Showing posts with label The birth of a nation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The birth of a nation. Show all posts

Monday, September 8, 2008

The Ku Klux Klan: Moments In History


A recent documentary that aired on the History channel taught all who tuned in that day, about the founding of the Ku Klux Klan; a racist, anti-Semitic movement, with a commitment to extreme violence in order to achieve its goals of racial segregation and white supremacy. 

My awareness of the Ku Klux Klan never stops my infinite curiosity from checking out any footage I come into contact with, just in case something new is learned -- and as always it completely blows my mind to see how hateful and evil some humans can be.

The documentary displayed rallies all across America, but mostly in the Southern states where Ku Klux Klan preachers and white supremacists, intentionally teach others to hate. During a segment in the documentary, a group of KKK members came together in front of a burning cross while yelling, "We hate Jews, Niggers and Spics!"

The members continued screaming that minorities are the enemies, and are disruptive to the white race which is the reason they yelled,"Niggers should go back to Africa and Jews are taking over!"

News flash! If Africans were never kidnapped, tortured, and forced to come to America, maybe black people wouldn't be here right now. 

How can the Ku Klux Klan tell black people where to go, when America isn't their original homeland either? Native American Indians (or indigenous people) were the original founders of American land and because the Native Indians wouldn't conform to the European way of living, it triggered a mass genocide that ended with a death count in the millions for both races and resulted in the Native Americans land being stolen. 

C. Edward Foster made an appearance as the "Grand Dragon" and "American Knight" of the Ku Klux Klan. Foster stated that, "since 1915 the burning cross has been a Klan ritual"; the cross burning signifies eternal light of the KKK. The leaders went around in a circle asking members, "Do you accept the light," while chanting, "For God, for the white race, for our children, for American Knights of the KKK!" The children at the rallies were told to "let the crosses burn into their souls."

During a point in the documentary it showed that slavery was eventually abolished however, white supremacists wanted to keep black people as second class citizens and in order to make this happen the Ku Klux Klan, decided to gain momentum for their cause by adding more KKK members and expanding their group efforts across the Southern states, as a way to keep black people away from the voting booths.

The KKK's master plan was to terrorize, intimidate, and lynch African Americans to attain power and control. Millions of African Americans lost their lives as a result of this barbaric behavior. Tombstones of the Black victims read: Killed By The Ku Klux Klan.

The documentary concluded with the information that the Ku Klux Klan was indeed founded by our American Congress. In order to recruit more members they discovered that their mission and message needed to change, as they found it difficult to garner support when being honest about their intentions. 

I'm sure their message of  "Join the KKK and we'll lynch a Black or burn a building", wasn't exactly working in their favor anymore. So their messages were disguised with patriotic values and leadership opportunities for "whites only."

You know you're doing something wrong when you have to sneak, hide, and manipulate others to carry out a mission.

Click here for more information on "Birth of a Nation."

2008 LA