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A visit to the Redneck Shop
In an abandoned movie theater just off the historic town square in Laurens, S.C. , a new business is awakening deep-seated passions in Southerners that date back to the Civil War.
The Redneck Shop, and its backroom Ku Klux Klan Museum, recently overcame legal attempts by the town to shut it down and is now doing a brisk business selling T-shirts, caps, jackets, belt buckles, confederate flags and bumper stickers celebrating the "heritage" that’s supposed to be the soul of the Southern redneck culture.
While traveling in my native state of South Carolina, a friend and I decided to visit the tiny establishment that has generated headlines throughout the world and triggered protests and racial tension in this quiet Southern community.
We found proprietor John Howard, an enthusiastic living encyclopedia of Klan history, happily answering questions and ringing up purchases to a shop filled with a mix of local friends (the redneck camaraderie was palpable) and quiet curiosity seekers feeling a little on edge.
The ice was broken when we asked Howard why there were several pictures of former President Warren G. Harding on the walls. Howard proudly proclaimed Harding "the first Klan member president of the United States" and directed us to a fuzzy photograph that supposedly depicted the Klan’s funeral for Harding after he died in 1923 after only 30 months in office.
Howard told us that many of the old South’s most revered political, business and military figures, some still celebrated today in public monuments at state government buildings, were Klan members. However, he insisted, history has been cleaned up in recent years and the Klan associations have been largely removed from the celebratory stories told today about these Southern icons.
A self-described "educator" on Klan matters, Howard works hard to convince visitors that the Klan is not a racist organization. He sits under a confederate flag with the slogan: "Heritage Not Hate." He talks about Christian values, defending women and children, and protecting the culture from undefined enemies.
Yet, in an instant, he switches from Klan evangelist to a man hawking $1 Xerox copies of "Whites Only" signs from restaurants, restrooms and other public facilities. He offered to sell me a kit for organizing a Klan chapter in my home town, and suggested that I might buy a Klan hood and robe ($100 for a basic white model; $150 for a brightly-colored leadership version).
Selected visitors are allowed by Howard to go down a hall into the Klan Museum, located in a large room at the rear of the building. There, the centerpiece of the exhibit is a cluster of mannequins wearing Klan robes and hoods. The walls are covered with photos and posters. Display cases are packed with memorabilia, containing an array of medals, buttons, pamphlets and kitsch that might be generated over time by any major political party. And in one display case was a chilling Klan calling card that stated: "You’ve been visited by the Ku Klux Klan. This was a social call. Please don’t make the next visit a business call."
Comments on this story:
On 11/20/2006 3:29:50 PM, Anonymous said:
There was no doubt the popularity of the Klan movement in the 1920's. The Republican branch was strong in Wisconsin where Kimberly-Clark was naming it's feminine hygiene product line, Kleenex, Kotex and Kurbs but only these THREE even though they had a product called Quest that they could have spelled with a K they chose to only have THREE K's. F.J. Sensenbrenner was a partner in the newly formed K-C Cellucotton Co. that produced these products.
On 5/23/2007 10:39:10 AM, Anonymous said:
I've been by the Redneck Shop while visiting in Laurens and it was closed for the evening. I really want to go back and see it just out of curiousity.
On 3/10/2008 12:58:58 PM, pstwkr said:
Seriously disturbing that this is still alive and breeding in the 21st century. There's nothing wrong with being proud of your heritage. However, the Klan cannot deny the lies and foundation of oxymorons it is built on just as described in the threatening card described above. They say they are not about hate and intimidation. Yet their history shows this to be all they are about Everyone is well aware of what a "business call" by the Klan entailed! Pitiful and just plain pathetic!!!
