RIGHT TO THE CHIN

Kicking Your Klan All Over The Place

It was a big week for the nation’s biggest haters...

It’s amazing to think that, during the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan had upwards of three million members. Aided by President Woodrow Wilson’s misguided praise of D.W. Griffith’s shamefully glowing portrayal of the Klan in the film, Birth of a Nation, the group became hauntingly powerful. The Klan was so large, in fact, that many politicians felt the group’s support was needed to win an election.

Thankfully, though, the intervening years have seen the hate-filled, murderous group fade from both public interest and view. Lawsuits, criminal convictions and rampant infighting have left the Klan made up of what was seen on the steps of the Sequatchie County Courthouse last Saturday: tiny pockets of powerless bigots that occasionally spring up in small towns across the country.

This most recent rally ended in less than an hour and featured only around 20 actual Klan members. The rally was directed at “Mexicans” and keeping the “white race” in small towns like Dunlap from getting “tainted.” The audience was not impressed. Though upwards of 500 spectators showed up, many of those in attendance showed up to protest the Klan. Klan sympathizers are still present in Sequatchie County, but most were said to be staying home as to not let their views become more public than they already are. Oddly enough, it seems that even white supremacists want to be liked.

Earlier in the week, some other Klan-related news served as a warm-up to Saturday’s anti-Klan-mactic affair, offering a reminder of the Klan’s dark past.

First, it was reported that Bobby Cherry, the former Klansman serving life in prison for the Birmingham church bombing that killed four black girls in 1963, had become critically ill and was being moved from prison to a hospital. The news of his impending death was most likely welcome news to many—especially friends and family of the victims—who thought his fate was too generous to begin with, as he wasn’t even convicted of murder in the case until 2002.

Locally, workers removing stucco at the former Clark Brothers Furniture building at Main and Market found four large murals of a hooded Klan member on a black horse. But before any research could be done concerning the origins of the murals, the new owners of the building had the murals destroyed, illustrating the impulsive, panicked and justifiably dismissive reactions many folks have towards even seeing any imagery associated with the Klan.

After the murals were destroyed, heated debate arose among Chattanoogans as many wondered why the murals weren’t preserved for historical reasons. But as time passed, outrage waned as people simply stopped caring about the issue.

Nobody cares about the Klan. That’s the important thing to remember.

Posted by colrus at October 19, 2004 04:33 PM | TrackBack