nyssa@abnji.UUCP (nyssa of traken) (08/06/85)
/**** iuvax:general / iuvax!marek / 3:37 am Jul 29, 1985 ****/
/******************** Copyright (C) 1985 Marek W. Lugowski ****************/
On Saturday, June 27th, in the company of two friends, Elma Sabo and Theresa
Aquino, both of whom write for the Indiana Daily Student, I ventured to the
tiny hamlet of Mansfield (pop. 85), in Parke County. Parke County is close
to the Illinois border and due West from Indianapolis. The Invisible Knights
of the Ku Klux Klan were holding a recruitment rally on a private farm in
Mansfield, and some national KKK officials were expected to be on hand,
including the Imperial Wizard.
Although I was apprehensive about possible violence, the rally turned out to
be a picnic. I went as photographer; the women intended to write a story
for the paper and perhaps free-lance a magazine article or a National Public
Radio piece. We recorded lots of pictures, voices and notes, but we don't
know just yet how the film turned out.
The klan is selling itself as a political organization bent on restoring "the
great America". Interestingly enough, most of their rhetoric was against
"the Jews dominating the press" and "the outlaw state of Israel", not blacks.
The klan contradicted itself from speaker to speaker, and occasionally within
a single oration. For example, "the police" reaped caustic scorn, only to be
highly praised by the Imperial Wizard. The blacks were "OK" so long as they
managed "on their own" (later: "in their own country"). On the other hand,
"Mansfield was such a poor town that for years the Town Nigger was a Mexican."
An original solution to the present South Africa dilemma was offered: "Let's
bring over here the 4 million" S.A. whites and "ship over there our 30 million
blacks". Also, I learned that the NAACP "was started not by blacks but by
commies and Jews".
Incidentally, Elma was proposed to by a biker type: "Are you married?" "No."
"Then why don't you marry me?" [I speculate that the KKK's adherence to its
"Christian standards" restricts the come-on lexicon to a few propositions
involving matrimonial transactions, hence the "then why don't you marry me?"
vs. "how 'bout getting it on, babe?" or "have you beena Harley-Davidson?"]
There was a surprising number of alienated ex-Vietnam veterans, as well as
plenty of fatigues and boots. Pretty warm reception from the people in
attendance. They ranged from oblivious children to old, dignified women.
But most were young couples, or groups of teenagers and farmers. Some were
bikers. The crowd, minus the white robes, would have fit perfectly well at
an Indiana July 4th picnic or parade, or a speedway race, or a church
service or a church social, or a fireworks display. In a way, this rally was
all of those combined.
There were many toddlers, strollers and young children. Some folks came with
lawn chairs. "No firearms, No alcohol, No trouble"--proclaimed the sign at the
gate. Also, no "coloreds", although we caught a snapshot of a courageous black
reporter with dreadlocks and Rasta colors (green, red, black and gold) talking
with a hooded klansman at the gate. The reporter drove off before a possy of
galloping photogs and flying Grand Dragons could intercept him at the scene.
Later, a local Parke County police officer, one of the 20 or so assigned to
hover in the vicinity was as sorry about missing the cross-burning ceremony as
he was indignant about the earlier presence of that black reporter who
"should've stayed away".
About 300 people remained on hand for the speeches (which began at 7 or so),
including 30 journalists (Indy/Terre-Haute TV stations, mostly) and 40 or so
robed klansmen. The last item on the agenda was, of course, the burning of
the cross. The next rally is in Maryland, in August, "10 miles from Camp
David" and "Ronnie is invited".
As for the speakers, lots of Bible thumping and indignation over "not being
able to pray in schools or invoke God's name". Also: "You ain't gonna get
lower taxes if you vote Democrat; you ain't gonna get lower taxes if you vote
Republican ["that's right!", "hear here!"]; to get lower taxes you gotta vote
Klan!" [cheers, lots of applause]. The klan says that it will enter elections
soon.
The burning of the cross ("It's not burning! It's cross-lighting, because
Christ is our Lord and the Cross is His Sign, and we want the Sign to show
His Way, to illuminate the darkness!") was brief albeit spectacular. [I'd
like to know just what did this cross-burning business signify way back,
before "the klan stopped hanging Negroes a long, long and long time ago,
and is now in the business of fighting Japanese imports". It seems that the
KKK of today not-so-subtly tries to put old customs in new perspectives.
