I have edited this story for grammatical errors and added a few more words to help clarify meaning. If you like what you read and agree with what I have said, that "Hate is not the answer" feel free and please do, share this story with friends.
The Truth about the
KKK
Let me begin this tale
by posing two true or false questions for consideration:
Is every Southerner a
member of the Ku Klux Klan?
Does every Southerner
believe that the KKK is really out to do good, and is simply misunderstood?
When I was 13 years old
in 1966 I needed to know what the real story was in regards to the
"Invisible Empire.” The two questions stated above were two of many that
were going through my mind far too frequently for a young boy.
In light of the events
of the 1960s with riots, abductions, and murders happening all over the country
(not just in the South like some people seem to remember it) it really wasn't
strange for a young person to be trying to figure out what was true, and what
was false.
Background
South Florida was not
the hotbed of racial tension that other areas were at that time. Not like
Montgomery, Birmingham, Cleveland, or just about any large city with sufficient
media coverage to make national news.
I still think that
political advantage and profiteering had more to do with the riots than we
knew. It wasn’t just about anyone’s civil or human rights. Injustices were
happening, and change was coming slowly, but there was too much violence.
Violence wasn't the way that the church going, God fearing people that I grew
up with would even think of behaving. It certainly wasn’t what Martin Luther
King, Jr. was preaching.
I grew up with kids of
every color, nationality, religion, and income level that you could imagine. If
you know South Florida, you know that is not an exaggeration of the society
found there. Black, white, brown, red, yellow... only meant colors from a
Crayola Crayon box to us.
I knew three boys
named Larry, and we had to call them something slightly different to tell who
we were yelling at to throw us the ball, etc. One was called "Lawrence", one was
called "Larry", and one was called "LT". OK, you got that?
Now add to the mix;
one was Catholic, one was Jewish, and one was Baptist. To further confuse the
issue; one was black, one was white, and one was Seminole. Can you tell by the
names, which was which? Does it matter anyway? It didn't to us; they were just
three guys named Larry.
If curiosity is
killing you; Lawrence was black and Catholic, Larry was white and Jewish, which
made LT a Seminole of the Baptist persuasion... and none of this mattered, and
it shouldn't.
Enter
Curiosity
Why did these people
(the KKK) gather together and hold rallies; and what's with the burning cross?
These questions are
what prompted four of us to go out into an orange grove in Davie, Florida, one
Friday night when we were supposed to be at a school dance at the Junior High
School.
It was a foolish thing
to do and a much greater risk for my three Seminole Indian "brothers"
than it was for me. Seminole Indians have "mixed" with slaves at
times in their history and the KKK has a special hatred for those of mixed
ancestry.
At least that was what
we had heard and that was a big part of the problem. We didn't have any
first-hand knowledge and the opposing sides were extremely opinionated in their
own behalf. So who should we believe? What was the Gospel in this matter?
The
Rally
“Friday night in “X's”
orange grove, ceremonies to start at 8:00 PM, sharp. Come early and bring your
own supplies. The Exalted Grand Dragon will Honor us with a speech and sermon.”
There was more to the
flier, but you get the tone of the message. That was how we found out where and
when the rally was being held. We were determined to find out the “why.”
Larry, Ralph, Sam and
I really did start out at the dance. We didn't lie (to our parents) about going
to it, we just didn't stay long. One of their cousins had agreed to give us a
ride out to the orange grove for a half-pint bottle of Vodka.
They had already taken
care of the payment, and obtained his promise not to drink it until we were
safely back at the dance and he had driven home. The “no drinking” restriction
was necessary because we had to be back at the school before 11:00 PM when the
dance got over and we didn't want this cousin getting into a wreck or getting
arrested (or leaving us out there with the Klan.)
The rally location was
a big shock to me. It was in a grove owned by a prominent family of church
going folks with a very good reputation. I recall saying that “Maybe they
didn't know that it was being held there.” “And maybe pigs fly,” was the
response and general consensus of opinion about that idea. I knew that the guys
were right…I just didn’t want them to be.
