KKK demonstration draws hundreds of protesters to Ole Miss

A small group of Ku Klux Klan members want Mississippi students to know that they're fans of the song "From Dixie With Love."

In a brief rally Saturday, shy of a dozen KKK members gathered at the University of Mississippi to show their support for the song, which the school band was recently forbidden from playing. Their gathering was planned ahead of an Ole Miss football game.

The demonstration, however, did not last more than 10 minutes, according to the Associated Press.

'"From Dixie with Love' is one of Ole Miss’ traditional songs on game day, and the student section has chanted 'the South will rise again' during the song for years, said Brian Ferguson, alumni chairman of the Colonel Reb foundation," The Daily Reveille, a Mississippi student newspaper, reported.

The school's chancellor banned the song after the Ole Miss Associated Student Body voted to replace chants of "the South will rise again" with "to hell with LSU." While the student body's vote was not enacted, Chancellor Dan Jones firmly agreed with the sentiment.

"We cannot even appear to support those outside our community who advocate a revival of racial segregation," he said, according to the AP. "We cannot fail to respond."

The short-lived KKK protest was originally planned to last an hour. An estimated 250 counter-protesters turned out, many wearing shirts which read: "Turn your back on hate."

"Two people were killed on campus in 1962 during riots when the first black student, James Meredith, was enrolled at the university," AP added. "Federal marshals had to protect Meredith during the court-ordered enrollment."

This video was published to YouTube on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009.

This video was published to YouTube on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009.

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