Re: Puterbac News Network and Political Discussion Thread
Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 8:19 pm
KKK Gives Out Goodie Bags to Recruit New Knights
Apparently, living in a post-racial America means the Ku Klux Klan uses candy to recruit people. Residents of a South Carolina subdivision woke up Sunday to bags of sweets and fliers that read "SAVE OUR LAND, JOIN THE KLAN," according to WHNS. The smarties and peppermints were left as part of the hate group's national night ride, held three times a year.
Given that housing isn't as segregated as it was during the Klan's heyday, several recruitment packages ended up in the driveways of minorities. In that aspect, the KKK doesn't discriminate. "I mean, we can't tell who lives in a house, whether they're black, white, Mexican, gay, we can't tell that," Robert Jones, a high ranking member, told WHNS. "And if you were to look at somebody's house like that, that means you'd be pretty much a racist."
This isn't a one-off incident. As NBC News reported Tuesday, the Klan is trying to leverage the recent immigration debate into a membership bump. "Save our land" fliers appeared in two Atlanta neighborhoods recently — a member of that Klan chapter said they received 25 applications (racists are selective) and "the immigration crisis is recruiting members for us." Whether that's actually the case isn't clear yet, but Mark Potok at the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that monitors hate groups, said the Klan has used immigration as a propaganda tool in the past.
The fliers handed out in South Carolina listed a phone number that led to a voicemail with the sort of hateful messages you'd expect — "if it ain't white, it ain't right. White power" — with a focus on how "illegal immigration is destroying America." Some of the residents in the neighborhood said they were afraid, and one woman said she felt like she was being watched. "Everybody in our neighborhood does," she said. People were also angry and "ashamed to face our neighbors that do not have the same color skin that we do," as the woman said.
This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/politics/2014/07 ... ts/374515/
Apparently, living in a post-racial America means the Ku Klux Klan uses candy to recruit people. Residents of a South Carolina subdivision woke up Sunday to bags of sweets and fliers that read "SAVE OUR LAND, JOIN THE KLAN," according to WHNS. The smarties and peppermints were left as part of the hate group's national night ride, held three times a year.
Given that housing isn't as segregated as it was during the Klan's heyday, several recruitment packages ended up in the driveways of minorities. In that aspect, the KKK doesn't discriminate. "I mean, we can't tell who lives in a house, whether they're black, white, Mexican, gay, we can't tell that," Robert Jones, a high ranking member, told WHNS. "And if you were to look at somebody's house like that, that means you'd be pretty much a racist."
This isn't a one-off incident. As NBC News reported Tuesday, the Klan is trying to leverage the recent immigration debate into a membership bump. "Save our land" fliers appeared in two Atlanta neighborhoods recently — a member of that Klan chapter said they received 25 applications (racists are selective) and "the immigration crisis is recruiting members for us." Whether that's actually the case isn't clear yet, but Mark Potok at the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that monitors hate groups, said the Klan has used immigration as a propaganda tool in the past.
The fliers handed out in South Carolina listed a phone number that led to a voicemail with the sort of hateful messages you'd expect — "if it ain't white, it ain't right. White power" — with a focus on how "illegal immigration is destroying America." Some of the residents in the neighborhood said they were afraid, and one woman said she felt like she was being watched. "Everybody in our neighborhood does," she said. People were also angry and "ashamed to face our neighbors that do not have the same color skin that we do," as the woman said.
This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/politics/2014/07 ... ts/374515/