klansmen waited for him outside the courthouse, 292 00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:40,879 Speaker 2: and he entered the courtroom with his personal bodyguard, a 293 00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:44,520 Speaker 2: man in fatigues and a black beret. He was no 294 00:17:44,640 --> 00:17:48,199 Speaker 2: longer just a legal or a grand Titan. Barry was 295 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:50,120 Speaker 2: calling himself the Grand Dragon. 296 00:17:50,280 --> 00:17:50,520 Speaker 3: Now. 297 00:17:52,720 --> 00:17:55,760 Speaker 2: Over the next few months, Barry staged several protests of 298 00:17:55,800 --> 00:17:59,080 Speaker 2: what he called this violation of his civil rights, and 299 00:17:59,119 --> 00:18:02,080 Speaker 2: he appealed at all the way to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. 300 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:06,240 Speaker 2: In October of nineteen ninety four, that court upheld the decision. 301 00:18:06,600 --> 00:18:09,480 Speaker 2: They agreed that his criminal history made him ineligible for 302 00:18:09,560 --> 00:18:13,639 Speaker 2: the office of constable. That same month, several local papers 303 00:18:13,720 --> 00:18:16,159 Speaker 2: quoted Barry on his plans to hold a Clan rally 304 00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:19,720 Speaker 2: in opposition to a Halloween parade. He didn't give the 305 00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:23,080 Speaker 2: quotes to the paper himself, but they were his words 306 00:18:23,119 --> 00:18:24,520 Speaker 2: and in his voice. 307 00:18:25,880 --> 00:18:28,240 Speaker 1: See, in the pre internet days, you. 308 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:31,520 Speaker 2: Couldn't have a website, right, so groups like the Clan 309 00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:35,000 Speaker 2: would distribute flyers with a phone number on them, and 310 00:18:35,080 --> 00:18:37,920 Speaker 2: nobody answers that phone when you call, but you get 311 00:18:37,960 --> 00:18:41,199 Speaker 2: a pre recorded message with information about becoming a member, 312 00:18:41,320 --> 00:18:46,680 Speaker 2: upcoming events, announcements, or just racist propaganda. And the Dial 313 00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:49,200 Speaker 2: of Clan hotline that month offered a recorded statement from 314 00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:52,439 Speaker 2: Barry Black stating that for security reasons, the time and 315 00:18:52,520 --> 00:18:56,080 Speaker 2: exact location will be announced with twelve hours notice, saying 316 00:18:56,720 --> 00:18:59,199 Speaker 2: we have gone to modern technology. 317 00:18:58,760 --> 00:19:00,520 Speaker 1: We use fax machines, etc. 318 00:19:01,760 --> 00:19:03,719 Speaker 2: But that there would be an event that month in 319 00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:08,600 Speaker 2: protest of a York Pennsylvania area Halloween celebration because, as 320 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:12,679 Speaker 2: a Christian organization, the Klan felt that Halloween was satanic. 321 00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:18,399 Speaker 2: Just imagine for a second, it's nineteen ninety four, and 322 00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:21,000 Speaker 2: you get a fax from your local clig Grap that 323 00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:24,240 Speaker 2: the nighthawks are needed at the Satanic Halloween parade to 324 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:26,160 Speaker 2: enforce white Christian morals. 325 00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:29,160 Speaker 1: I mean, it's baffling, baffling. 326 00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:33,840 Speaker 2: Klig Grap is the title for the clan secretary, and 327 00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:38,800 Speaker 2: the nighthawks are the security cards. So I guess you 328 00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:43,320 Speaker 2: know the Kliggrap is going to fax the nighthawks. A 329 00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:45,480 Speaker 2: few days later, after the local paper ran a story 330 00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:49,040 Speaker 2: about a planned counter demonstration, Barry told the paper that 331 00:19:49,400 --> 00:19:52,639 Speaker 2: he had no such plans and he never said anything 332 00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:56,600 Speaker 2: like that. He was not planning to protest the Halloween parade. 333 00:19:56,720 --> 00:19:58,920 Speaker 2: He said that was just a rumor started by fellow 334 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:02,280 Speaker 2: clansman Roy franks Kauser, the leader of a splinter group 335 00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:05,960 Speaker 2: called the White Unity Party. Barry explained to the reporter 336 00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:08,800 Speaker 2: that if frank Kauser wanted the White Unity Party to 337 00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:11,920 Speaker 2: be allowed to join Barry's new clan organization, the Keystone 338 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:14,680 Speaker 2: Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, then frank Kauser would 339 00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:17,399 Speaker 2: need to accept that he didn't have Barry's permission to 340 00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:20,600 Speaker 2: be doing things like holding a press conference about Halloween 341 00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:26,320 Speaker 2: parades and Roy Frankhauser is I think another candidate for 342 00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:30,600 Speaker 2: his own episode. He'd been acquitted earlier that year for 343 00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:33,200 Speaker 2: stabbing a man with a pocket knife at a clan conference, 344 00:20:33,320 --> 00:20:36,320 Speaker 2: and at one point claimed to be a government informant, 345 00:20:36,359 --> 00:20:39,679 Speaker 2: although agents from the FBI and the ATF denied that 346 00:20:39,760 --> 00:20:43,359 Speaker 2: on various occasions, sometimes under oath. But I'm not sold. 347 00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:46,960 Speaker 2: He was convicted of obstruction of justice while working for 348 00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:50,680 Speaker 2: Lyndon LaRouche in the nineteen eighties, got convicted of obstruction 349 00:20:50,800 --> 00:20:54,160 Speaker 2: again in a case involving desecration of synagogues in Massachusetts 350 00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:57,840 Speaker 2: in the nineties, and in twenty twenty one, someone made 351 00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:00,800 Speaker 2: an uncited edit to his Wikipedia page claiming that his 352 00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:06,760 Speaker 2: hometown of Reading, Pennsylvania, celebrated his death by holding a parade. 