We knew that the main
road into the grove would be watched and they weren't likely to let us in to
satisfy our curiosity. They might have let me in by myself, if one of their
number would speak up for me. But, I wasn't interested in being alone with the
Knights of the KKK, betting on them being understanding "Good Ole Boys."
So that approach was out. There was another road which connected this grove to
the next, but it was a long way to the other end where you "might" have
been able to enter, and it could have been padlocked too.
The only logical choice
for us was to cross the big canal next to the paved county road that bordered
the grove. Then hike in through the trees in the dark without flashlights, and
hope that we didn't encounter snakes, etc. There were also the man made
obstructions like barbed wire and irrigation hardware. Yep. It was the best
way, they would have to figure that nobody would be crazy enough to do that and
not worry about posting guards or lookouts on that side.
We found a place for
the cousin to park the car and go to sleep. He promised to wait and not drink
the Vodka until the agreed upon time and if we weren't out by 11:00 PM he was
to go get the entire tribe to rescue us. We didn't think that the cops would be
of much use for some reason... a hunch that proved to have merit later.
The water was deep and
cold, and there were alligators and Water Moccasins in those ditches,
especially big canals like that one. Those minor details made it even more comical
that we had to get naked and wade across with our clothes held over our heads
to keep them dry. The running joke was about where you might get snake bit; and
that nobody was going to suck the poison out, etc. We were very loony,
that much is obvious now, but at the time it was just another thing that we
did. We could see an alligator farther up the canal, but we were too large for
it to bother with.
We found a good spot
to get out and quickly got dressed again. There was a minor planning problem; we
had to use our underwear to dry off with. Not wanting to put wet underwear back
on, we left them hanging on the bushes to dry. I wondered for a long time if
they were still there. We didn't go back for them, that's for sure!
We actually made good
time through the trees and were being very careful where we put our feet, both to
avoid hazards and to prevent making unnecessary noise that might alert the
Klansmen. We wanted this to be a "private" viewing of their rally and
not for us to be "part" of it. The thought of what would happen to my
Seminole brothers if we were caught made me very careful. The idea that I would
be the reason for harm coming to them suddenly terrified me.
It was 7:45 p.m. when
we got to the edge of the clearing where there was a bonfire and a lot of
"White Robes" moving around. That meant it took us 30 minutes to cross
the canal and hike in to that spot. We moved along the trees, keeping them
between the crowd and us until we found a likely site to watch from.
The four of us then
climbed a tree almost all the way to the top. Orange trees were not my choice
for climbing with their thorns sticking out everywhere. I was scratched and
bleeding from several places by the time I reached my perch.
If we had hesitated at
all, we would have been history. We had no more stopped moving than two guards
in white robes and hoods, carrying shotguns, walked right up to where we were
and stopped. I was afraid to even breathe!
The rally was called
to order and the ceremonies began at 8:00 p.m. on the dot. Those boys were
punctual, I'll give them that much.
The head guy of all of
them, the “Exalted Grand Dragon,” was sitting in a lawn chair behind the stage,
out of sight. He didn't get up or even appear to pay any attention when the
"Wizard" was on stage working the crowd into a frenzy. I supposed
that it was much like what the opening act did for the headliner at a concert
or a Las Vegas show.
This hooded bozo (the
Wizard) had already answered a lot of our questions concerning the attitudes
and intentions of the Invisible Empire of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. If
you weren't just like them you were wrong for their future and a danger to
their children; and you had to be eliminated. Peacefully if possible, but
however was necessary, if that was what it took.
The speaker professed
to be a God fearing man on a mission to save his race from contamination and
extinction. He said that he was doing it all for his children and their
children. Using children and God were his main hooks to work the crowd, and
work them he did! These robed figures were agitated, animated, and aggressive (just
to use the "A's".) However you wanted to describe it, they were
pumped up and ready to receive the message from their "main man!”
As good as the Wizard
was at stirring the crowd up, he was nothing compared to the Exalted Grand
Dragon! That man had people crying, shouting, and dumping money into a barrel.
The donations were to keep up the fight against the government and all the
others who would deny them their God given right. Of course, maybe a little of
it would have to be used to pay for the stretch limousine that the big guy had
arrived in; and would go on to the next rally in, riding in comfort.