On 3/10/2008 7:35:59 PM, Jonais said:
I have been there and its a lovely shop, and the people running it were very nice and hard working individuals. They helped me pick out some choice pieces for a college essay on WW2, and didnt mind that I didnt follow thier beliefs.Overall...while there is alot ot not like about the 'idea' of the store...keep in mind that this is America, and that that store represents a myriad of American principles - Namely Free speach and the Right to self determination [they are selling what they believe in, whether you like it or not, that is thier American right].And as far as im concerned, with the Bush administration and past government leaders that we have had trying to strip of our rights ever so slowly [see patriot act for a start]...I am all for stores of this kind which stick out like a sore thumb and have people trying to shut it down...yet it violates not a single American law and is infact backed up by it.
On 3/25/2008 11:53:37 PM, tickle_me_pink200518 said:
I live in laurens and I think that people should mind their own business as far as trying to shut it down. No ONE in that shop bothers anyone and just because we are proud of our history and like to have shops like that around doesn't mean that we still do what the Klan did back then. This is the 21st history and if we can't get over the past then we will never move away from racism.
On 9/3/2008 2:36:40 AM, Anonymous said:
The KKK was started by Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Democrat. The Confederacy was run by Jefferson Davis, a Democrat. Abraham Lincoln was a Republican. Frederick Douglass was a Republican. Segregation was imposed and enforced by Democrats, and ultimately overturned by Republicans. When the Civil Rights Act was passed, 92% of Republicans voted in favor of it, and 62% of Democrats voted against it.
Just wanted to interject that info.
On 11/5/2008 12:57:07 AM, Anonymous said:
No matter what the political party is, wrong is still wrong. Throwing out names that are usually associated with minorities means little. It's the mind set and ideals of a person that defines them, not their party affiliation......that's pathetic. Besides, half of the Republicans are undercover Democrats anyway....and vise versa. Just an addition to your interjection.
On 1/6/2009 4:50:43 PM, Anonymous said:
Just got back from a visit to Laurens, SC and the Redneck Shop. I picked up several awesome t-shirts and bumper-stickers there. Mr. Howard, I appreciate what you are doing there. I'll see ya again the next time I visit SC.
On 1/6/2009 9:09:20 PM, Anonymous said:
To 1/6/2009 4:50:43 PM: Your post is highly suspect - but this redneck shop is very disturbing. I googled a bit and found that the "National Socialist Movement" out of Detroit Michigan (one of the country's most segregated regions) actually bought it (http://www.nsm88.org/commandersdesk/red_neck_shop_bought.html).
On 4/7/2009 11:30:41 AM, Anonymous said:
i think this shop needs to be removed. I just recently moved to Laurens and I think the ideals that the shop carries is offensive to those who are and may still be subjugated to the negativities of the past and present actions of the KKK. This town is almost 50/50 white and black...and we all live together peacefully. We all respect each other. So why continue to house a shop that disrespects one race. How do you explain to a small black child that this organization may have been responsibile for hanging you great great grandfather or buring downn your great aunt's church?...
On 4/7/2009 11:41:05 AM, Lamar said:
If the town is 50/50 black and white, and you all live together peacefully and respect each other, what's the problem? Isn't it possible that the offensive shop reminds people of how ugly racism is? Quite frankly, I think they should tell that small black child exactly what you said. Isn't that what we would refer to as "truth"?
On 5/5/2009 8:27:30 AM, Anonymous said:
Just typical. America seems more interested in it's "freedom of speech" than the actual freedom of it's citizens to live in a country free of bigotry and hatred. Why not set up a Nazi recruiting office next door and be done with it. I would wonder if the people in the community would welcome a museum of gay rights or a museum of the black panthers?
On 6/9/2009 12:20:44 AM, Anonymous said:
they should open the jigaboo general store next to it.
On 9/2/2009 1:16:29 AM, Anonymous said:
I have been . I have had long talks with jhon and trust me nothing about jhon is hate . he is just a teacher bigotry and hatred wake up its just the past. I care about every one black white pink blue . hes just teaching . leave him alone its his right you take that away you take your rights away to . thats whats rong with us all. cant do this . cant do that then all of the sudden YOU cant do any thing. BE WHO YOU ARE BE STRONG AND BELIVE IN GOD A PRAY. THE WORLD IS IN TROUBLE WE ALL SEE IT BUT WHAT DO WE DO.
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