353 00:21:06,920 --> 00:21:10,199 Speaker 2: I'll have to dig around on that. I hope it's true, 354 00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:13,240 Speaker 2: but I have a feeling it's not. But in the 355 00:21:13,320 --> 00:21:17,440 Speaker 2: nineties Roy Frankauser was beefing with Barry, And it's hard 356 00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:20,200 Speaker 2: to say with any kind of certainty, but I wonder 357 00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:22,440 Speaker 2: if it was Frankhauser who met with the FBI in 358 00:21:22,520 --> 00:21:26,679 Speaker 2: nineteen ninety four. Barry's FBI file has a few heavily 359 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:30,479 Speaker 2: redacted pages about an aspiring clan informant who reported that 360 00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:32,879 Speaker 2: he was present at a clan meeting when Barry Black 361 00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:36,560 Speaker 2: said the Klan had a plan to deal harshly with traitors. 362 00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:41,120 Speaker 2: The informant told the FBI that Barry Black had automatic 363 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:45,000 Speaker 2: weapons in hand grades and to their credit, the FBI 364 00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:47,879 Speaker 2: seems to have taken the tip pretty seriously, and in 365 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:50,160 Speaker 2: the summer of nineteen ninety four, they opened a domestic 366 00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:54,560 Speaker 2: terrorism investigation into Barry Black. After only a week, though 367 00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:59,040 Speaker 2: the Pittsburgh Field Office downgraded and then ultimately closed the investigation, 368 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:04,359 Speaker 2: fighting the tipsters quote inability to factually corroborate any of 369 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:06,280 Speaker 2: his allegations to make them believable. 370 00:22:20,800 --> 00:22:22,760 Speaker 1: So Barry is keeping pretty busy. 371 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:25,000 Speaker 2: Through the nineties with his new clan group. He's got 372 00:22:25,440 --> 00:22:29,200 Speaker 2: barades to lead and picnics to attend, and he's holding 373 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:32,400 Speaker 2: regular cross burnings. And by the late nineties, these crossburnings 374 00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:36,200 Speaker 2: are happening across the street from the Casanova Lounge, which 375 00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:41,520 Speaker 2: was Somerset County, Pennsylvania's only gay bar. In its brief 376 00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:44,439 Speaker 2: four years in operation, the bar was the site of 377 00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:49,760 Speaker 2: relentless protests from neighbors. A self proclaimed Anabaptist Bishop and 378 00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:53,520 Speaker 2: the Clan, as well as a target for shotgun blasts 379 00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:59,160 Speaker 2: and Molotov cocktails. Patricia and Merrik Kramer, a straight couple 380 00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:02,280 Speaker 2: in their fifties with grown children, bought an old tavern 381 00:23:02,359 --> 00:23:06,320 Speaker 2: on Route nine eighty five in nineteen ninety five. They 382 00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:08,760 Speaker 2: ran it as a restaurant for two years before deciding 383 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:11,800 Speaker 2: in January of nineteen ninety seven to start catering to 384 00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:17,080 Speaker 2: gay clientel. It was the only such establishment for Miles 385 00:23:17,440 --> 00:23:23,159 Speaker 2: and Miles. Patricia pat to her friends, and I'd like 386 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:26,159 Speaker 2: to be Pat's friend said. They had customers drive in 387 00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:28,520 Speaker 2: from as far as Maryland and West Virginia for their 388 00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:32,040 Speaker 2: tea dances, a kind of gay singles event whose name 389 00:23:32,119 --> 00:23:33,920 Speaker 2: is the legacy of an era when it was illegal 390 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:38,800 Speaker 2: to sell alcohol to known homosexuals. In nineteen ninety seven, 391 00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:42,080 Speaker 2: pat Kragmer told a reporter from the Washington Blade, we 392 00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:46,160 Speaker 2: do nothing improper here. We have dancing, We served dinner 393 00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:48,760 Speaker 2: from four to six pm. I do all the cooking. 394 00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:52,920 Speaker 2: The DC based LGBT newspaper had reached out to the 395 00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:55,720 Speaker 2: Kramers after the first time a shotgun was fired through 396 00:23:55,720 --> 00:24:00,399 Speaker 2: the front door, injuring three patrons. And that's when Street 397 00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:06,120 Speaker 2: preacher Ron McCrae started showing up. If you're old enough 398 00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:09,200 Speaker 2: to have been politically aware in the early Obama years, 399 00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:11,080 Speaker 2: this may not be the first time you've heard of 400 00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:14,640 Speaker 2: Ron McCrae. In two thousand and eight, and now disbarred 401 00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:17,760 Speaker 2: attorney named Philip Burg filed a lawsuit alleging that Barack 402 00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:20,560 Speaker 2: Obama could not legally become the president because he had 403 00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:24,119 Speaker 2: been born in Kenya. A judge threw it out, calling 404 00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:28,280 Speaker 2: it frivolous and not worthy of discussion, which it was, 405 00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:33,480 Speaker 2: but that's never stopped a conspiracy theorist. In December of 406 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:35,520 Speaker 2: two thousand and eight, Berg filed a motion for an 407 