May 23, 2019
UPDATE: A large law enforcement contingent kept the peace as only nine HSK members and associates participated in Saturday’s rally. Yards away, separated by a fence and a wall of police, hundreds of counter-protesters drowned out the barely visible Klan group with a united and peaceful message against hate.
The Honorable Sacred Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (HSK), a small Madison, Indiana-based Klan group led by Derek Dean Eaglin and Kate Nicole Eaglin, has scheduled a Memorial Day weekend Klan rally for Saturday, May 25 at the old courthouse in Dayton, Ohio.
To find a Klan rally of any significance requires a look back almost two years to July 2017 when approximately 50 individuals associated with the Loyal White Knights rallied in Charlottesville, Virginia. The relative lack of Klan activity, both nationwide and in Ohio, demonstrates the long-term decline of this segment of the white supremacist movement.
The most recent Klan activity in Ohio consisted of two propaganda distributions last summer (July and August 2018) by the Loyal White Knights. ADL also recorded a February 2018 flier distribution by the East Coast Knights. None of these events took place in Dayton.
In a YouTube video posted on May 26, 2019, a member of the HSK said the group chose Dayton because, “We have members and supporters that live there, and we they know there are whites that live there that are looking for a white-only group to call family.” They also said the purpose of the rally is to “educate white people on the beliefs of the HSK and to know and realize the importance of their race and heritage.”
The Eaglins formed the HSK in late 2017 after a short stint as members of the Nordic Order Knights, a Kentucky-based Klan group. Since its formation, the HSK has held several small public demonstrations. In October 2018, approximately seven members distributed propaganda during a flash demonstration in Scottsburg, Indiana.
Their fliers claimed that they “will no longer allow non-whites, the liberal left, or political correctness [to] destroy our white culture and heritage.” The same day, the group posted a YouTube video showing approximately 15 people participating in a private cross burning.
In September 2018, HSK held the year’s only public, pre-announced Klan rally. Hundreds counter-protested approximately 13 HSK members and associates during the group’s “Kookout” at Jaycee Park in Madison, Indiana. And in July 2018, the Eaglins, and at least one other Klansman, were asked to leave after they attempted to join a counter-protest of “Occupy ICE Louisville” outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Louisville, Kentucky.
In addition to the HSK, which has 10 to 15 members, a loosely affiliated collection of white supremacists has also expressed interest in participating in Saturday’s rally in Dayton.