A time for hate

30 December 2008
I don't know what is more disturbing. Finding out something horrific from your families past, finding out they knew but kept it from you, finding out that they believe. The disturbing item: Relatives in the KKK. Not just some passerby we happened to go to a rally because it might be interesting type of relatives. No. The we actually killed people, hung them from trees, hunted them down and burned them alive type of relatives. And high level leaders of men who did the killing. There isn't a maybe about whether they did or did not kill people. If they were associated with this group, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, they killed people. Or watched people die. The mystery is to see how far it goes and how deep. Because it didn't just stop in the 1920's. It lasted for this relative, until the day he died some 50 years later. How man of my other relatives were involved? Was my family business built on this practice? Is that how they made their money? Can I actually go back into that business history and determine the race of all of their customers? Did they profit off the death and discrimination? Is that how they were able to survive for so many years? Then there is the fact that many people in my family knew about this yet chose to not let me know. Now I do realize that the unveiling of this information to a wider audience for this specific person could ultimately bring shame upon the current lives of others. Others who are at present time still alive and famous. Others who have made their livelihood among world leaders, politicians, religion infused morality plays. No, what hurts the most is the fact that others in my family not only make excuses for their behavior, but try to lessen it with specious arguments that there was good among them. 'You can't let this part of their life overshadow all of the good they did'. Let me make this perfectly clear: From the moment these thoughts, ideas of moral and racial superiority became actions and credos, not a single good moment was done for the rest of their lives. Not one. In this particular case, the case was made that there was some good done in the early 1900's with exploring the country. But you forgot to add that the area that they explored was host to one of the largest Klan poplulations in the United states at the time. It is as if they actually believe the lies and want to me to believe them as well. I think this may be a turning point upon which I cannot go back. Family or not, if this is how you really feel and this is not the first time I have suspected this, then I can't be a part of your lives.