00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:39,800 Speaker 2: emergency injunction to stop the certification of the election. In 408 00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:43,840 Speaker 2: his ninety six page filing, Ron McCrae's name appears over 409 00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:48,959 Speaker 2: one hundred times. So if you have any familiarity at 410 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:53,560 Speaker 2: all with the birthrism conspiracy, you've probably seen some vaguely 411 00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:58,359 Speaker 2: sourced false claim that Obama's Kenyan grandmother, a woman named Sarah, 412 00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:01,720 Speaker 2: who was his father's stepmother, was there in the room 413 00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:06,280 Speaker 2: when he was born in Mombasa. It's not true. To 414 00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:10,760 Speaker 2: be clear, Barack Obama was not born in Mombasa, but 415 00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:14,080 Speaker 2: the claim originated from a selectively edited recording of a 416 00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:17,840 Speaker 2: phone call Ron McCrae had with her via a translator 417 00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:21,280 Speaker 2: in October two thousand and eight, and McCray was an 418 00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:25,520 Speaker 2: enthusiastic participant in this conspiracy, providing a sworn affidavit about 419 00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:29,520 Speaker 2: the phone call for Berg's lawsuit. The Supreme Court denied 420 00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:33,920 Speaker 2: Berg's petition without comment, but mccray's hoax was now part 421 00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:37,840 Speaker 2: of this official record, and conspiracy theorists can easily brush 422 00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:41,200 Speaker 2: off silly complications, like the fact that the lawsuit was 423 00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:45,800 Speaker 2: dismissed as being utterly without merit. Once a lie is born, 424 00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:51,159 Speaker 2: it can become unkillable. The White House plumber himself, g. 425 00:25:51,280 --> 00:25:54,040 Speaker 2: Gordon Liddy, repeated that same lie a year later on 426 00:25:54,080 --> 00:25:57,879 Speaker 2: an episode of Hardball with Chris Matthews, conveniently blurring the 427 00:25:57,880 --> 00:26:00,800 Speaker 2: facts by claiming that the sworn statement was from Sarah 428 00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:05,320 Speaker 2: Obama herself rather than from McCrae, who was merely repeating 429 00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:08,480 Speaker 2: what he claimed she said to him. 430 00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:13,960 Speaker 3: The preponderance of the evidence is as follows. You've got 431 00:26:14,920 --> 00:26:18,440 Speaker 3: a deposition, which is a sworn statement from the step 432 00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:23,000 Speaker 3: grandmother who says I was present and saw him born 433 00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:25,000 Speaker 3: in Mombasa. 434 00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:30,160 Speaker 2: CanYa, before he gave birth to one of Berthaism's most 435 00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:34,520 Speaker 2: stubborn lies. Ronnie Marcus McCrae grew up in Texas and 436 00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:37,119 Speaker 2: claims to have been a police officer before turning to 437 00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:40,400 Speaker 2: street preaching in his thirties, but I can't find any 438 00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:42,920 Speaker 2: particular evidence beyond his own claims that he was ever 439 00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:46,159 Speaker 2: a cop. By the late nineteen eighties, he was in 440 00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:49,719 Speaker 2: western Pennsylvania preaching the Word of God to unwilling congregants 441 00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:53,480 Speaker 2: on street corners, who was arrested a handful of times 442 00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:57,640 Speaker 2: for violating noise ordinances or for disorderly conduct, And when 443 00:26:57,680 --> 00:27:00,560 Speaker 2: he sued the authorities in Johnstown, Pennsylvania nineteen ninety one 444 00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:04,479 Speaker 2: for violating his rights, they paid him seventy five hundred 445 00:27:04,520 --> 00:27:07,719 Speaker 2: dollars to settle. And that seems to have been the 446 00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:11,800 Speaker 2: origin of mccray's street preacher's fellowship, who was a fairly 447 00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:15,600 Speaker 2: litigious collective of amateur street preachers who would scream Bible 448 00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:18,680 Speaker 2: verses on street corners until the police would intervene, and 449 00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:21,720 Speaker 2: then they would sue. And that seems like what he 450 00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:24,720 Speaker 2: was trying to do to Patricia Kramer and her customers 451 00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:27,320 Speaker 2: outside Casanova almost every weekend. 452 00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:29,440 Speaker 1: For four years. 453 00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:34,359 Speaker 2: Ron McCrae was the loudest and most persistent opponent to 454 00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:38,240 Speaker 2: the gay bar, but he was far from the only one. 455 00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:40,840 Speaker 2: Don and Lisa Penrod lived less than a mile away 456 00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:43,359 Speaker 2: on a plot of land they'd inherited from Don's family. 457 00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:46,879 Speaker 2: At a town meeting shortly after the bar opened, the 458 00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:50,720 Speaker 2: Penrods were among residents complaining about lewd and filthy literature 459 00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:55,239 Speaker 2: found in the neighborhood. Pat Kramer tried to explain that no, 460 00:27:55,400 --> 00:28:01,480 Speaker 2: those are flyers advertising a glowstick party, saying it's nothing provocative. 