By Gary Franks
Syndicated Columnist
Maybe I have been too exposed to the Ku Klux Klan and their sympathizers over the years – whether they were dressed in a white robe or now wearing a Brooks Brothers’ suit, I say facetiously.
I have had classic KKK experiences. Here are some examples:
• As a youngster I was a victim of the KKK when they burned a cross in front of our home. They also shot dead a dog on our lawn thinking it was ours, placed a dead possum that was dripping with blood wrapped in a white sheet in our mailbox for me to pull out, and made incessant and life-threatening phone calls (saying they wanted to blow up our house).
• As a 23-year-old working for a Fortune 500 company, the wallet of my boss accidently fell on the floor at dinner, revealing his KKK membership card.
• Then as a congressman, the local Grand Dragon fulfilled his pledge to leave the state upon my election.
But during these episodes and after, I would always remember my mother’s advice, “Do not allow a few bad apples in the barrel to cause you to throw out all the apples.” Most of the apples are good! Proof? I was elected six times in a 92% white area, including three times for Congress.
For the record, the Ku Klux Klan lynched over 4,000 Black Americans, killed a countless number of others with nearly no convictions, while terrorizing millions. Due to slavery, many states in the South were majority or near majority Black before the domestic terrorism of the Klan caused the great migration of Blacks from the South to the North and West.
It is time to take the sheets and hoods off the 21st-century Klansmen.
Believe me, the Klan has been evolving. Unlike many Black Democrat leaders who are still fighting for some of the previously won Civil Rights, like voting rights, that does not interest the Klan anymore. They know the truth. Blacks are voting in record numbers and nothing will prevent that, other than political apathy. Seeing Black elected or appointed officials fail is their wish.
With strategic help from bad and misguided Black people (similar to the help Africans gave to European slave traders) the Klan can get what they want without burning crosses.
Black leaders often side with promoting Black abortions that, percentage wise, dwarf white abortions. This must bring a smile to the Klan which wants fewer Blacks on the streets anyway. There is power in numbers.
Racists are pleased that they do not have to outwardly fight against desegregating schools anymore. Black Democrat leaders have been inadvertently blocking school integration by blocking “school choice” for decades.
While donning expensive tailored suits, racists can keep Blacks trapped in poor areas via unfair employment practices. With no school choice, it would force Black people to go to failing neighborhood schools.
They can achieve their objectives today through the “Jussie Smollett model.” The Black actor claimed racist MAGA supporters had beaten him. But prosecutors later proved that Smollett had paid for the beating as part of an elaborate charade to gain attention.
Today the big charade is over issues that would cause all the 1960s Civil Rights leaders to roll over in their graves. Imagine the time and energy companies have spent on name or logo changes, like getting rid of Aunt Jemima pancakes and syrup or Uncle Ben’s rice. Add to that all the fuss over removing statues or memorials in various cities. Who cares? Will any of that produce even one long-term good paying job for a Black person to be able to take care of their family?
And of course, there is the fallacy of being “fair” to Black people which is tantamount to “hurting” white people. This is the true mantra of the Klan, which they call being “woke.” It is not a term that would roll off most Black peoples’ tongues. However, getting just one Black face to espouse warped ideas on race is enough to promote the Klan’s points, thanks to the media.
The Klan’s trick is to make you believe they do not exist. They work through others now to achieve their objectives which have not changed. They still abhor Black people, believe they are inferior, and that they should not have the same rights as whites.
They want good white people to be outraged over these “made up causes and demands” just like Smollett wanted voters to hate Trump because of his “beating.” It is highly likely that funding comes from the bad guys themselves or Klan sympathizers just like Smollett funding his own little charade.
The more outrageous they can depict so-called Black movements like “Defund the police,” the more normal white people would side with them and against Black people.
Remember, it is and always will be “all about the Benjamins.” Unfair employment practices are the premier and preferred methods to “kill” Black people in the 21st-century’s Klan playbook, especially the best and brightest.
For Biblical backup, here is Sirach (Chapter 34, verses 25 & 26): “To take away a neighbor’s living is to commit murder; to deprive an employee of wages is to shed blood.”
This ultimately hurts America. Good white people and our government must stand up and engage!
The Ku Klux Klan and their sympathizers, whether in white robes or Brooks Brothers’ suits, are good at what they do. They have centuries of practice, and they train their next generation well.
Gary Franks served three terms as U.S. representative for Connecticut’s 5th District. He was the first Black Republican elected to the House in nearly 60 years and New England’s first Black member of the House. He’s host of the podcast “We Speak Frankly” and author of “With God, For God, and For Country.” Reach him on Twitter @GaryFranks. His column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Lima News editorial board or AIM Media, owner of The Lima News.
