KKK to March Nearby

Jackie Mason | May 30, 2003
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Jeff Flom | May 30, 2003
Jackie,
You are quite intuitive. It is idiotic for the KKK to march in these areas. I saw a documentary on PBS some time ago that explained this behavior, though. The Ku Klux Klan was a political and social organization formed after the Civil War to ensure that as little change as possible occured in the anti-bellum south after the war's conclusion. They used terror and murder as well as outright control over political offices and law enforcement to forward this goal. That organization was, for all intents and purposes, destroyed by the FBI in the 50's (I may be wrong about the time because I saw this a long time ago). The Ku Klux Klan today survives in name only.
The people who are members today, according to the documentary, are not hardcore believers in the causes of the confederacy or of white power; obviously some are, its a generality. To make an analogy, they are little more than high school boys who use conflict in order to form relationships with other boys and discover the limits of their abilities. These men, as well as a few women, know they will find conflict in Berwyn and thus an opportunity to prove their courage and strength to themselves and to their friends. The documentary highly recommends that people simply ignore these marches and rallies instead of protesting them. It is precisely the danger in the face to face contact between the Klan member and an adversary that the modern day KKK is looking for.

Jackie Mason | June 1, 2003
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