There was a mention of "some mistakes in our [KKK] past".]
The speakers brought up some new issues: "busing", "vandalism", "Japanese
imports", "spending on minority", "black crime", "filth in cities", and even
"the banning or censorship of classic American books like 'Tom Sawyer' and
'Uncle Tom's Cabin'".
[It is difficult to tell how much this agenda exists for purely recruitment
purposes: the klan speakers' harangues grew more heated and old-fashioned
as the evening wore on. I had a distinct impression that one or two of the
klan leadership were rather smart; they manipulated the audience with half-
baked arguments that they themselves probably see through. Generally, it
appeared that the rally rhetoric was aimed at persons with relatively low
intelligence or with intelligence clouded by hatred, as well as at those with
a general ignorance of complex issues, and those frustrated and on the outs.
Those who consider the redress of grievances through a due process to be
either impossible or ineffective seem most prone to buy the klan's message.]
The rally was held on a farm of a woman who had built a dam without obtaining
a county permit. She was then subsequently told to tear it down, as it was
judged not safe. I was told that she turned to the klan for support out of
inability to get anywhere with the county officials. [Could it be that the
KKK is benefiting from the rural areas' void of social and consumer advocates,
and that it intends to fill a "Ralph Nader" role there, that it intends to
fill the shoes of an "Eyewitness News Troubleshooter"?]
[All the KKK speeches if given, for example, at the National Press Club,
Washington, D.C., or even at the Indiana University, would only embarrass the
speakers when the time would come to examine the points raised.]
Biggest ironies of the day: The Imperial Wizard Jim Blair of Alabama, waving
the Terre-Haute Tribune with an allegedly slandering article: "You don't
have to read this garbage" [vs. KKK's own paper]; and later: "If this son of
a bitch commie Jew calls me Nazi once again, I swear that I'm gonna slap
a lawsuit on him for libel! If he calls me Nazi, then I call him commie!"
Then there was the Grand Titan of Kentucky, bemoaning the recent polls of the
country's "young people" where black performers Prince and Michael Jackson
came in as most popular heros: "Here are my kids--stand up kids, come over
here. Their heros are General Patton, General MacArthur, and Jim Blair!"
[The kids range from about 4 to 8 years of age] "Thank you, kids. [to the
audience] Now I'm gonna have to take 'em out or buy 'em somethin'."
By the way, there are now both klanswomen (robed and in small groups, they
appeared as if at a graduation or a Sunday choir) and a KYC, the Klan Youth
Core. The former would not talk to the press at all (vs. some talkative KKK
members, perhaps the authorized ones). The latter works "in high schools,
to prevent blacks from harassing white girls". Joe Blair, son of the Imperial
Wizard, raised this point, albeit with little conviction and briefly; his
forte was shouting emotionally about "not being able to pray in school".
Interestingly, there was not a single imported car in sight, albeit the
leadership did use a "Japanese machine" for public address, scorning its
origin when the audio would falter: "This thing was born in Japan; I was born
in America--it ain't gonna stop me!" [Never mind that it was a Home-of-the-
Brave native who sloppily fastened on the loose connections]. Equally
interestingly, the Grand Dragon of Connecticut professed himself to be
a Catholic. Strikingly, the Grand Dragon of New York urged everybody to
write their congressman if they want their government "to work for them".
In fact, he sounded amazingly like the social activists dealing with
secular issues ranging from the PCB pollution to world hunger, the sort of
speaker one sees at universities every day. Later, on the other side of the
spectrum of human concerns, the Imperial Wizard himself, Bible high in hand,
intoned: "Without God, you have nothing."
-- Marek Lugowski
Indiana University Computer Science Dept.
Bloomington, Indiana 47405
...!pur-ee!iuvax!marek
marek@indiana.csnet
marek@mit-mc.arpa
/********************** end copyrighted material **************************/
--
James C Armstrong, Jnr. ihnp4!abnji!nyssa
"Have you no women beyond the stars?"
"I see, You have a primary and secondary reproductive cycle. It is an
inefficient system; you should chnage it."
-Who said it, what episode?