Dear KKK, stop being terrible people
Last week The Leader mailbox was graced with a letter from none other than The Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Shock and concern beset our editorial board followed by many questions. Why were we receiving this? Were other student newspapers being contacted? What the fuck?
The letter was more or less a generic advertisement asking for a bad review to be written about the book “The Slave Players” by Megan Allen. The first lines in the letter state “Recently we have come under extreme fire for being a hate group. This couldn’t be further from the truth. We follow the teachings of the Bible and only wish to keep the white race pure as God intended for His chosen people.” A quick look at the FAQ page on their website has similar rhetoric.
Not only was it incredibly disconcerting to receive this as a campus newspaper but it was a forceful reminder of the mindset that so many people in our society hold.
The official website and the letter adamantly suggest that the KKK is nothing but an innocent group that deserves the right to practice its beliefs without backlash.
This is, obviously, not true.
The victimization of itself illustrates the exact problem in our society that needs to be addressed when enacting change. Hate groups exist across the country (this letter hailed from sunny Tampa, Florida) and we cannot sit back and be silent while they preach their hateful and damaging nonsense. The first amendment grants you freedom of expression, even if it is hateful garbage, but it does not grant you immunity from backlash.
After reading the letter several times, those of us at The Leader were unsure of how to handle the situation. It was unnerving to receive the letter, considering that it was a very calculated action but we were told to simply ignore the letter because it was sent to campuses nationwide.
Ignoring things like this is the opposite of what should be happening. Letting these ideals thrive in isolation only deals more damage and gives them more power.
It seemed crazy that they should ask us to support them and their ideals through this newspaper but it also reminded us that there are people who do think this way and we are not helpless in speaking out against it.
Though we did not do anything with the letter, we felt it was only right to take charge of the medium which they reached out to and spread our own message: The normalization of this hate has to stop.
Sincerely,
The Leader