The New Ku Klux Klan?

The Ku Klux Klan got attention in March when they distributed fliers to a neighborhood in Chesterfield, Virginia.  It's part of what appears to be an attempt to revamp the public image of a group best known for murdering people.

The Ku Klux Klan papered several Chesterfield County neighborhoods this week with fliers proclaiming it is nonviolent, not a hate group and not “enemies of the colored and mongrel races.”

I'm not sure how they figure they can be taken seriously in their claim to not be a hate group while referring to people as "the colored and mongrel races", but at least they're advocating non-violence.  Hopefully they're at least also practicing it.

But they're not the only group attempting to make the Klan more palatable for the modern world.  A Pennsylvania Klan group wants to start a neighborhood watch.  In the article about the neighborhood watch, Imperial Wizard Frank Ancona said,

It’s just like any neighborhood watch program. It’s not targeting any specific ethnicity. We would report anything we see to law enforcement

That would be great if they could believed.  But he also said,

We don’t hate people. We are an organization who looks out for our race. We believe in racial separation

In other words, they're still racists.  The fact that they do not understand that they're racists is what has them being surprised when people react negatively to them attempting to police their neighborhood, however passive they claim to be with it.

Even if their violent past really is behind them, it's not that far behind them. Earlier this year, a Jewish center was shot up by "former Grand Dragon of the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan".  Ancona's reaction was to condemn the violence.

"I believe in racial separation but it doesn't have to be violent," he told CNN. "People in the Klan are professional people, business people, working types. We are a legitimate organization."

Cross, who founded the Carolina Knights of the KKK in the 1980s, went "rogue," Ancona said.

The Young Turks covered the basics pretty well.

Although, they did miss one thing about Ancona's attempt at reimaging.

The leader of the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan is tired of “a few rogue Klansmen” ruining the group’s reputation, and argues that the group is a non-violent Christian organization.

I'm sure many non-violent, non-racist Christians today would take exception to the Klan declaring itself Christian, but they'd have to deny a lot of history to do so.

Photo Credit: Dallas Voice

If the Ku Klux Klan wants a palatable image, they'll need to do 2 things.

1. Change their name.
2. Stop being racists.

Even then, I don't see many people buying it.  But it's not like the Klan has ever been accused of being all that smart.