I never thought I’d see this in my lifetime, but it looks like the KKK is having a renaissance. I would even call it a comeback – LL Cool J style! How are they being taken seriously by popular culture? Who is representing them? Is it Robert Downey Jr.’s manager? Or Justin Bieber’s agent?
How did this happen?
When I was in the 5th grade, my school took a week to watch the PBS mini series “Eyes on the Prize.” It’s a 14-hour documentary detailing the Civil Rights movement, and uses archival footage to show the atrocities of this time in American History. There are actual scenes of the most horrific acts of brutality against black citizens, including lynching. At the end of every day, there would be a room full of 11- year olds in tears, totally confused. We couldn’t wrap our heads around how this intense violence had occurred in this country.
I remember being totally dumfounded as to how anyone could be so cruel. The images of the KKK rallies where they burned people alive were burned into my retina. The Klan were the monsters of my childhood.
When I was in my early 20s, the KKK announced they were going to have a public rally in New York City. Thousands showed up to protest them. When I got to the rally site, there were so many people surrounding the Klan members that it was almost impossible to see them. I climbed up on a mailbox, and could only make out ten KKK members amidst a sea of angry activists.
They looked so pathetic in their little white outfits, all huddled together. It was almost hilarious – their hoods flopping in the wind like a sea of flaccid penis. I almost felt sorry for them. Yes the history of the KKK is one of total horror, but that day they were just a bunch of absurd racists gripping onto their hateful beliefs.
The KKK appeared to be a pitiful group of terrified terrorists, too irrelevant and ridiculous to cause terror. I couldn’t take them seriously. Their outfits alone betrayed how ridiculous they were as an organization. While racism remained a rampant problem in this country, but the symbol of the KKK seemed to be dying. They felt irrelevant, outdated, and in desperate need for a fashion makeover.
NEVER IN MY LIFE DID I THINK ANYONE WOULD TAKE THE KKK SERIOUSLY EVER AGAIN!
Until now.
There have been serious debates by serious people about this issue. Jeffery Lord and Van Jones had a serious conversation about the KKK – Jeffrey Lord tried to argue that is actually the Democrats who are dividing people by race.
No, the KKK aren’t dividing people. Not the people who have a history of TERRORIZING A RACE OF HUMAN BEINGS. Nope, wrong. It’s the democrats who are always whining about how black people are oppressed that are the true dividers. They are the ones seeing color by caring about how black people are treated.
This is the NEWS you guys! CNN!!!! Not a Saturday Nigh Live skit. Actual educated people in the Republican Party are defending Trump for not distancing himself from the Klan. This is not the Dave Chapelle Show. THIS IS REAL LIFE!
Who ever is responsible for this re-branding of the KKK, where serious people are having serious conversations defending them, also needs to work with Lindsay Lohan and Kanye West to help them take back their careers.