461 00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:06,119 Speaker 2: We don't run a dirty bar. After someone fired a 462 00:28:06,119 --> 00:28:08,199 Speaker 2: shotgun through the door of the crowded bar one night 463 00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:11,560 Speaker 2: in March of nineteen ninety seven, Don Penrod told the 464 00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:14,840 Speaker 2: local paper that actually he'd forgotten to mention this before, 465 00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:18,760 Speaker 2: but a few days before that happened. Actually, something bad 466 00:28:18,800 --> 00:28:23,320 Speaker 2: happened to him too. Someone had spray painted gay haters 467 00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:28,359 Speaker 2: you will all die Love Pat on his garage. The 468 00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:32,040 Speaker 2: paper doesn't include a photo of this vandalism or even 469 00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:36,840 Speaker 2: mention any claim that a photo might exist. In separate 470 00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:40,000 Speaker 2: town meetings that spring, Don Penrod claimed that he found 471 00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:43,520 Speaker 2: hardcore gay pornography on his front lawn, and his wife, 472 00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:46,640 Speaker 2: Lisa Penrod, claimed that their child found an abandoned sex 473 00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:51,280 Speaker 2: toy while playing outside. In both instances, the Penrods demand 474 00:28:51,360 --> 00:28:54,400 Speaker 2: to know how they're supposed to explain this perversion to 475 00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:59,040 Speaker 2: a child. I can find no evidence of anyone, aside 476 00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:01,920 Speaker 2: from the Penrods themselves elves, who ever made any claim 477 00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:06,000 Speaker 2: to have seen either of these things. In April, the 478 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:08,720 Speaker 2: Penrods and their neighbors, who were disgusted at the idea 479 00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:10,960 Speaker 2: of even having to drive on a road that shared 480 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:14,280 Speaker 2: a name with a den of sin, successfully petitioned to 481 00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:19,560 Speaker 2: have the town renamed Casanova Road to Hemlock Road. In 482 00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:23,280 Speaker 2: May of nineteen ninety seven, the Penrods invited the clan 483 00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:29,600 Speaker 2: over Barry Black's Keystone Knights, used the Penrod's farm as 484 00:29:29,600 --> 00:29:32,920 Speaker 2: a staging area to park down their robes, and then 485 00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:36,000 Speaker 2: marched down the street to the bar. They spent an 486 00:29:36,040 --> 00:29:40,000 Speaker 2: afternoon hollering at the empty establishment, it's a bar, nobody's 487 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:42,680 Speaker 2: there in the middle of the afternoon, and then they 488 00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:47,240 Speaker 2: retired to the Penrod's property for a cross burning. Patrons 489 00:29:47,280 --> 00:29:48,760 Speaker 2: at the bar would have been able to see the 490 00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:50,960 Speaker 2: glow from the flames when they pulled into the parking 491 00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:55,600 Speaker 2: lot that Saturday night. Ron McCrae kept up his antics 492 00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:58,920 Speaker 2: outside Casanova, but Barry had bigger things going on. Towards 493 00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:04,200 Speaker 2: the end of nineteen ninety seve he got elected constable again. 494 00:30:05,480 --> 00:30:06,960 Speaker 1: Just as he had in nineteen ninety one. 495 00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:09,840 Speaker 2: He managed to secure a victory in Johnstown's twenty first 496 00:30:09,880 --> 00:30:14,280 Speaker 2: ward on write in votes alone. This time though he 497 00:30:14,360 --> 00:30:20,000 Speaker 2: got one. He got one vote. Nobody was running, and 498 00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:25,440 Speaker 2: I guess nobody else voted, and so he won with one. 499 00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:27,040 Speaker 1: And I can't find. 500 00:30:26,840 --> 00:30:29,520 Speaker 2: Any reporting on whether or not he was ever asked 501 00:30:29,640 --> 00:30:34,200 Speaker 2: outright if that one vote was his own, But I 502 00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:37,800 Speaker 2: think it's a safe bet. I have to wonder if 503 00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:40,720 Speaker 2: it was a joke. I mean, was he having a 504 00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:44,760 Speaker 2: private joke with himself or was a friend joking about 505 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:47,640 Speaker 2: how he had done it last time? Did he really 506 00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:49,280 Speaker 2: think it would work a second time? 507 00:30:49,960 --> 00:30:52,400 Speaker 1: And if he did do this himself, why didn't he ask. 508 00:30:52,520 --> 00:30:55,680 Speaker 2: Anyone else to do it with him? Was he surprised 509 00:30:55,680 --> 00:30:57,520 Speaker 2: when he found out he was the constable again? 510 00:30:58,480 --> 00:31:00,440 Speaker 1: There's really no to know. 511 00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:05,120 Speaker 2: So he's back in the saddle as constable, and it 512 00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:08,640 Speaker 2: seems like nobody noticed. It must not be a very 513 00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:11,320 Speaker 2: demanding job if no one noticed that there were no 514 00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:14,520 Speaker 2: candidates at all for the office, and no one said 515 00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:16,719 Speaker 2: a word when a guy who'd been ordered by the 516 00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:20,440 Speaker 2: State Supreme Court to vacate the position just unilaterally voted 517 00:31:20,520 --> 00:31:27,320 Speaker 2: himself back in. There it was, and in nineteen ninety eight, 518 00:31:27,640 --> 00:31:31,440 Speaker 2: Casanova is entering its second year as Somerset County's only 519 00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:36,120 Speaker 2: gay bar, and things are getting worse. There was another 520 00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:40,960 Speaker 2: crossburning across the street. They got bomb threats. Ron McRae 521 