The KKK will rally on the steps of the South Carolina statehouse on July 18 in response to the governor's call for the removal of the Confederate flag from the grounds.
According to The Post and Courier, The Loyal White Knights from Pelham, North Carolina, applied for a permit to hold the rally a day after Gov. Nikki Haley's call, and were immediately condemned on Monday when the application was approved.
"This is our state, and they are not welcome," Haley said in a statement issued by her press office.
Robert Jones, the grand dragon for the KKK chapter, partially condemned the June 17 shooting at Emanuel AME Church allegedly perpetrated by white supremacist Dylann Roof.
"He was heading in the right direction; wrong target," Jones told the Courier. "He should have actually aimed at the African-American gang-bangers, the ones who are selling the drugs to white youth, the ones who are robbing and raping every chance they get."
James Spears, the great titan of the chapter,
told Politico that "the Confederate flag being took down for all the wrong reasons [sic]."
Activist Bree Newsome climbed the 30-foot flagpole at the capitol over the weekend, and removed the flag without permission. She was arrested, and the flag was soon replaced.
The South Carolina legislature will reconvene on July 6, and are expected to take up a bill to remove the flag from its place near a monument to the Confederacy.
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