Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a potential Republican presidential candidate, has a unique take on the civil rights era that ignited his Deep South state.

In an interview with the Weekly Standard, Barbour said things weren't so bad in his hometown of Yazoo City. He even recalled going with friends to hear the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speak at the fairground.

As for the Ku Klux Klan, it was non-existent in Yazoo, he said.

"You heard of the Citizens Councils? Up north they think it was like the KKK," said Barbour. "Where I come from it was an organization of town leaders. In Yazoo City they passed a resolution that said anybody who started a chapter of the Klan would get their ass run out of town...

As for his trip to hear King, when asked to recall what the civil rights leader spoke about, Barbour offered this:

"I don't really remember. The truth is, we couldn't hear very well. We were sort of out there on the periphery. We just sat on our cars, watching the girls, talking, doing what boys do. We paid more attention to the girls than to King."

Here is what the Citizen’s Council was really about.

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