The by-line of the article reads as follows:
In an effort to close a chapter in America’s history of race hate, Washington is bringing elderly Klansmen to justice for killings carried out up to 60 years ago
Well now thats just a bit misleading and well… wishful thinking. The part about closing the chapter on race hate I mean, and the Klan.
Nope… that book isn’t even close to closed. Yet the Guardian isn’t alone when it talks about the civil rights struggle and racial violence in the US in the past test. You hear it all the time; I wonder how teachers are teaching the children in elementary schools?
See the KKK isn’t past tense. It is alive. Not only that, I learned recently that membership is at its highest levels since the 70’s! Yes… we’re talking about a membership boom in an era where some people would like us to believe racism and violent groups like the KKK are all done.
What causes a boom? Well we can deduce that one. The two very popular issues that drive today’s bigots to violence and organized oppression against specific groups: xenophobia and homophobia. By focusing on those two issues, as the Klan has apparently, they can count on all the immigrant haters and the gay marriage oppenents… ready to dawn the sheets and burn some crosses.. or whatever their modern day methods are. (buy a congressperson and rig a local ballot?)
Oh and one final note to all my blue state-northeast friends. If you’re like me you’ve often had the illusion that our states are much more open minded and forward thinking. Well, for the record, the active and growing KKK chapters are located in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. So much for what I thought was my forward thinking state-of-birth.