GREENSBORO — Publisher William Hammer burst out laughing when he heard the news: The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan was suing his newspaper for defamation.
“Of all groups to claim that you could defame them,” Hammer said Tuesday. “It seems like the only way you could defame them is saying they are nice people.”
The suit was filed last week in Boone County, Ark., where the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan is based. The lawsuit cited The Rhinoceros Times’ Web site as its legal standing for filing in Arkansas.
The suit came a little more than a month after Hammer’s newspaper sued the Klan alleging “unfair and deceptive” trade practices because the group rolled racist leaflets into the weekly and tossed them on lawns. Hammer said the practice leads some people to believe The Rhino is accepting advertising from the Klan — which it is not. The paper’s suit is pending.
The Klan, in its suit, is taking issue with a story written by Hammer about his paper’s legal action. “(T)he plaintiff does not have a long history of intimidation, as it is a lawful not-for-profit organization in the state of Arkansas, in good standing with the Secretary of State of Arkansas,” the Klan’s lawsuit states.
The Klan’s Arkansas attorney, James Robb, did not return a phone message Tuesday afternoon. Attempts to reach Thomas Robb, who is the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan leader, were not successful. The Klan is seeking more than $50,000 in damages.
The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan is the group founded by David Duke, and Robb has been the leader who pioneered the idea of a “kinder, gentler Klan,” said Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project.
“As a general matter, the Klan since Reconstruction has been, without question, America’s worst terrorist group responsible for numerous murders, rapes and other crimes,” Potok said. “Whether that can be said about Thomas Robb’s Klan is another question.” Potok said he wasn’t aware of any violent acts committed by the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan with which Robb is involved.
Contact Jonathan Jones
at 373-7077 or jjones
@news-record.com