00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:43,640 Speaker 2: vowed to be out there every Friday and Saturday night 522 00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:47,200 Speaker 2: until the bar was forced to shut down. The Cramers 523 00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:50,480 Speaker 2: were getting death threats in the mail. The front windows 524 00:31:50,480 --> 00:31:54,240 Speaker 2: were smashed out with huge rocks thrown from a passing car, 525 00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:57,280 Speaker 2: but the Kramers weren't going to lie down and take it. 526 00:31:58,600 --> 00:32:01,760 Speaker 2: Speaking later to Professor tu for his essay, blame it 527 00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:06,280 Speaker 2: on the Casanova good scenery and sodomy in rural southwestern Pennsylvania, 528 00:32:06,840 --> 00:32:10,360 Speaker 2: pat said, McCray made a pledge to these neighbors that 529 00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:12,880 Speaker 2: he would have us closed in a week. Well that 530 00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:17,120 Speaker 2: never happened. Never happened because McCrae didn't know who I was, 531 00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:22,200 Speaker 2: and the Kramers weren't alone. Some neighbors were on their side, 532 00:32:22,280 --> 00:32:25,960 Speaker 2: even forming a group called Network of Neighbors United against 533 00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:29,280 Speaker 2: Hate Crimes. And I know you're probably trying to spell 534 00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:31,040 Speaker 2: that out in your mind to see if that makes 535 00:32:31,280 --> 00:32:32,600 Speaker 2: some kind of initialism. 536 00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:33,600 Speaker 1: It doesn't. 537 00:32:33,680 --> 00:32:39,280 Speaker 2: It's an NUA HC. It doesn't spell anything. And while 538 00:32:39,280 --> 00:32:41,800 Speaker 2: the local gay community in Somerset County was pretty small, 539 00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:44,680 Speaker 2: the gay community in cities like Pittsburgh and DC you 540 00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:47,440 Speaker 2: were rooting for them. A group of gay men from 541 00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:49,960 Speaker 2: Pittsburgh rented a bus to come out to Somerset County 542 00:32:50,040 --> 00:32:53,160 Speaker 2: for a theme night. They called it burn in Hell Night, 543 00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:55,920 Speaker 2: poking fun at the screaming preacher in the parking lot 544 00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:57,800 Speaker 2: who was always telling them that's where they were heading. 545 00:32:59,760 --> 00:33:02,440 Speaker 2: In March of nineteen ninety eight, a DC based group 546 00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:05,680 Speaker 2: called the Lesbian Avengers drove three hours to show their 547 00:33:05,720 --> 00:33:10,480 Speaker 2: support for Casanova. Washington City Paper reporter Amanda Ripley joined 548 00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:15,200 Speaker 2: them for the trip. The Avengers danced, drank, mingled, and 549 00:33:15,280 --> 00:33:19,920 Speaker 2: performed some comedic skits for patrons at the bar. Pat Kramer, 550 00:33:20,040 --> 00:33:23,120 Speaker 2: that straight, married woman in her fifties who ran the bar, said, 551 00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:27,600 Speaker 2: I thought that the girls were just wonderful, we loved them, 552 00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:31,520 Speaker 2: and added even some heterosexuals offered them to stay in 553 00:33:31,560 --> 00:33:35,080 Speaker 2: their homes in the future. And Pat beamed as she 554 00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:37,760 Speaker 2: told these girls from out of town that a lot 555 00:33:37,760 --> 00:33:41,920 Speaker 2: of her bar's patrons just call her mother. I've always 556 00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:46,920 Speaker 2: wanted a large family, she explained. Pat's own daughter had 557 00:33:46,960 --> 00:33:49,760 Speaker 2: died a few years earlier after contracting HIV from a 558 00:33:49,760 --> 00:33:53,880 Speaker 2: blood transfusion, and now here she is with this gay 559 00:33:53,920 --> 00:34:00,240 Speaker 2: bar full of chosen family. I wonder it doesn't say, 560 00:34:00,280 --> 00:34:03,400 Speaker 2: but I wonder if it was at her daughter's bedside 561 00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:06,400 Speaker 2: that she first came to see the importance of queer community. 562 00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:10,640 Speaker 2: Her daughter had been infected by a blood transfusion, but 563 00:34:11,239 --> 00:34:14,960 Speaker 2: I have to imagine Pat Kramer met patients and caregivers 564 00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:18,400 Speaker 2: and grieving partners there on the AIDS ward, and she 565 00:34:18,480 --> 00:34:20,760 Speaker 2: got a much more intimate look at who gay people 566 00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:24,000 Speaker 2: really were than most straight suburban women were getting in 567 00:34:24,040 --> 00:34:28,120 Speaker 2: nineteen ninety. Before they left DC, on the day of 568 00:34:28,120 --> 00:34:31,600 Speaker 2: their visit to Somerset County, the Lesbian Avengers all agreed 569 00:34:31,640 --> 00:34:35,040 Speaker 2: on the rules of engagement. They were headed up there 570 00:34:35,080 --> 00:34:40,560 Speaker 2: to support Casanova, and things are different out in the country. 571 00:34:40,600 --> 00:34:42,359 Speaker 2: They didn't want to make things worse for the gay 572 00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:44,840 Speaker 2: people who lived there, and they really didn't want to 573 00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:47,879 Speaker 2: end up in the county jail. So the rules were 574 00:34:48,440 --> 00:34:53,279 Speaker 2: no cussing, no taking off your top. On the drive up, 575 00:34:53,440 --> 00:34:57,279 Speaker 2: their lawyer, Kathy reminded them again to quote resist the 576 00:34:57,440 --> 00:35:01,239 Speaker 2: urge to strip down an arm wrestle. This isn't DC, 577 00:35:03,200 --> 00:35:05,879 Speaker 2: So they were on their best behavior when they got there. 578 00:35:06,560 --> 00:35:09,319 Speaker 2: They ignored Ron McCray and the other protesters when they 579 00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:12,000 Speaker 2: swarmed the women in the parking lot, calling them trash 580 00:35:12,080 --> 00:35:14,920 Speaker 2: and wicked and failures as women, and telling them they 581 00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:17,240 Speaker 2: would never find husbands. 