Spectator Editorial: 'Redneck' rights
KKK store may be distasteful but should remain open
Issue date: 3/13/08 Section: Editorial/Opinion
For better or worse, being racially offensive and distasteful isn't going to be enough to get closed down in our country.
According to a March 10 article from the Associated Press, a black civil rights activist is attempting to close a store in Laurens, S.C., that sells Ku Klux Klan and racist paraphernalia. The Redneck Shop, as the store is known, has been open since 1996 and sells Klan hoods, robes and pamphlets along with T-shirts emblazoned with racial slurs. David Kennedy, the civil rights activist trying to close the store, owns the building the store operates in after having the ownership being legally transferred to his Baptist church in 1997. Kennedy said he would like to use the building for his church but can't do so as long as the store is open.
Needless to say, this store and its contents are in bad taste. But the fact is there is no real basis to being able to close down the shop. According to the article, store operator John Howard is legally entitled to operate his business until he dies. Howard also has his First Amendment right of free speech, which he is exercising with the operation of his store. As long as nothing he does incites any racial violence, which he does not appear to be doing, he is free to keep his store open.
But just because there are no legal means for closing The Redneck Shop, it does not mean it can't be put out of business. The people of South Carolina still have the right to choose to not patronize the Redneck Shop, an economic expression of opinion. By continuing to protest outside his shop and encouraging members of the community not to buy anything from there, Howard could slowly be forced to close his store due to bad business. If the community can simply ignore The Redneck Shop, it will hopefully go away much as the sentiments expressed by the items in Howard's store have largely done in this country.
According to a March 10 article from the Associated Press, a black civil rights activist is attempting to close a store in Laurens, S.C., that sells Ku Klux Klan and racist paraphernalia. The Redneck Shop, as the store is known, has been open since 1996 and sells Klan hoods, robes and pamphlets along with T-shirts emblazoned with racial slurs. David Kennedy, the civil rights activist trying to close the store, owns the building the store operates in after having the ownership being legally transferred to his Baptist church in 1997. Kennedy said he would like to use the building for his church but can't do so as long as the store is open.
Needless to say, this store and its contents are in bad taste. But the fact is there is no real basis to being able to close down the shop. According to the article, store operator John Howard is legally entitled to operate his business until he dies. Howard also has his First Amendment right of free speech, which he is exercising with the operation of his store. As long as nothing he does incites any racial violence, which he does not appear to be doing, he is free to keep his store open.
But just because there are no legal means for closing The Redneck Shop, it does not mean it can't be put out of business. The people of South Carolina still have the right to choose to not patronize the Redneck Shop, an economic expression of opinion. By continuing to protest outside his shop and encouraging members of the community not to buy anything from there, Howard could slowly be forced to close his store due to bad business. If the community can simply ignore The Redneck Shop, it will hopefully go away much as the sentiments expressed by the items in Howard's store have largely done in this country.
Viewing Comments 1 - 5 of 5
kkk blows
posted 3/13/08 @ 10:57 AM CST
Why doesn't Kennedy jack up the rent if he owns the building. Yes, the idiot, I mean redneck, has the right to have his business, but Kennedy could charge whatever rent he wanted and the redneck would have to move his business elsewhere. (Continued…)
Selika Ducksworth Lawton
posted 3/13/08 @ 1:14 PM CST
I believe the area has rent control. The earlier poster is right that the shop could be forced to close if it doesn't get business. If the whites of South Carolina stop patronizing it, it will be shuttered. (Continued…)
jobu
posted 3/15/08 @ 11:38 PM CST
Interesting chronology. He (or his church) bought the building in 1997, at a time when the store had only had a year to establish itself, and he's been renting to them for 11 years. (Continued…)
jobu
posted 3/16/08 @ 1:18 AM CST
I found the AP article...brace yourselves: Kennedy purchased the building FROM THE OWNER OF THE SHOP, AND AGREED THAT HE COULD RUN HIS BUSINESS IN IT FOR LIFE. (Continued…)
Roger Grant
posted 4/03/08 @ 8:24 AM CST
I am a resident of South Carolina and people hate Kennedy more than the Redneck Shop.
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