From: windy@pencom.com (Windflower Gilbert)
Newsgroups: austin.general
Subject: Moon the  Klan
Date: 12 Jan 93 15:38:37 GMT
Reply-To: windy@pencom.com
Organization: Pencom Software

John Kelso, "Bubba columnist" for the Austin paper reports 
(American-Statesman, Saturday, 1/9/93):

 > When Ku Klux Klan members rally at the Capitol a week from today, they
 > may see something they will never forget - a mass mooning.
 >
 > This mind-boggling and completely unusual proposition is the brainchild
 > of Austin musician Steve Fromholz.  If you want to moon the Klan, just
 > show up and join in with Fromholz.  You don't even need a ticket.  No
 > place but Austin.
 >
 > "I can see the bumper stickers now - I mooned the Klan, Austin '93,"
 > says Fromholz, who to date has only a half dozen or so friends lined up
 > for the extravaganza.  But he expects many volunteers will make plans  
to
 > attend, once the word gets out.
 >
 > "I'm certain there are a lot of people in Austin who would leap at the
 > opportunity to moon the Klan," Fromholz says.  "There are some in the
 > community who would worry about losing their place in the community, or
 > losing their job  But there are some of us who don't have to worry  
about
 > that."
 >
 > Fromholz likes this idea because he sees it as a peaceful way to show
 > the Klan that it isn't appreciated around these parts.  It would be  
nice
 > to completely ignore the Klan, but you know that won't happen.
 >
 > Sooooo, instead of getting all worked up and cussing and blowing your
 > top, drop your britches, pull them up, then walk off, Fromholz  
suggests.
 >
 > "It's a way to say, `We don't need you, go someplace else to get
 > mooned,'" Fromholz said.  "It's a very simple way of saying, 'I hold  
the
 > Klan in total disrespect.'  Just moon them and walk away and go back to
 > work.  Just laugh at them. Don't shout at them and shoot them the
 > finger."
 >
 > Fromholz is so serious about this that he called Travis County Sheriff
 > Terry Keel to ask if a group mooning is legal.  Imagine calling the
 > Sheriff's office and asking that question.  I'll be you would get
 > transferred a bunch, huh?
 >
 > "I had a nice conversation with Steve about that," Keel said.  He says  
a
 > group mooning is legal as long as the participants don't get too
 > explicit, you might say.  He says the law regarding this activity does
 > not address "the subject of cheeks."
 >
 > Keel also said that though he couldn't give the group mooning his
 > "official blessing or clearance," he thought it was a good concept.
 > "Steve has the right approach," he said.  "People counterdemonstrate,
 > which is the wrong way to handle it."
 >
 > Anyway, it must have been an interesting conversation.
 >
 > "It's hilarious and he was all excited when he talked to me about it,"
 > Keel recalled.  "What was the word he used?  It was as if a vision came
 > to him."
 >
 > "It came to me in a flash of light," said Fromholz, who even has his
 > outfit picked out for the affair - a pair of jeans over red long johns.
 >
 > "You got to believe," he said.  "It's like keeping Tinkerbell alive.
 > But I can picturalize it, and if I can picturalize it, it will usually
 > happen."
 >
 > So what should you do if you want to involve your civic group in this
 > mass mooning of the Klan?  Simple come around and go for it.  Junior
 > Leaguers, Lions, SOSers, developers - come one, come all.  Fromholz  
sees
 > this as a community thing, although I think there are some of y'all who
 > should stay in the house.  I won't name any names, though.  I don't  
need
 > the aggravation.
 >
 > OK.  So I'll name one.  Radio guy Bob Cole.
 >
 > "It has great possibilities if the Optimises would come out, and the  
VFW
 > and the American Legion, and perhaps the Legislature," Fromholz said.
 > "They showed their (fannies) all t he way through this last session."
 >
 > Fromholz advises anyone taking part to keep their distance from the  
Klan
 > members, though.
 >
 > "Mooning a rally is a lot different than mooning a parade," he
 > explained.  "The thing is you've got to be careful with a rally.
 > They're not marching by, so they might kick you in the moon, and  
they're
 > notorious moon-kickers."
 >
 > No matter what you think about this, it sure is unique.
 >
 > "I don't think anyone's ever mooned the Klan before, at least not en
 > masse," Fromholz said.  "But it's an idea whose time has come.  And I
 > think Martin Luther King would approve.  This is nonviolent protest at
 > its best."
 >
 > Maybe so.  But I wonder how they'll handle it on CNN?


--
Windflower Gilbert
	The opinions expressed here are mine alone and do not 
	represent my employer's opinions.
Newsgroups: austin.general