582 00:35:16,760 --> 00:35:18,040 Speaker 1: And that they would burn in hell. 583 00:35:19,600 --> 00:35:23,120 Speaker 2: I'm not sure one of those things really bothered them, 584 00:35:23,719 --> 00:35:26,080 Speaker 2: but they just walked into the bar and they had 585 00:35:26,120 --> 00:35:31,400 Speaker 2: a great time. Ripley's article describes mccray's teenage sons standing 586 00:35:31,480 --> 00:35:34,200 Speaker 2: silently in the parking lot next to his father, holding 587 00:35:34,239 --> 00:35:39,400 Speaker 2: a sign that read Casanova customers, child molesters, strippers, whores, 588 00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:44,400 Speaker 2: cross dressers, prostitutes, sodomites, five drunkards, and a handful of wackos. 589 00:35:45,600 --> 00:35:48,560 Speaker 2: I'm not sure which of McCrae's sons that would have been, 590 00:35:48,680 --> 00:35:51,160 Speaker 2: but I don't think it was the one who would 591 00:35:51,200 --> 00:35:55,120 Speaker 2: later get arrested for inappropriate sexual contact with a lot 592 00:35:55,160 --> 00:35:59,359 Speaker 2: of underage girls. And when the Avengers walked out into 593 00:35:59,360 --> 00:36:03,080 Speaker 2: the parking lot lefter one, Am McCray was still there, 594 00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:07,120 Speaker 2: just as they did every weekend. The protesters were there 595 00:36:07,160 --> 00:36:09,920 Speaker 2: in the parking lot, and they surrounded patrons trying to 596 00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:13,600 Speaker 2: leave the bar. They screamed and threatened and blocked them 597 00:36:13,600 --> 00:36:16,960 Speaker 2: from getting to their van. One protester got right in 598 00:36:16,960 --> 00:36:19,920 Speaker 2: the face of Beth Armitage, a member of the Lesbian Avengers, 599 00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:23,560 Speaker 2: and said, you never know, this night might be her last. 600 00:36:24,640 --> 00:36:25,719 Speaker 1: But they were prepared for this. 601 00:36:26,880 --> 00:36:31,000 Speaker 2: The Lesbian Avengers were no strangers to confrontation. In fact, 602 00:36:31,040 --> 00:36:33,799 Speaker 2: they reveled in it. They were only on their best 603 00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:37,319 Speaker 2: behavior that night for everyone else's sake. They kept their 604 00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:39,799 Speaker 2: heads down and refused to engage on their way into 605 00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:43,080 Speaker 2: the bar earlier that evening, but now they couldn't resist. 606 00:36:44,239 --> 00:36:46,279 Speaker 2: They promised they weren't going to make a scene, they 607 00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:50,280 Speaker 2: weren't going to engage, But it was cold and late, 608 00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:53,560 Speaker 2: and these men screaming slurs at them were keeping them 609 00:36:53,560 --> 00:36:56,799 Speaker 2: from the warmth of their van. So they formed a 610 00:36:56,800 --> 00:37:18,520 Speaker 2: semicircle and began to chant the Lesbian Avengers are fire eaters. 611 00:37:20,520 --> 00:37:23,960 Speaker 2: In September of nineteen ninety two, Hattie May Cohens, a 612 00:37:24,000 --> 00:37:27,319 Speaker 2: black lesbian, and her roommate Brian Mock, a white gay 613 00:37:27,360 --> 00:37:31,239 Speaker 2: man with an intellectual disability, were burned alive in their 614 00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:35,080 Speaker 2: home in Oregon after Neo Nazi's Skinheads through Molotov cocktails 615 00:37:35,080 --> 00:37:39,120 Speaker 2: through the windows of her apartment. A month later, at 616 00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:41,840 Speaker 2: a vigil for Cohens and Mock in New York, the 617 00:37:41,960 --> 00:37:46,800 Speaker 2: Lesbian Avengers ate fire for the first time. The fire 618 00:37:46,880 --> 00:37:51,000 Speaker 2: will not consume us. We take it and make it 619 00:37:51,040 --> 00:37:54,680 Speaker 2: our own. Their lawyer had pleaded with them on the 620 00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:58,600 Speaker 2: drive up not to do this tonight. Not here they 621 00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:01,799 Speaker 2: could get charged with public disturbed and this wasn't a 622 00:38:01,840 --> 00:38:05,399 Speaker 2: friendly place to have to fight a charge. But here 623 00:38:05,440 --> 00:38:09,160 Speaker 2: they were, in the snow being told that they would burn. 624 00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:13,680 Speaker 2: So Ron McCrae got to see those lesbians eat the fire. 625 00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:17,600 Speaker 2: He was always threatening people with the Ku Klux Klan 626 00:38:17,719 --> 00:38:21,160 Speaker 2: with their burning crosses, and the skinheads with their Molotov cocktails, 627 00:38:21,160 --> 00:38:23,560 Speaker 2: and the street preachers with their threats of the fires 628 00:38:23,560 --> 00:38:28,439 Speaker 2: of hell. They're always surprised when a bitch burns back. 629 00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:46,360 Speaker 2: Barry's Clan group had staged protests directly outside Kasanova in 630 00:38:46,400 --> 00:38:49,280 Speaker 2: May of nineteen ninety seven, but in July of nineteen 631 00:38:49,320 --> 00:38:52,240 Speaker 2: ninety eight, he assured the Kramers that the clan's presence 632 00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:54,480 Speaker 2: in the area had nothing to do with the bar, 633 00:38:55,160 --> 00:38:57,640 Speaker 2: and nothing to do with the fact that the bar's owner, 634 00:38:57,760 --> 00:39:00,080 Speaker 2: Pat Kramer, had just returned from a trip. 635 00:38:59,920 --> 00:39:00,880 Speaker 1: To Washington, d c. 636 00:39:01,120 --> 00:39:03,880 Speaker 2: Where she had testified in front of the Senate Judiciary 637 00:39:03,880 --> 00:39:07,680 Speaker 2: Committee in a hearing on hate crimes legislation. No, it 638 00:39:08,120 --> 00:39:10,480 Speaker 2: had nothing to do with that. The clan was just 639 00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:14,960 Speaker 2: in the neighborhood for an entirely unrelated cross burning. Don 640 00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:17,160 Speaker 2: and Lisa Penrod, that couple who'd been active in the 641 00:39:17,200 --> 00:39:20,120 Speaker 2: protest against the bar's presence in the town, owned a 642 00:39:20,160 --> 00:39:22,400 Speaker 2: little bit of land across the street, and they invited 643 00:39:22,400 --> 00:39:25,560 Speaker 2: the clan to have a picnic on their property. Their 644 00:39:25,560 --> 00:39:27,759 Speaker 2: farm had been the site of previous clan rallies and 645 00:39:27,840 --> 00:39:31,640 Speaker 2: cross burnings, and on this July afternoon they'd be hosting 646 00:39:31,680 --> 00:39:36,880 Speaker 2: the clan's White Pride Day picnic. The picnic did not 647 00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:40,400 Speaker 2: go well. I'll go ahead and spoil it. One local 648 00:39:40,440 --> 00:39:46,200 Speaker 2: paper ran the headline KKK picnic host arrested the two 649 00:39:46,239 --> 00:39:48,480 Speaker 2: day affair was announced two weeks ahead of the event. 