Auctions With Problems

Date: Apr 9, 2005
Contributor: Tameka Cajigas

KKK auction moves to Mason

Howell man to sell divisive material on Sunday.

Chris Janzer understands why a Howell auctioneer had a hard time finding a home for his second auction of Ku Klux Klan items.

Janzer, a Howell resident, doesn't want his city to have the stigma of hosting a Klan auction, and he believes residents in other areas feel the same. Livingston County for years has tried to shake its reputation as a place that's unfriendly to minorities, he said.

"People that have lived here a while are probably sick of the reputation," said Janzer, 26. "People who move here don't like the stigma. There have been times when I haven't wanted to say I live here."

The second auction will be held in Mason in Ingham County on Sunday after the auctioneer, Gary Gray, was forced to find a new location three times. His first auction of Klan items was in January in Howell.

The auction will only add to the perception of Livingston County as a racist place, Howell in particular, since the auctioneer lives in the city, Janzer said. And that's not fair, he said.

Sue Baczkiewicz, a longtime Howell resident, said the second auction only degrades her city.

"We're beyond this prejudice," Baczkiewicz said. "This is not Howell."

There is a history of KKK activity in Livingston County. Former KKK Grand Dragon Robert Miles lived in Cohoctah Township, north of Howell, where he burned crosses and held KKK rallies. He died in 1992.

There have been other instances of racism in the county over the years. An auction of KKK paraphernalia at the Ole' Gray Nash Auction Gallery earlier this year stirred up many of those memories.

Local leaders condemned the auction, saying the items and the auction don't represent Howell or Livingston County. Some raised money to buy one of the robes through the Livingston 2001 Diversity Council, a local group that promotes tolerance throughout the region.

The group bought the robe for $700 and donated it to the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia at Ferris State University in Big Rapids. The group intended the purchase to serve as a statement that Howell embraces diversity and not the racist incidents of its past.

But the media storm that followed the auction also brought out more people who want to sell hate-group paraphernalia, Gray said. He said he doesn't endorse any of the group's politics or actions. He sees the items as pieces of history.

"I do this because I like history and antiques," Gray said.

Gray agreed to sell his new items at the Sunday auction. Local leaders and residents again are condemning the auction.

"Why bring a bunch of old dirt up that we don't care about anymore?" Baczkiewicz said. "It's not us."

About half of the hundreds of items that will be auctioned off are from the Miles estate in Livingston County. The paraphernalia fills Gray's auction house. The first auction started out with a single KKK robe. The second auction has racks of them of all shapes, sizes and colors. There also are items ranging from a copy of "Mein Kampf," Adolf Hitler's autobiography, to a collection of Black Panther magazines.

Locating enough items for the auction hasn't been a problem for Gray. Finding a place to hold the auction has proven much more difficult.

"This one has caused me a lot of stress, and it shouldn't have," Gray said.

He held the first auction in his auction house in downtown Howell. Hundreds of people flooded his storefront and the area around it to either attend or protest.

Gray had booked the auction in two other locations before coming back to Livingston County. The first location in Flint canceled Gray's reservation when local media started to ask questions. The second place, Horizons Conference Center in Saginaw Township, canceled Gray's reservation earlier this week.

"As soon as we were aware of what it was about we canceled it," Horizons' General Manager Peter Shaheen said. "They sort of misrepresented themselves to us. They said it was an antique auction."

Gray disagrees, saying he was upfront with them. He then tried to hold the auction under a large tent in a field in Handy Township near the corner of Hogback and Sharpe roads. Again he faced resistance.

Handy Township Supervisor Cindy Denby said the auction would violate the township's zoning code. She noted the property Gray wanted to hold his auction on is zoned agricultural.

"It's not zoned for commercial use," Denby said.

Gray announced Thursday that the auction will be held in Mason at 205 Mason St. In a worst-case scenario, he said, he would hold several other smaller auctions at his storefront in Howell this year.

"What these politicians are upset about is that I am making a profit," Gray said.

He is preparing for 600 people to attend but believes fewer will come because the location has changed so many times.

Not everyone in Livingston County is against the auction. Howell resident Brandon Rogers, 31, doesn't really care if it takes place or not. To him, it's just a bunch of history.

"I guess somebody has a bunch of stuff in their attic they wanted to sell," Rogers said. "I don't think that's racist."

Kristin Dombrowski, a college student, grew up on Hogback Road. She doesn't have a problem with the auction as long as it's not being done to promote the Klan.

"I'm not really concerned about it as much as I am that they're doing it for the right reasons," Dombrowski said



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