La. Slaying Recalls History of Racial Turmoil

In the 1990s, former Klan leader David Duke was in such a tight gubernatorial race against incumbent Edwin Edwards that opponents, fearful business would shun the state if Duke was in the governor's mansion, crafted a bumper sticker stating "Vote for the Crook, It's Important." Edwards, whose scandalous reputation inspired the slogan, won, though he was later jailed in a gambling payoff scandal.

As many as 20,000 people marched in September 2007 in the north Louisiana town of Jena in defense of six black teenagers accused of attempted murder in the beating of a white classmate. The march attracted national leaders and was hailed as reviving the national consciousness on civil rights.

And since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, New Orleans black leaders have complained that blacks have not been treated fairly under federal recovery policies.

This week's killing was at a campsite where investigators found weapons, Confederate flags and six Klan robes, some emblazoned with patches reading "KKK LIFE MEMBER" or "KKK SECURITY Enforcement."

Authorities said the group's members called themselves the Dixie Brotherhood.

Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which investigates and collects information on hate groups, was not familiar with the group. Seven Klan chapters of "various stripes" are in Louisiana, Potok said.

Potok said that although hate groups have grown over the past several years -- coinciding with discontent over illegal immigration -- Klan factions are not solidly organized in Louisiana or nationwide. He said that 34 separate Klan organizations with 155 chapters operate across the country with as many as 6,000 members -- small numbers in his estimation.

"Really, it's a pathetic collection of losers and thugs," Potok said. "Even across the radical right, most people look down their nose at the Klan these days."

Felton Adams, a white, 60-year-old retired boat captain and lifelong Bogalusa resident who acknowledges the 1960s racial strife, said he thinks the weekend ritual was an aberration carried out by "wannabe Klansmen."

"These people were just trying to be something they're not," Adams said.

On Wednesday, public officials promised to fight any perception that Louisiana is sliding on race relations.

"It's a setback, not only for my community, but for the whole area, and it's something I'm not going to tolerate," said Bogalusa Mayor James "Mack" McGehee, who is white.

State Rep. Harold L. Ritchie, who represents the Washington Parish seat of Franklinton, said he wants to be sure the Klan group is no bigger than the "eight crazies" who were arrested.

"I thought we were long past that," said Ritchie, who is white. "I hoped all I would have to do is read about this sort of thing in the history books."