650 00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:52,680 Speaker 2: Local residents who opposed the clan held their own competing picnic, 651 00:39:52,840 --> 00:39:56,120 Speaker 2: calling it the Unity Picnic, at the Laurel Trinity Lutheran 652 00:39:56,200 --> 00:39:59,840 Speaker 2: Church a few miles away. The Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported 653 00:39:59,840 --> 00:40:03,919 Speaker 2: them Ron McCray himself stopped by the Unity picnic. He'd 654 00:40:03,920 --> 00:40:06,000 Speaker 2: sent the church a letter denouncing their pastor of the 655 00:40:06,040 --> 00:40:09,279 Speaker 2: week before and accusing members of the congregation of a 656 00:40:09,360 --> 00:40:13,600 Speaker 2: variety of sexual sins. But even Ron McCrae hated the clan. 657 00:40:15,440 --> 00:40:19,400 Speaker 2: I'm not totally sure why he hated the clan, to 658 00:40:19,440 --> 00:40:22,239 Speaker 2: be honest. I mean, his own religious beliefs included the 659 00:40:22,280 --> 00:40:26,239 Speaker 2: idea that sex outside your own race is within the 660 00:40:26,280 --> 00:40:29,520 Speaker 2: biblical definition of the sin of fornication. So it's not 661 00:40:29,560 --> 00:40:35,320 Speaker 2: like he's not racist. But nevertheless, he apparently enjoyed the picnic. 662 00:40:36,400 --> 00:40:38,920 Speaker 2: About one hundred and fifty people attended, and the local 663 00:40:38,920 --> 00:40:42,760 Speaker 2: paper reported that dinner was served potluck style, and speeches 664 00:40:42,800 --> 00:40:45,759 Speaker 2: were given by various state and local civil rights organizations. 665 00:40:47,280 --> 00:40:50,400 Speaker 2: Over at the clan picnic, the police were keeping an 666 00:40:50,440 --> 00:40:55,759 Speaker 2: eye on the Penrod farm, specifically on Barry Black. Barry 667 00:40:55,760 --> 00:40:58,680 Speaker 2: would later explain to a reporter that the reason his 668 00:40:58,840 --> 00:41:02,960 Speaker 2: family friendly picnic was crawling with burly tattooed clansmen with 669 00:41:03,080 --> 00:41:06,640 Speaker 2: pump action riot shotguns is that they were worried that 670 00:41:06,680 --> 00:41:11,760 Speaker 2: the people from the gay bar would come bother them 671 00:41:11,800 --> 00:41:15,200 Speaker 2: and just a little more clan vocabulary. Those security guards 672 00:41:15,239 --> 00:41:19,600 Speaker 2: are the Nighthawks. And while these armed guards were under 673 00:41:19,640 --> 00:41:22,720 Speaker 2: strict orders to prevent media or cameras of any kind 674 00:41:22,800 --> 00:41:26,799 Speaker 2: really from entering the property, Barry invited Dennis Roddy, a 675 00:41:26,840 --> 00:41:30,120 Speaker 2: reporter from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, into the picnic for 676 00:41:30,440 --> 00:41:34,360 Speaker 2: a little tour. And Barry was just so happy to 677 00:41:34,440 --> 00:41:36,880 Speaker 2: show off his event to this reporter from the big city, 678 00:41:37,560 --> 00:41:39,200 Speaker 2: and he made sure to put it on the record 679 00:41:39,239 --> 00:41:42,040 Speaker 2: that there was absolutely no reason to worry about any 680 00:41:42,120 --> 00:41:45,200 Speaker 2: lawlessness going on at the picnic. Not only did the 681 00:41:45,280 --> 00:41:48,520 Speaker 2: Klan count many cops from a variety of counties among 682 00:41:48,600 --> 00:41:54,440 Speaker 2: their membership, Barry himself was in law enforcement. Nobody seemed 683 00:41:54,440 --> 00:41:57,080 Speaker 2: to have noticed up until this point that Barry was 684 00:41:57,120 --> 00:41:59,960 Speaker 2: the constable again, but here he is bragging about it 685 00:42:00,040 --> 00:42:03,239 Speaker 2: to a reporter, and that's going to bite him in 686 00:42:03,280 --> 00:42:07,239 Speaker 2: the ass. Later sometime that afternoon, just as it was 687 00:42:07,239 --> 00:42:09,200 Speaker 2: about time to start setting up the cross that they 688 00:42:09,200 --> 00:42:09,719 Speaker 2: were going to burn. 689 00:42:09,760 --> 00:42:13,680 Speaker 1: When the sun went down, the nighthawks saw something. 690 00:42:15,080 --> 00:42:17,279 Speaker 2: State Police had made no secret of the fact that 691 00:42:17,320 --> 00:42:19,520 Speaker 2: they were increasing their presence in the area that day, 692 00:42:19,680 --> 00:42:22,960 Speaker 2: just as a precaution. They didn't want any chance of 693 00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:26,920 Speaker 2: these competing picnics and countering one another. But in addition 694 00:42:26,960 --> 00:42:29,600 Speaker 2: to their visible presence in the area, the State police 695 00:42:29,600 --> 00:42:32,840 Speaker 2: had gotten permission from the Penrod's next door neighbor to 696 00:42:32,960 --> 00:42:37,279 Speaker 2: be on their property, and from that neighboring property, an 697 00:42:37,360 --> 00:42:40,840 Speaker 2: undercover state trooper was perched in a tree with a 698 00:42:40,920 --> 00:42:45,080 Speaker 2: telephoto lens. They were acting on a tip that Barry 699 00:42:45,239 --> 00:42:48,759 Speaker 2: was once again illegally in possession of a firearm, and 700 00:42:48,880 --> 00:42:50,720 Speaker 2: they wanted to see if they could catch a glimpse 701 00:42:50,760 --> 00:42:53,840 Speaker 2: of him handling a gun. It doesn't sound like they 702 00:42:53,880 --> 00:42:58,160 Speaker 2: ever did catch Barry holding a gun, but almost everyone 703 00:42:58,200 --> 00:43:01,640 Speaker 2: else was armed to the absolute tea, so when the 704 00:43:01,719 --> 00:43:03,719 Speaker 2: nighthawks caught a glimpse of a guy hiding in the 705 00:43:03,719 --> 00:43:07,040 Speaker 2: tree line at the edge of the property, they bolted 706 00:43:07,080 --> 00:43:11,680 Speaker 2: for him. State Trooper George Emig would later testify that 707 00:43:11,760 --> 00:43:13,440 Speaker 2: he was sitting up in that tree on the neighbor's 708 00:43:13,440 --> 00:43:16,840 Speaker 2: property when about ten picnic attendees rushed over to the 709 00:43:16,840 --> 00:43:20,920 Speaker 2: fence line. He identified himself to the armed men as 710 00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:23,239 Speaker 2: a state trooper, and he explained that he had the 711 00:43:23,280 --> 00:43:27,040 Speaker 2: neighbor's permission to be on their property. He said it 712 00:43:27,040 --> 00:43:29,760 Speaker 2: was at that point that Don Penrod pointed the rifle 713 00:43:29,800 --> 00:43:35,480 Speaker 2: at him and said, you're dead. State Police Sergeant George 714 00:43:35,480 --> 00:43:39,040 Speaker 2: Bivins arrived on the scene almost immediately. He'd seen the 715 00:43:39,040 --> 00:43:42,799 Speaker 2: group moving towards Emig's position, and he testified that he'd 716 00:43:42,840 --> 00:43:45,640 Speaker 2: heard Emig trying to explain to the men that he 717 00:43:45,800 --> 00:43:50,600 Speaker 2: was a police officer, and then Bivins heard Ronald Bendix, 718 00:43:50,680 --> 00:43:54,319 Speaker 2: one of the nighthawks, reply that he didn't care and 719 00:43:54,400 --> 00:43:58,319 Speaker 2: they were going to kill him anyway. It was at 720 00:43:58,320 --> 00:44:00,279 Speaker 2: this point that Bivins drew his own weapon and the 721 00:44:00,480 --> 00:44:05,600 Speaker 2: klansmen scattered. And now now the state police had a 722 00:44:05,640 --> 00:44:09,040 Speaker 2: reason to enter the Penrod property before, they were keeping 723 00:44:09,080 --> 00:44:11,920 Speaker 2: it at the fence line, but now they're giving chase. 