A last minute appeal on the Klan's behalf to the Supreme Court was denied by Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Progressives in New York were divided over the issue of whether the Klan, as a white supremacist and terrorist organization, should be granted the right to publicly demonstrate. Seven in Harlem, supported the right for the Klan to demonstrate. Despite these differences over the issue of civil liberties, all progressives agreed that the Klan should be confronted and denounced by united action. New York police estimated the anti-Klan protesters at 6,000, although most observers placed the crowd at over ten thousand.
History never repeats itself the same way twice.
Yet there were some parallels between Greensboro in 1979 and New York City in 1999. While the NYPD protected the Klansmen, fourteen anti-Klan demonstrators were arrested by police. Many observed that it was more than curious that over three thousand police officers had been ordered into Harlem to intimidate and disrupt the 1998 Million Youth March, but only 200 cops were detailed to the Klan demonstration, primarily to insure the safety and welfare of the Klansmen. Instead of Klan executions, we have witnessed the assault and murder of unarmed black people by the New York Police Street Crimes Unit. There is a clear connection between what happened in Greensboro with the murder of Amadou Diallo.