Mississippi Rising Coalition (MRC) President president Lea Campbell held a news conference Wednesday in Ocean Springs, Mississippi regarding a threatening video that was emailed to her by the United Dixie White Knights, a KKK chapter.

Campbell and Mississippi Rising are known for advocating that the Mississippi state flag be changed to a flag without the Confederate emblem.

"Y'all aren't going to take down our flag. We gonna fight," said a man in the video who referred to himself as "Reverend Smith," according to the Clarion Ledger. "This ain't no threat, nothing physical, but we gonna fight through the court system. We gonna fight through the legal way, the proper way."

The Sun Herald reports that, along with the video claiming that "this ain't no threat," the message sent to Campbell contained another message that could be perceived as a threat.

@SMSIndivisible @splcenter @sunherald @clarionledger @msdemocrats @NAACP @PrincessBravato @CNN @WLOX @DaveWLOX #klanisevil #Racism IN MS: The president of our coalition to change our state flag received this today. She’s giving a press conference at 11 at Ocean Springs CH. pic.twitter.com/HJt7mc5Rky— Pearl River County (@PRCDEC) March 28, 2018

"We want you to know that we are tired of your liberal, homosexual, anti-Biblical principals [sic] you're spreading. The boys are back and we're not backing down. Call us bigots if you want, but we win in the end," the message read.

Campbell and MRC say they aren't backing down, either.

"To the Klan and its allies, we will not be intimidated by your actions," said Campbell.

“I think that we have to be on guard, because it may not have been intended to be a threat but there may be some weak-minded individuals out there who may be emboldened by what they’ve put out there and that may lead to violent actions and that’s what we are afraid of," noted Jackson County NAACP President Curley Clark.

According to WLOX, the United Dixie White Knights released a statement admitting that they did, in fact, send the video. The Knights originally also posted the video to their YouTube channel, but have since deleted it.

"Yes, we put out the video and whether the Communist anti-First Amendment folks at YouTube like it or not, more are coming," read the statement, signed by Imperial Wizard Waller. "We opened multiple accounts way back to defeat their censorship to open up when we feel the need speak. A massive flier campaign will begin this spring in Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. As those areas are UDWK country. Any scoundral [sic] of a politician who feels like going against the voters of Mississippi in regards to our state flag, well we welcome them to step up to the plate so we can shine a bright spotlight upon their heads."

"By saying this is not a threat after the language they used in the video, it would be absurd to think they are not threatening — they are the United Dixie White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan," MRC board member TNathan Fairley said. "Take a moment to look at the 581 individuals that have been lynched in this state since the existence of the Klan and what they support."

"So, yes, we see this as a threat, but we are not our grandparents — we will not lie idly by while the Klan runs over us," Fairley continued.

Lea Campbell

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