I was reading
recently about the decision by the Union county government in Georgia to
allow the KKK to adopt a highway. It seemed rather odd that such a group would
want to be active in their community in support of making it a better cleaner
place. What I have always been taught is that the group is a hate organization
that believes in white power and to hell with everyone else. In researching
their history though, I have come to find that I have been partially duped the
same way Palestinians have been duped into believing that America is the “Great
Satan.” Researching a little bit about Nathan
Bedford Forrest has changed my view considerably about the man. Yes the KKK has an ugly history, just like the
Nazi’s, that makes historians only want to paint them as pure evil, and nothing
more.
But you know who also has an ugly history? The
Catholic Church, the Muslims, Islam, Mormons, the English, Romans, Greeks,
Persians, the Chinese, etc. the list goes on. We can dig up virtually anything
in a group or nations history that would make them appear repugnant,
tyrannical, or oppressive. Even America
has shameful moments in their past time, what with slavery, the Civil War, the
American-Indian War, and other events that would make influence anyone to think
that Americans are “pure evil”.
My heart was moved when I heard this comment from a
KKK spokesman.
"Over the years since it was formed in December
1865, the Klan has typically seen itself as a Christian organization, although
in modern times Klan groups are motivated by a variety of theological and
political ideologies," the law center's website says.
"We're not a hate group," Chambers
insisted Monday. "We don't hate anybody. We're just white people that want
to stick with white people. The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People) wants to stick with black people. Just because I'm white, I
can't stick with my own group?”
Fair enough right? Does Chambers make a good point?
It has suddenly occurred to me that maybe we should let the KKK adopt a highway
and show us that they are different, that they have changed, and that their
shameful past is not what will define their future. We have done the same for
many other organizations like the Black Panthers, so why not them, or is this
country only about tolerance so far as the party involved are not white
Caucasian or Christian? To me that’s what the real issue boils down to, to whom
are we to extend the hand of tolerance?
I believe it was Bill Maher who stated that, “its
politically incorrect to be a white male…” and after hearing about how people
should be proud of their Latino heritage, stay black and proud, be a woman and
roar, why not be white and proud too? But no, often white people are ashamed,
and made to feel like they need to prostrate
themselves – declaring to society – “look, I’m a good white man, not like those
other bad white men, you see how I heap scorn on them and flatter you? Approve
of me!” All this so that others might look past the indiscretions of their
ancestors and of course all their current indiscretions because let’s face it,
all of society’s ills are often placed on men, white men, even where other
ethnic groups are failing it’s because white people are keeping them down.
Well, I for one am white and will stand proud of who I am, of my heritage, and
though groups like the KKK may have soiled my reputation, I also believe they
can change, not so much because of what they say, but what they do. So why
can’t the rest of society get on board and embrace clemency, as well as the change
that they so craved when Obama was elected president?
Christianity teaches tolerance, love, patience,
charity, and forgiveness. These were all virtues that have made America great.
Without these virtues how would we have fared after the Civil War and the North
not try and reconcile with the Southern States, even after the assassination of
Lincoln? What about after WWII? We learned from our mistake after the first
World War that you cannot simply walk all over your defeated enemy, so we
strived to help Germany and other destroyed countries rebuild their entire
infrastructure, and today we are allies. The same applies to Japan after we
nuked them twice, we did not seek further retribution but have mended the
divide that separated us and are on peaceful terms with them still to this day.
Can we not do the same with smaller groups and factions within our own country?
Can we not cast aside the past, forgiving the acknowledged mistakes of misdeed
and hatred and work towards a better future? Apparently not, because even now
people cannot move past their own prejudice and with sheer stubbornness face
the new reality that people can change. There are still those that shame the
KKK, calling
them out with insults and insinuations based off of archaic practices.
Would that we do that for an organization like feminism which advocated the
genocide of men, perhaps they would not have the stranglehold they have now on
our government and how we are socially, or at least have a more realistic idea
of how the native Americans really lived rather than the idea that they knew no
war and only loved peace.
I’m not condoning the practices of the KKK, but
rather feel they deserve a chance to prove themselves in this century as having
changed and become the community activists they so seek to be. We have done so
for so many others, and even those who have failed to prove they are not the
hate mongering faction they used to be, still find a place in our society
wrecking havoc and oppressing whomever they may. The list is long, and doesn’t have place here
because an intelligent person can at the very least identify one or two
organizations that fall in this category by going over what I’ve already
written. As a white male I also realize that I may be labeled for my position,
but at least I can forgive rather than be a monster to those who were monstrous
to me, and I know this for the following reason:
As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, we believe in forgiving all men of their transgressions (men
meaning all people obviously), and though our nation the US of A after
repeatedly turning a cold shoulder to our cries of oppression and has openly
allowed the practiced genocide among our organization, we forgave them for
their transgression against us, and many of us serve openly today in government
programs and as military members, supporting the cause for freedom, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness and peace.
In case you are wondering I speak of the
Extermination Order issued in Missouri and how the Mormons were exiled from New
York, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, and all the out west into the frontier land
known today as Utah. The Extermination Order allowed people to shoot Mormons on
sight if they were trespassing on their land. A verbal warning and then death,
of which many probably ignored the former part about warning a Mormon but never
saw the inside of a jail cell for it. This law remained in the law books until 1976. It was apparently dug up and used in the defense of an individual who had shot
a Mormon. By this time mind you, genocide was considered a crime even in war
time, as outlined in the Geneva Convention, so
shame on America for letting this one slip through the cracks. Fortunately they
remedied the situation by rescinding the ordinance.
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