The Invisible Empire

Guess what, little junior? You get to light the cross tonight.

Last night I watched a two-hour documentary on the History Channel about the Ku Klux Klan. Let me tell you, these people are seriously screwed up. The whole thing made my stomach churn — I'm still sick this morning.

Founded in 1866, the KKK can be best described as a secret para-military organization that enforces a racial caste system. In many communities they were in total collusion with local law enforcement. Heck, in many cases police and deputies were KKK members!

The KKK reached its height in the mid-1920s, and there were MILLIONS of members. One thing that particularly sickened me is how they had the support of local churches. Yes, the Klan's message has always been about country, protestantism, and, oh yeah, white supremacy. Hey, Christians, you should learn the history of your religion because it's really sick.

Another way to describe the KKK is that it's a reactionary force made up of people who don't like change. It's all about protecting the social order, and the idea that America should always be a white, "Christian" nation. Hallelujah, amen, and God bless America.

Of interest is that there has been four major iterations of the Klan, and each time their hate list slightly changes:

• Blacks, Jews, Yankees
  
• Blacks, Jews, Catholics
• Blacks, Jews, Communists
• Blacks, Jews, Hispanics, Gays

Seriously, all that hating would just wear me out. They showed a modern-day Klan rally in North Carolina and the speakers were mainly talking about all the people they hate. Obviously, the members are made up of some seriously insecure white folks.

Another interesting thing about the KKK is how it markets and spins its message. For the last few decades Klan spokespersons have emphasized that the Klan is simply a "white rights" organization, similar to the organizations of various minority groups. Hmmm, I'm not sure about that.

I do remember seeing KKK road blocks in my community. I would see men, women, and children dressed in Klan military fatigues and passing out their white supremest newspaper. It was scary, and I'm a white guy — I can't imagine how intimidating and terrifying it would be for an African-American to see these freaks.

No one knows how many people the KKK has murdered in their 123-year history, but the estimate on the show was 100,000. They are definitely America's most infamous terrorist organization.

The moral of the story is that many people feel threatened by change to their social order, and they will go to extremes to maintain the status quo. Right now we have the gay movement and the environmental movement, and I am seeing people doing whatever they can to stop these movements. People are not as violent as they once were — they use different tactics like discrediting the information source, deliberately confusing the public with misinformation, going into denial, etc.. But one thing hasn't changed — people will still whip out their Bibles and babble some verse taken out of context to protect their so-called ORDER.

I guess it is human nature to resist change. Somehow, in many people's mind the "old way" is what is moral and good. This sort of reactionary behavior is just another nail in our collective coffin. Really, I think the attitudes of conservative Christian America are actually just dooming us.