Wednesday, September 16, 2009

The KKK







One branch of our family operated one of the Underground Railroad stations which helped smuggle slaves out of the south.

Another one other of my ancestors was a leader in the KKK. In our family archives we have a copy of a letter from one of my Scottish great-grandmothers that was written to her daughter (my grandmother) when when my great grandparents had been married 50 years. In her letter she describes what a really fine and Christian-like man my great grandfather was. She wrote this letter in 1924, approximately 75 years after slavery was theoretically ended in America.

In her letter she tells how proud she is that he “always goes unmasked.” It is clear that she felt that what the KKK was doing was in the best interests of decent and honest Christians. The white variety of course.

I have known many Southerners. I even lived in South Louisiana for a few years. By and large the vast majority of southern whites are racists. It is a rare exception who can escape this. In the last 20 years or so these southern whites have learned to camouflage their language, but when you get drunk with them it is clear that they still hate niggers and assume that all other whites do too. They just have to be quiet about it because of those liberals and Democrats.

These are honest, hard working people. For the most part they are not thieves, murderers, or child molesters. But they are horrible, ethnocentric, racist, and ignorant. They would disown one of their daughters if she decided to marry a black man.

For several months I have maintained that much of the criticism which one hears about President Obama and his policies is really a form of not very well disguised racism. It is nice now to be joined in this judgement by one of the former Presidents of the United States.

LINK: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8258011.stm

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