Suspected Klan activity, um hmm mm

By Ebony Horton

Published: January 31, 2009

One of our photographers passed by some suspected Ku Klux Klan activity on Highway 27, headed toward Echo, the other day.
The only reason I haven’t written a story is because the sheriff’s office confirmed there had been no official complaints of such activity in the county, and, unless the alleged folks came forward to the media as those in Donalsonville, Ga., had, or unless a reporter witnessed it, our company won’t allow unnamed sources.
Being the objective person I have to be in the news, I still have some questions and some matter-of-fact thoughts. How, in a nation of such great opportunity and yet such dire need for unity, could people choose to seclude themselves to judgment and hostility? What benefit is there?
Yet, even in their anger remain some steady facts. The nation still has a black – or bi-racial, whichever you prefer – president. There are still Hispanic, Black, Irish, Australian, British, Italian, Korean, etc. CEO’s and bosses all throughout the Southeast and the country that some racists probably work for and serve.
There are ethnic families who will possibly do 10 times better than self-proclaimed racists’ families because the former’s children won’t have to grow up wondering why they are forced to hate their classmates, since, of course, schools are integrated now.
And, since races are allowed to shop in the same groceries stores as other races and attend the same functions, people who hate might always be the miserable ones since, unless they stay in their homes, they’ll always be surrounded by people who don’t look exactly like them.
I know the Klan, and likely other groups like Black Panthers, have changed their missions since when they first began. I know they tend to target immigration laws and other political things in order to keep their dwindling numbers from completely diminishing.
But, might I suggest the reason numbers are dwindling is because people get it now? They get that hate (if they’re religious, anyway), only covers over their own blessings and might never affect the person they hate.
They get that covering their faces with a sheet and burning crosses shows a sign of cowardice, and in this economy, is a waste of fabric and wood.
And they get that people, like those who probably don’t even know the haters’ opinions, could really care less about their thoughts anyway.
What are your thoughts?