724 00:44:13,920 --> 00:44:18,240 Speaker 2: Michael Abraham was arrested inside the picnic tent. Ronald Bendix 725 00:44:18,320 --> 00:44:22,360 Speaker 2: was found hiding under a blanket, and Adam Moyer was 726 00:44:22,400 --> 00:44:25,279 Speaker 2: also taken into custody. But it doesn't say where he 727 00:44:25,320 --> 00:44:30,120 Speaker 2: was hiding. Don Penrod was nowhere to be found that afternoon, 728 00:44:30,200 --> 00:44:32,320 Speaker 2: but he was arrested a week later when the police 729 00:44:32,320 --> 00:44:36,720 Speaker 2: searched his home. The police confiscated several shotguns, a pistol, 730 00:44:36,760 --> 00:44:41,080 Speaker 2: a ceremonial clan sword, a Tommy gun, and a bulletproof vest. 731 00:44:42,360 --> 00:44:46,120 Speaker 2: But the picnic wasn't canceled. Three members had been carted 732 00:44:46,120 --> 00:44:49,520 Speaker 2: off to jail, but the show must go on and 733 00:44:49,560 --> 00:44:54,359 Speaker 2: that cross wasn't going to burn itself. A few months later, 734 00:44:54,400 --> 00:44:56,719 Speaker 2: Barry's lawyer was in court arguing for the return of 735 00:44:56,719 --> 00:45:00,920 Speaker 2: those seized items. I'm not quite sure what the legal 736 00:45:00,960 --> 00:45:03,640 Speaker 2: strategy is here, Like, I don't know if you have 737 00:45:04,440 --> 00:45:08,160 Speaker 2: legal standing as the guest at a picnic to challenge 738 00:45:08,200 --> 00:45:11,719 Speaker 2: the search and seizure of someone else's property. And the 739 00:45:11,760 --> 00:45:15,640 Speaker 2: sword was definitely Barry's, but he absolutely was not claiming 740 00:45:15,680 --> 00:45:20,120 Speaker 2: ownership of the submachine gun. But the judge did order 741 00:45:20,160 --> 00:45:24,920 Speaker 2: the police to return Barry's ceremonial clan sword, but they 742 00:45:24,960 --> 00:45:28,359 Speaker 2: kept the guns. It took a year to sort out, 743 00:45:28,440 --> 00:45:31,200 Speaker 2: but in the end Don Penrod got six months for 744 00:45:31,320 --> 00:45:34,760 Speaker 2: terroristic threats, followed by two years of supervision for the assault. 745 00:45:35,640 --> 00:45:39,400 Speaker 2: Stephen Bedecks got fourteen months for the assault and terroristic threats, 746 00:45:40,600 --> 00:45:44,000 Speaker 2: Michael Abraham got nine months for simple assault, and Adam 747 00:45:44,000 --> 00:45:48,040 Speaker 2: Moyer was acquitted on all accounts. One article notes that 748 00:45:48,040 --> 00:45:50,120 Speaker 2: Betecks got more time than the others because at the 749 00:45:50,120 --> 00:45:53,120 Speaker 2: time of the incident he was out on parole for 750 00:45:53,160 --> 00:45:55,440 Speaker 2: a conviction in a case related to his role in 751 00:45:55,440 --> 00:45:58,520 Speaker 2: a cocaine trafficking ring that would bring drugs down from 752 00:45:58,520 --> 00:46:01,280 Speaker 2: New York City and distribute them in the Lehigh Valley area. 753 00:46:02,360 --> 00:46:05,280 Speaker 2: In twenty twelve, he was the president of his local 754 00:46:05,360 --> 00:46:08,480 Speaker 2: chapter of the Pagan's Motorcycle Club when he was federally 755 00:46:08,520 --> 00:46:14,680 Speaker 2: indicted for cocaine trafficking again. He spent five years in 756 00:46:14,719 --> 00:46:20,239 Speaker 2: prison and died shortly after his release. But back to Barry. 757 00:46:20,640 --> 00:46:24,319 Speaker 2: After those three Nighthawks were arrested, Don Penrod used his 758 00:46:24,400 --> 00:46:27,440 Speaker 2: own property as collateral to bail out Abraham and Moyer. 759 00:46:28,200 --> 00:46:31,480 Speaker 2: Bendix was held without bond due to the prole violation, 760 00:46:32,480 --> 00:46:34,959 Speaker 2: and when Penrod himself was arrested a few days after 761 00:46:35,000 --> 00:46:38,120 Speaker 2: the picnic, Barry walked into the jail with a ten 762 00:46:38,160 --> 00:46:43,200 Speaker 2: thousand dollars cashier's check in hand to bail him out. 763 00:46:43,680 --> 00:46:46,600 Speaker 2: That same week, Barry filed a criminal and civil complaint 764 00:46:46,600 --> 00:46:49,440 Speaker 2: against state Police Sergeant Bivins, the trooper who drew his 765 00:46:49,520 --> 00:46:52,560 Speaker 2: gun on the klansmen who were pointing their guns at 766 00:46:52,640 --> 00:46:56,560 Speaker 2: another state trooper, and the county prosecutor filed a petition 767 00:46:56,640 --> 00:47:00,120 Speaker 2: to have Barry removed from the office of constable. A 768 00:47:00,160 --> 00:47:02,680 Speaker 2: new prosecutor now that district attorney from the first time 769 00:47:02,719 --> 00:47:05,040 Speaker 2: around as a judge at this point, but the game 770 00:47:05,120 --> 00:47:08,040 Speaker 2: is the same. Barry can't be the constable because he's 771 00:47:08,080 --> 00:47:12,640 Speaker 2: been convicted of too many crimes. Complaining about the police 772 00:47:12,640 --> 00:47:16,560 Speaker 2: intrusion on his picnic, Barry told the local newspaper, the 773 00:47:16,640 --> 00:47:20,239 Speaker 2: state police are like the Gestapo. We are nice white 774 00:47:20,239 --> 00:47:23,359 Speaker 2: people having a family picnic. Where's our First Amendment rights 775 00:47:23,400 --> 00:47:27,920 Speaker 2: to our beliefs? And Barry's relationship to the First Amendment 776 00:47:28,080 --> 00:47:31,479 Speaker 2: is something we'll explore in greater detail next week, because 777 00:47:31,480 --> 00:47:33,920 Speaker 2: that's where I'm going to leave it today. We'll pick 778 00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:36,600 Speaker 2: up next time with Barry's second court battle to keep 779 00:47:36,600 --> 00:47:40,080 Speaker 2: his job as Cambria County Constable, and then follow him 780 00:47:40,080 --> 00:47:43,120 Speaker 2: to Virginia where he'll light the cross that takes him 781 00:47:43,160 --> 00:47:45,000 Speaker 2: all the way to the Supreme Court. 782 00:47:46,239 --> 00:47:48,400 Speaker 1: Until then I don't know. 783 00:47:49,400 --> 00:47:52,560 Speaker 2: Try to love your neighbors like Pat Kramer did, and 784 00:47:53,239 --> 00:47:55,360 Speaker 2: don't bring a Tommy gun to a family picnic. 785 00:48:00,120 --> 00:48:02,759 Speaker 1: Little Guys to production of cool Zone Media. For more 786 00:48:02,800 --> 00:48:03,520 Speaker 1: from cool Zone 787 00:48:03,560 --> 00:48:07,319 Speaker 2: Media, visit our website coolzonmedia dot com, or check us 788 00:48:07,360 --> 00:48:11,040 Speaker 2: out on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.