Just what we all need, a visit from the Klan:

PHILADELPHIA — When Edgar Ray Killen’s murder trial starts April 18 for the 1964 killings of three civil rights workers, the Ku Klux Klan is expected to be there.

J.J. Harper of Cordele, Ga., imperial wizard of the American White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, is requesting permission to demonstrate on the lawn of the Neshoba County Courthouse in support of Killen, an 80-year-old sawmill owner and part-time preacher who pleaded innocent to murder last month in the June 21, 1964, Klan killings of James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman.

The Web site of the American White Knights shows a hanging post with three nooses holding the severed hands of African Americans. The post reads “Murder in Mississippi,” but the word “Murder” is crossed out in red with the word “Justice” written over it.

Harper said his organization is both Christian and nonviolent, but he says on his Web site: “Brother Killen is being charged with murdering a n——- and two Jews back in 1964. Personally, I’d ask, ‘What’s wrong with that?’ ”

With tactics like this, one has to wonder whether the Klan is trying to get Killen convicted. Not that he probably needs much help in that department, mind you.