Should the KKK be able to Adopt-A-Highway? – Survey of the Day

A Ku Klux Klan group is trying to join Georgia’s “Adopt-A-Highway” program to clean up litter on a mile-long stretch of road on part of Route 515. The move is causing all kinds of controversy and a quandary for state officials. Should the KKK be allowed to adopt the highway? 

State officials are hesitant to acknowledge a group with a violent, racist past on a roadside sign. The International Keystone Knights of the KKK applied last month to adopt part of Route 515 in the Appalachian Mountains. The Georgia Department of Transportation met with lawyers from the state Attorney General’s Office yesterday to decide how to proceed. The program enlists volunteers from groups and companies to pick up trash. Each group that volunteers is named on a sign along the road it adopts. April Chambers, the KKK group’s secretary, said she applied for the program to keep the scenic highway beautiful, not for publicity.

The current manifestation of the KKK is splintered into several chapters with no connections between each other; They are still classified as a hate group. It is estimated to have between 3,000 and 5,000 members as of 2012.