National Knights of the KKK Honor Grand Wizard
Members celebrate Railton Loy's "50 years of service" to the group in South Bend, Indiana.
A couple of dozen members of theNational Knights of the Ku Klux Klan聽gathered to honor 鈥�50 years of service鈥� to white supremacy by Railton Loy, the 72-year-old and slightly doddering grand wizard of the group. 鈥淜KKongrats,鈥� members of the group wrote on their website. 鈥淕od Bless Your Lordship and may you rule for many years to come.鈥�
Loy, who uses the alias of Ray Larsen, says he joined a Klan group in Georgia in 1960, moved on to the United Klans of America in 1961, and then took 200 UKA members into the National Knights in 1973. On the death of leader James Venable in 1993, Loy ascended to national leader, a post he has held ever since. The recent festivities were marked with a sheet cake (鈥淜KK: Happy 50th Anniversary Grand Wizard鈥�), the presentation of a purple robe especially prepared for the occasion by an unnamed 鈥淕rand Dragoness,鈥� and, naturally, a cross burning.
The National Knights is the nation鈥檚 third largest Klan group, with 22 chapters in 20 states, but it has become an object of ridicule among many white supremacists for legendary antics like failing to find members鈥� cars after a rally, resulting in them being pelted by counter-protesters. Still, Loy鈥檚 bedazzled followers praised him on the group鈥檚 website in effusive if doubtful terms, saying he had 鈥渞aise[d] the status of the Klan beyond what many could ever dream of.鈥�
