SCOUTING YESTERDAY | KKK rally through Sioux Falls spurs parade permitting
This week in South Dakota history: Sept. 27-Oct. 3
An estimated 300 masked members of the Ku Klux Klan marched through the streets of Sioux Falls a century ago this week.
And the Sept. 27, 1924, Klan rally occurred despite requests from city officials for the group to abandon its plans or at least march unmasked to prevent civil unrest, according to Argus Leader archives.
Two weeks before the march, Mayor Thomas McKinnon approved the use of the city-owned Coliseum for a Klan meeting. Noting that KKK members were taxpaying citizens, breaking no laws, and paying the rental fee, the mayor said he was forced to allow its use. A phone call from several prominent citizens of the city would change the mayor’s mind, however, and he revoked the permit three days later, saying he would “keep them out of it if I have to use every member of the police force to do it.”
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