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| Screen capture from Virginia Commonwelath University's digital project "Mapping the Ku Klux Klan, 1915-1940" Click here to explore further |
According to Soni, by the late 1970s, the Ku Klux Klan was a "dragon ghost" in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Have you heard of any Klan activity in your community recently or in the memory of some of your relatives?
The thing with hate groups that used to exist in public is that they haven’t disappeared, they’ve just gotten better at hiding. I haven’t seen anyone announce themselves as a member of the Klan or anyone wearing their attire. But I have seen the hate and disrespect to minorities that people from their community exhibit. They still exist, just hidden behind masks that are harder to identify.
ReplyDeleteThe most recent example that comes to mind is the killing of Sonya Massey. Although happening in Illinois, I feel it is as important to our community as if it happened in our own town. The location isn’t as important to me as the crime. Sonya Massey is a black, 36 year old woman who called the police because she suspected someone broke into her house. Deputy officer Sean Grayson arrived at her house and shot her while her hands were in the air and she was on the ground. The body cam footage was released just yesterday(July 23, 2024). It’s really upsetting. The footage that released was from the other officer who also raised his gun. In it you can see that he has a tattoo of labels from multiple white supremacist and neo-nazi groups.
I say this to highlight that although I haven’t heard of any “Ku Klux Klan” activity, that doesn’t mean I haven’t heard any Ku Klux Klan activity.
I want to end by saying that some news stations have painted the story to make it sound like Officer Grayson’s reaction was justified, when the footage shows him starting and escalating the situation until he shot her. I’ve read multiple reports and found this one has the most accurate information as well as the footage. I’ll link it at the end. Content warning of course, the way Sonya Massey was treated is both disturbing and horrific.
https://abc7news.com/post/sonya-massey-shooting-bodycam-video-shows-former-illinois/15083127/
As Zach briefly mentioned, the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacists have become more secretive, and they tend to hide in the shadows. However, that does not mean that they do not exist anymore. There are rumors in my town regarding why our school is not allowed to rent its facilities out to just anyone. According to several members of the community, a discrete white supremacist group attempted to rent the high school gym. Of course, the superintendent denied them access to the building. Although it is a rumor that no one can confirm, it shows that there is still fear of these groups lurking within our communities. There are towns in Oklahoma to this day that people of color avoid in fear of being profiled or attacked. Although none of these towns claim the title of "sundown town" any more, their history of violence toward people of color has not been erased, and some families have held white supremacist beliefs for generations. Even my town of Walters, Oklahoma was suspected of being a sundown town in the past. I looked up the map given above of towns who had a KKK presence in the past, and a town very close to Walters, Temple, had a chapter founded in 1924. Although that was exactly a century ago, the hatred this organization has wrecked on our communities has not dissapeared completely.
ReplyDeleteDisappeared*
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