It was early spring, 1968, in the small Lowcountry town of Somerset, South Carolina, that Dr. Shmuel Sanavabisch left a note on Lamar Heard’s front door, directly below which, on the threshold, he left a handmade pipe bomb requiring only the timer to be switched on to blow Lamar’s house, and maybe a neighbor’s or two, to smithereens.
The note on the front door:
To: Lamar Heard, Grand Master of the Somerset County Ku Klux Klan
From: White People Against the Klan
The Somerset County Ku Klux Klan herewith is denied the right to freedom of assembly.
Any gathering of two or more Klan members in which references are made to Jews Catholics OR Negroes constitute herewith an “assembly”.
If such an assembly herewish gathers, be warned:
Our weaponry will destroy you.
The timer will be on.
Well, that pretty much did it. Addy Popkin, Herman the haberdasher’s wife, told Mom that for Lamar’s wife, May Ellen Heard, that was the last straw, the one that broke the camel’s back. Addy said that May Ellen told her that she just sat Lamar down right there at the kitchen table and explained to him that he and his buddies were just going to have to find something else to do to occupy their time, at which point Lamar seemed to be looking at her for any suggestions she might have, which she ignored for the moment. She could deal with that later. Lamar, she said, pay attention now. Not only must you find a new hobby—
A new hobby? said Lamar. Honey, this is...
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