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May 26, 2005
no one was hurt / everyone was hurt
not exactly a great day in durham. there were three cross burnings here last night.
:|:
a member of my family-- who is still alive to tell the tale-- had an encounter with the klan when she was a child in rural alabama.
her father died when she was quite young, and after a while, her mother remarried to a divorced man from another town who worked on the rail lines.
she has happy memories of her stepfather-- not just of the stability he brought to their family, but because he was a happy person, always singing and in a good mood.
then, one day, the klan ran him out of town. why? because he was divorced.
her mother died of TB not long after. she and her brother were left orphaned at a time when few social services existed to care for them. certainly the men who had run her stepfather out of town weren't there to take care of them. they were bounced from an orphanage to various distant family members, some nicer than others.
just a little tale to remind us that the klan are hypocritical bullies who heedlessly ram their ridiculous ideas of morality down the throats of others, at the expense of the community.
i just can't think who they remind me of. it'll come to me.
:|:
and backing up the concept of the klan as little, little men, we have the pants-eye view of the matter, which i particularly like.
i think burning crosses in durham ought to get ya a place in the darwin awards hall of fame.
Posted by lisa at May 26, 2005 06:57 PM | TrackBack
Comments
today my office-mate, who lives way up in the boonies near the virginia border, told me that there's a "KKK line" in his community that has been in the phone book for ages. it's a recorded message.
i called it today, just out of curiosity... to see if there was any mention of the incidents in durham. there wasn't. but what i got was an earful about communists and white supremacy, all delivered in the thickest southern accent you can imagine.
my co-worker, who used to be a reporter, said that back when he was working for the newspaper he would make a practice of calling the recording to get information about planned KKK "events" so that he could, like, report about them.
this is truly a fucked up world.
that said, i saw the vigil in oval park this evening, and it was a very lovely, very peaceful sight.
Posted by: christa on May 27, 2005 01:39 AM
I'm sorry, but I can't believe this was anything but a stupid prank by some dumbass teenagers (or not much older). I've known people in the SE part of the state who would do stupid things exactly like this.
Posted by: Joseph H. Vilas on May 27, 2005 09:18 PM
ok, so a) your comment won't post right away because i have to approve it first and b) you might get a server error but your comment probably posted anyway and c) previewing doesn't work so i've removed the preview button.