Asa Carter and John Kasper: White Resistance in Tennessee, 1956

by Brandon Taylor

DATELINE: Clinton, Tennessee, county seat of Anderson County; Wednesday, August 29, 1956

Clinton population: under 4,000; Anderson County: 98% White

Over the preceding couple of days, John Kasper of the Seaboard White Citizens Councils, Washington DC area, had been in Clinton, rallying resistance to forced school integration, by door-to-door leafleting and making rousing speeches to the local citizens. On Wednesday night, more than a thousand local residents had gathered in front of the courthouse to hear Kasper. As he began to speak, two federal marshals handed him an injunction issued by a US District judge, ordering him to cease activities interfering with the integration of Clinton High School. The crowd rallied to Kasper’s aid and the marshals backed down. They did not take him into custody and Kasper continued to speak. He gave a rousing and very inspiring speech. Unfortunately, only one small grainy photo is known to exist of John Kasper speaking that night. No video or audio recording is known to exist. And only a few short quotations survive of the account from local newspapers. The police made no effort to forcibly disperse the crowd or stop Kasper from speaking. The speech was over by 9 p.m. and the crowd peacefully left the courthouse square.

Friday, August 31, 1956

During the day, John Kasper is jailed for contempt of court on a charge relating to resisting the Clinton, Tennessee forced school integration program. News of his incarceration gets out via Knoxville’s two country music radio stations, WNOX and WKVL. Through that afternoon, carloads of White men drive into town and began milling around the courthouse square. John Kasper’s good friend, Asa Carter, hears of the arrest and immediately gasses up his car and makes the five-hour drive to Clinton, Tennessee with his brother Doug Carter.

By early evening, a crowd estimated at more than a thousand had filled the streets facing the Anderson County Courthouse, chanting “Free John Kasper! Free John Kasper! Free John Kasper!”

Just after 7:30 p.m., a black-suited Asa Carter climbs the steps of the courthouse and turns to face the gathered crowd.

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Asa Carter: I’m Ace Carter. I’m from Alabama.

The crowd roared with applause.

I came here because I have four children. Today, the courts were trying to take a White child and a Nigra child and mongrelize our children. Because John Kasper resisted, he was under political arrest at the hands of a carpetbagging judge. Make no mistake, Clinton, Tennessee, is part of a broader campaign to silence the voices of those who defended White civilization.

And who were the traitors who enabled them? The ‘get-along,’ ‘go-along’ compromisers and the lying news media who had defamed the God-fearing, working-class people who are simply trying to protect the purity of their children. In the South, we have 98% Anglo-Saxon race, not counting the Niggers.

These are the responsible people who erect free government and who have stood up and told the Nigra you must operate… you must conduct yourself from a separate station.

But the Communist says, “One world government, one world economy, one world geographically, and a one world race!”

These are difficult days. Whites make up only 30 per cent. of the world’s population, but even in the South with a large colored population, Whites sprang from an undiluted racial background.

Here is the problem. For the last generation, we haven’t been White men. Instead, rich and powerful so-called leaders betrayed their birthright by refusing to take action while organizations like the NAACP took over the country. This will not stand. We are here to protect our wives, and our daughters, and our mothers. Remember the Ku Klux Klan of our forefathers. The reason we don’t have banana-colored skin, kinky hair, and thick lips is because of leaders like Nathan Bedford Forrest!

As the crowd cheers him on, Carter smacks his right fist into his open left palm and, one by one, lists the Supreme Court justices, each name followed by the crowd’s shout: “Traitor!”

We shall not submit to Nigra dominion another day, another hour, another moment. And if the federal government say, “this be treason” then let them hear it: Behind every ballot is a bayonet.

Are you cowards, or are you an Anglo-Saxon?

This is a White man’s country, conceived by a White man, maintained by a White man.

Now act like White men.

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As Carter descended the steps of the courthouse, an estimated 300 members of the crowd surged through the streets and broke out into a riot of resistance against integration.

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Author’s Note: Retired Admiral John Crommelin was a key supporter of John Kasper and Asa Carter. Crommelin introduced Kasper to Carter and provided the funding to get the Seaboard White Citizens Councils started. Crommelin shows up frequently in the Dan T. Carter book (see Bibliography below), helping the ‘good guys’ out at key moments.

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Bibliography

Robert S. Griffin: http://www.robertsgriffin.com/TaleKasper.pdf

Carter, Dan T.. Unmasking the Klansman: The Double Life of Asa and Forrest Carter. University of Georgia Press, 2023.

Documentary film: The Reconstruction of Asa Carter, PBS Broadcast, 2012. Director Marco Ricci.

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Source: Author