RESPONDING TO KKK RECRUITING

A few weeks ago the Westmoreland News, here on the Northern Neck of Virginia, ran a front-page story (complete with full KKK poster and contact information) about the Klan’s attempt to recruit members in this area. A friend and member of the NAACP asked me if I would draft a response. Below is that response:

An Open Letter to the Citizens of the Northern Neck

The April 25^th article in the Westmoreland News on Ku Klux Klan (KKK) recruitment in the Northern Neck was an abomination. Racism and anti-Semitism have no place here. The vile words of the KKK flyer do not represent the views and feelings our citizens.

People of all races and religions have fought and given their lives to protect America values. The founding fathers spelled out those values out eloquently in the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among those rights are the rights to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Citizens of the Northern Neck—black, white, Christian, Jewish, Hindu and Muslim—need to denounce the unconscionable, despicable, and hate-mongering words of the KKK.

The NAACP calls on elected officials everywhere in the Northern Neck, as well as all citizens, to speak out and unequivocally reject racism, bigotry, lies, and anti-Semitism. We need to join hands, unite and send the White Knights packing.

Citizens everywhere need to speak out in public forums and churches against racism. We are all God’s children; an attack on one group is an attack on us all.

To paraphrase German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemoller’s description of Nazi brutality:

            First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because

            I was not a socialist;

            Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out

            because I was not a trade unionist;

            Then they came for the gypsies, and I did not speak out because I

            was not a gypsy;

            Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was

            not a Jew;

            Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out.