Tag Archives: Ku Klux Klan

Old White Guy Has Some Questions for the Sedition Caucus

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Having gone to the trouble of creating the Congressional Hall of Dishonor, it seems, upon further reflection, appropriate to pose some questions to some of the more illustrious, and seemingly most proud, members of the Sedition Caucus. I refer to Senators Cruz, Hawley and the others who voted to overturn the 2020 election on January 6.  See Congressional Hall of Dishonor – Updated at https://bit.ly/3rOT89t Think of this as a final exam that determines who these politicians really are and what they are destined to become.

As an Old White Guy, I report (confess, if you prefer) that I grew up, partially, in Memphis, Tennessee. The standing joke was that Memphis was really in Mississippi because its racial attitudes and conduct toward Black people most closely resembled that of Mississippi. But, alas, Tennessee was destined, it seems, to grow more like Mississippi as Mississippi was, perhaps, growing less like Mississippi.

Growing up in Memphis, one was exposed to naked racism everywhere. As a child I was reprimanded for drinking from a “Negroes only” water fountain in Sears. The idea was that  it was socially unacceptable to behave as if “Negroes” were the equal of white people. Go along to get along. I was embarrassing everyone. Nothing to discuss or debate. That’s how it was and how it was supposed to be according to … something no one could or would identify. Raise the question and people looked at you like you were insane and dangerous. I didn’t understand it then and I don’t understand it now.

We are now 70+ years on from those days. Sometimes it feels as if nothing much has changed.

I have some questions for the Sedition Caucus and all those who support them:

  1. Are you prepared to say that QAnon is a ridiculous concept, impossible for a rational person to believe? If not, why not?
  2. Are you prepared to denounce the Proud Boys as a domestic terrorist organization? If not, why not?
  3. How about the Three Percenters? The Oath Keepers?
  4. OK, here’s an easier one: the Ku Klux Klan?
  5. Further on No. 4, are you prepared to state, without qualification, that the Ku Klux Klan is a racist organization/entity/group/assemblage/collection/aggregation?
  6. Reversing field for a moment, are you prepared to state, without qualification, that the Charlottesville march by the Proud Boys and others was a racist action? If not, why not? Are you prepared to state, without qualification, that in Charlottesville there were not “fine people on both sides?”
  7. Are you prepared to say, without qualification, that the murders of children at Sandy Hook & Parkland were not staged?
  8. Are you prepared to say, without qualification, that the 9/11 attacks were not an “inside job” by the American government?
  9. Are you prepared to state, without qualification, that anyone who claims the California wildfires were started by Jewish space lasers is delusional?
  10. United States leads world in firearms per capita. Why is the population armed to that extent? You may not answer “ because they can” or “Second Amendment allows it.” The question is: WHY are so many people armed? Be precise. Very precise and specific.
  11. Do you believe that in general Black males are more prone to violence than white males? Why?
  12. Do you believe that police generally treat Black people the same as white people? If yes, upon what facts/data do you base that belief ?
  13. What, exactly, do you believe is the symbolism in the year 2021 of monuments to Confederate soldiers/generals/politicians? Define your terms – nothing like “southern culture” – be specific.
  14. Do you believe it is alright, ethically or morally, for one human being to own another human being and treat that person as property?
  15. Do you believe females should have the same rights and be treated with the same deference and respect, as males?
  16. Do you believe that non-white people should have the same rights and be treated with the same deference and respect as white people?

If you think these are fair questions to ask men and women who purport to lead the country, who seek our approbation for their views of our values and ideals, send the questions to your senators, congresspersons, mayors, councilmen and others in positions of “power” and who are members of the Sedition Caucus. You are among the grantors of those powers so it’s entirely appropriate to ask them to answer these questions. They’re mostly easy to answer – a yes or no will suffice. Some of the explanations will be … harder. But that’s why it’s a test.

If you get any answers and want to share them, please do so via the Leave a Reply.

Best of Enemies – See It

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We saw the movie, Best of Enemies, last night. The theater was only about half full, which was too bad for the people who missed a really engaging story, based on a true story. The acting by Taraji P. Hensen and Sam Rockwell was Oscar-level with a nicely nuanced minor-role performance by Anne Heche as the wife of Ku Klux Klan leader C.P. Ellis.

Without giving away anything, the basic story is that, by 1971, Durham NC had desegregated most of its public facilities but not the schools. You will recall that the seminal Supreme Court school-desegregation decision in Brown v. Board of Education was handed down in 1954.

The elementary school attended by black activist Ann Atwater’s daughter is all but destroyed in a massive fire. There are hints that the Klan caused the fire but that line is never explored. No one messes with the Klan in 1971 Durham …. except Ann Atwater. Like some modern-day resisters, she takes plenty of grief but gives some back through sheer grit and determination.

The central drama centers around a “charrette” led by a black man. The Oxford English dictionary defines “charrette” as “A public meeting or workshop devoted to a concerted effort to solve a problem or plan the design of something.” In the movie it is the equivalent of a mediation involving the entire community with blacks and whites in the same room but largely sitting on opposite sides of the center aisle.  The goal is to address the issue of what to do with the black kids that must attend school somewhere to finish their academic year while their school is repaired. The logical choice, of course, is to move them to the closest “white school.”

I must say that we both thought there was considerable sugar-coating of the interactions in the charrette, given the level of racial hostility and general mistrust, not to mention endemic ignorance among most members of the white community. But there is drama enough.

What I found most interesting was the role of the Klan in the town. They had completely corrupted the power structure and were cruel and efficient in the methods they used to suppress dissent from their “white power” creed. Recalling my own upbringing in a large (for the times) southern city, I never saw the overt presence of the Klan but its “philosophy” was ever present in the mentality of most white adults and the children in whom they inculcated their deeply racist view of the world. I grew up in a town where there were still “whites only” and “colored only” water fountains side by side in the local Sears store.

In 1971 Durham, the ability of the Klan to function more or less in the open and unchallenged rested to a significant degree on the isolation of its victims. No digital communications network existed that could instantly transmit information or alarms to summon help. An individual person, particularly a woman, living alone was especially vulnerable. And if the Klan was good at nothing else, it knew very well how to exploit that isolation to instill terror without fear of reprisal.

If you see this excellent movie, and you should, observe the Klan at work and think about what made it possible, even in the presence of many right-thinking white people, to press its “whites are superior” message on everyone in the community. The movie will almost certainly lead you to think about the contemporary parallels in the racist tropes spread by the current president and the Republican Party as well as the emergence from the shadows of the Klan or Klan-like acolytes who have been in hiding all these years, waiting for their Grand Dragon to call them out again.