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Racism And Intolerance - Then And Now

by Ken Kreps
©2000, 2007, 2008 all rights reserved

To read more articles and other works by author Ken Kreps, visit http://www.kenkreps.com.
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The powerful Ku Klux Klan of the 50's, 60's and 70's has all but disappeared. Through a combination of inside informants and vigorous law enforcement plus the efforts of one southern white man, Morris Dees, who led a successful fight in the courts that brought many Klan organizations near bankruptcy, the old Klan as we know it is only a shell of it's former self and I guess that's the end of that problem.

If only life were so simple. There's a new Klan now and they have dressed the same old message of hatred in new clothes. I recently toured some of their web pages. Granted, reading the disgusting crap on these pages is a bit like cleaning sewers and you have an urgent need for a hot shower when you're finished, but there was no other way to see what the cowards in white hoods were up to these days.

A group called the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan begin their web page by saying, "We're not a hate group." Really? Then explain this blurb found in a racist tirade against Martin Luther King.

".....a cowardly, spineless Congress voted to make King's, birthday a national holiday. This is the outrage of the century! Until now we only had holidays honoring Jesus Christ, Christopher Columbus and George Washington. We must not allow Marxist liberals to elevate King to their level. The King Holiday act must be repealed!"

I guess they forgot to mention the birthday of Abraham Lincoln, who freed the slaves....something they would be just as happy with if it had never happened.

Another group called The North Carolina Klan also goes to great pains to proclaim to one and all that, not only are they not a hate group, they are a Christian group that goes to great length never to do anything that might be called un-American. Then on that same page they state:

"Here in the South East we are looking for White Christian men and women who want to preserve the future for their children. If our country continues the way we are heading there will be no U.S.A. left for our children. The Klan is here to PROTECT the rights of White Christians. We continue to fight our battles on the street and in the Courts, as you know there is power in unity and power in numbers. The White Christian race has sat by the past 20 years and let the ZOG give our Country away to the perverts who bring down our Christian Values. The URBAN GORILLIA who drains our Welfare System, so they can go out and buy drugs, when will it STOP!!!! When you get up off the couch and fight for what is yours. Stand with us Brothers and Sisters together we will overcome the forces that are trying to take our country away from us. NOW IS THE TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!"

For a non hate group they seem to go out of their way to attack Jews (ZOG or Zion Occupied Government), Blacks (URBAN GORILLIAS, the misspelling is theirs) and Gays (perverts). Sounds pretty un-American to me. And it doesn't stop there as in the pages of these web sites, you find attacks on Catholics, Hispanics, Asians. and all other groups which fail to fit into their narrow and warped definition of what is and is not American.

The various factions of the "New" Klan may be the most visible of the organized racist and hatred groups but, unfortunately, they are only one of a number of groups who distribute this garbage on a daily basis. There are, by some counts, more than 500 racists and neo-nazi groups in this country. They go by many names and wear many disguises. The Skinheads of a few years back are still alive and have now formed alliances with other, more adult white supremacists groups and with some of the anti-government militias. Not all the militia groups are racist, but more than a few are. The militias, themselves, are a strange lot and worthy of their own article some day.

Racists are, by and large, cowards and bullies. This is not only true now, but has been true throughout history. Usually, these groups are comprised of uneducated masses led by educated (if twisted) leaders. Coward is a pretty strong word to call anyone so I'd better have good reasons to use that term. I do. It was a coward who bombed the basement of a church in Birmingham, Alabama years ago, killing four innocent black girls who were in the church to worship. Byron de la Beckwith, who shot and killed civil rights leader, Medger Evers was a coward. Hooded Klansmen who terrorized and even murdered black people for years were cowards who would not show their faces. The car full of racist slime who, in the 60's, murdered the three young Freedom Riders in Mississippi (whose only crime was to help register black people to vote) were cowards. Of course the word bully goes right along with coward. Only a bully would want to hold down another group because of their color, religion, ethnic group or sexual preference.

I know we cannot remove the hatred from some people's hearts. Coronary bypass surgery, in which diseased arteries are replaced with healthy arteries, is now commonplace, as is the procedure of opening blocked coronary arteries with stints. It's too bad we can't do an operation or procedure on these people's hearts and remove the hatred, but we can't. Medical techniques are simple when compared to getting a person to stop hating.

Maybe we can't change them, but we can expose them. Look around your own communities and find out what some of the local organizations really stand for. Not just the openly (and not so clever) racist groups, but the organizations, businesses and people who quietly practice hatred and exclusion. The Country Club where there's an unwritten law that no Jews need apply. The company that just can't seem to find any qualified Blacks even though other companies around them can. And don't forget the office joker who's funny stories always seem to end with some kind of racial or ethnic slur. Find these people and expose them to the light of an enlightened Twenty First Century. Except for the Klan and a few other organizations that seem to revel in openly being out of step with humanity, most racists and hate groups had rather remain hidden behind a cloak of respectability. Exposure is the last thing they want, but it's exactly what each of them deserveI.

Racism and intolerance have gone away? Unfortunately, no....they've just been dressed up in a new, cheap suit.

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©2000, 2007, 2008 by Ken Kreps This article may not be re-published in electronic or print media without the express written permission of the author. All rights reserved. However, links to this website may be included on any website without the permission of the author.

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