H.K. Edgerton, ROT IN HELL!

Uncle Ruckus had nothing on this one. A Black man that loved the Confederacy and apologized for the Klan? This guy was the epitome of a fool.

H.K. Edgerton went from being president of the Asheville, North Carolina NAACP to being known for his neo-Confederate activism and cavorting with White Supremacists. He was  standing with a Confederate flag alongside events observing Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and to that end it seems fitting he died one day before the MLK holiday, ending any plans he might have had for that day this year or in the future.

According to news reports, Edgerton passed away peacefully in his sleep after a prolonged illness on Jan. 18 at the Asheville Veterans Administration Medical Center. He was 77.

Harold Kenneth Edgerton was born in Asheville, North Carolina and, after serving in the Vietnam War, graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1976 with a bachelor’s degree. His obituary noted that he was Chairman of the Board of the United Way Agency that was responsible for running the Sabathani Community Center in south Minneapolis, and that he founded the University of Minnesota Black Student Center.

At one point, Edgerton became head of the Asheville, N.C. branch of the NAACP, and it was in this role he began to support neo-Confederate beliefs and ideals, becoming a controversial figure in the process. In 1998, he had lunch with White supremacists prominent at the time; attorney Kirk Lyons, whose clients included Aryan Nations members and White Aryan Resistance founder Tom Metzger, and Neill Payne. During the lunch, the three posed for a picture where they all placed white napkins on their heads as if they were Ku Klux Klan hoods.  Edgerton scoffed at the outrage that ensued saying, “I break bread with the devil every day,” but it was not long after that lunch he was removed from his position for non-compliance with NAACP rules after his branch fell into debt.

Within a year of his dismissal, Lyons invited Edgerton to join the Chairman Board of Advisors of Lyons’  Southern Legal Resource Center. Lyons is just, “a misunderstood man,” Edgerton told the Southern Poverty Law Center. “If every bigot in America was Kirk Lyons, we’d never have another bigotry problem, ever.”

Edgerton would often defend the Klan saying once they were “just protecting the people — all of the people, black and white. Blacks wanted to be a part of that.” He reinforced this view further, defending their lynchings that they had been known for. “I don’t see (them) as terrorists,” he said. “I see them as — I hate to use the word ‘vigilante,’ but vigilante sometimes ain’t as bad as you think. When your government fails you and fails to protect you, you have to turn somewhere.” He also defended Former Alabama Governor George Wallace’s segregation in the sixties, slavery and believed, “The War Between the States is not over. This thing is real!”

Edgerton had been active in recent years promoting the Confederacy in protests and participating in efforts to stop removal of Confederate monuments and to whitewash history. “When you study history and look at it, the only man to ever care about the African people is the southern White man,” he said in an interview last year. “The Christian Judeo-Christian southern White man has been the only man who really showed them love and caring.” 

On Nov. 11, he attempted to take part in Hillsborough County, Florida Veterans Day ceremony at Veterans Memorial Park in Tampa wearing a Confederate Uniform and carrying a Confederate flag. He was asked to leave, being told he was causing a disturbance. A lawsuit was filed a month later.