[Marxism] Robe auction date is moved

["Charles Brown" <cbrown@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Robe auction date is moved


It's rescheduled because of King


January 12, 2005

BY MARSHA LOW
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

The white satin Ku Klux Klan robe was scheduled to hit Gary Gray's auction
block Saturday, on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.

The Howell auctioneer never thought twice about the date. And the irony of
his decision never dawned on him until his phone began to ring and dozens of
angry people called him a racist.

Still, Gray said he had no plan to reschedule the auction -- until a
representative of a Detroit-based radio station called Monday.

"He asked me in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., and to respect all people,
would I move the auction date," said Gray, owner of the Ole' Gray Nash
Auction Gallery. "How could I say no? It was not my intention to offend
anyone."

And so the robe and several KKK-produced bumper stickers and records will be
auctioned Jan. 29.

Outrage swept through Howell and Livingston County last week when Gray hung
the KKK robe prominently in his store window. Residents called to complain
and city leaders asked Gray to take it down.

He obliged, but he also accepted money from people who wanted to take
pictures with the robe. Gray said the money would be donated to a local
charity.

Early this week, the Rev. Dan McKean of St. Patrick Catholic Church in
Brighton called Gray, offering him $1,500 for the robe.

"The congregation wanted to bring healing to the community by taking the
item off the market and have it destroyed or displayed in the proper context
of a museum," McKean said. "Our congregation is one of many in the community
that would really like to see a more responsible response to what has
happened."

Gray declined the church's offer.

"The priest is welcome to come here and purchase the robe on the 29th," Gray
said. "I won't discriminate against my other customers. His offer is a way
out, but it doesn't seem fair to everyone."

Gray, who expects to collect more than $2,000 for the robe, said he has
received numerous calls from interested buyers.

The church will donate the $1,500 it was prepared to spend on the robe to
the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit.



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