I got the feeling that
I was witnessing Adolph Hitler working on the plan for the Aryan race. There
was no longer any doubt in my mind that genocide was too singular for what
these crazies had in store for the rest of us.
When I was able to
take my eyes off of the stage and look around us, I just about spoke out loud.
Damn! The rally with all those fanatics was in front of us and their cars were
parked behind us, with armed guards patrolling all around them. There was no
"sideways,” the bonfire was so large that it illuminated everything around
us. We were in an ugly fix, but still safe in the tree top for now.
The ceremony of
lighting the cross would usually have begun the rally I was told later on in
life. On that night it had special significance and had been delayed until that
critical point. I had never seen so large of a cross before; it was made from
telephone poles and was at least 40 feet high.
The Grand Dragon said
a prayer that got a lot of “amens” all through it and had everyone focused on
him. At a wave of the hand signal from him, one of the attendants lit the cross
with a forty foot burst of liquid fire (like napalm) from a flame thrower. The
screams, squeals and applause of the masses gathered there were thunderous!
The KKK will tell you
that the lighting of the cross is a sacred religious tradition honoring the
Light of God and Jesus for dying for our sins. All completely Christian and
only meant as a good example of their faith.
So why then did their
leader say, "All of the unclean, and the mixed curs had better take
warning from this cross burning brightly in the night. We will take what is our
right by any means necessary and they can perish in its flames if they get in
the way."
The crowd again
responded with riotous and righteous clamor, not unlike a hound pack hitting a
strong scent trail. I feared that the Dragon was going to send them out to harm
people right then. In their present state of mind I believed that they would do
anything that he ordered.
The man with the flame
thrower was so moved that he unleashed another burst of fire on the already
burning cross, causing more screams yet.
That “re-lighting” of
the cross served a better purpose for us. It brought the guards in from the
parking area to witness the burning and increasing level of excitement. Their
movement drew them in far enough that we felt that it was our best chance to
get out of the tree and slip out through the cars. Again we went with the logic
of doing the least expected. No one would expect us to come out through the
cars and down the main road of the grove.
Those trees ate us
alive with scratches and cuts, but not a sound was made, at least not out loud.
I was truly screaming inside my head from all of the pain. I almost fell out of
the tree, but a hand reached out and grabbed me. Larry was looking out for his
"brother," as always.
We made it to the
ground and staying low, moved as quickly as possible to get to the cover of the
vehicles and darkness. Fear was a great motivator and we had plenty to be
afraid of from those nuts, especially in the frenzy that they were riding on
right at that moment.
As shocking as the
words had been, and as disheartening as the supposed "moral
conviction" of these robed figures was; the real pain and hurt lie ahead.
When these Knights of
the Klan were just anonymous figures in robes, it was bad enough. But, when we
got among the cars and recognized the vehicle of our Sheriff, the personalized
plates of the Mayor's car, the car of a banker who was the father of one of our
friends, the truck belonging to the owner of the local hardware store (complete
with the sign on the side), and other vehicles of people that we knew by the
car or license plate... it went past bad, it was gut wrenchingly painful. How
could they act this way here at this rally, and then smile to our faces when
they met us on the street?
And then came the real
crusher. The unmistakable car of the preacher whose church we had been
attending! It serves no purpose to identify what religion he represented; none
of them would condone what he had done here tonight.
The sinking
realization that we now knew why the Wizard who "opened" for the main
speaker sounded so familiar, and why he could talk for an hour and a half
without letting up. We never set foot in his church again after that night.
We moved quietly
through the cars and down the road towards freedom and fresh air. It smelled
like sulfur and brimstone where we just were.
The
Escape
There was a checkpoint
to pass and even though it was dark, we could smell their cigarettes and hear
what they probably considered a whisper, a long way from them. We just slipped
off to the side and went through the trees until we were clear of them and then
got back on the sand two-track road and in no time we had reached pavement.
Upon gaining that
asphalt pavement, we allowed ourselves (for the first time) to run, and run we
did, all the way to the car about a mile down that county two-lane. We ran like
the Devil himself was behind us, and I’m not so sure that he wasn’t.
When we woke the
cousin up from a sound sleep in the back seat of his car, scaring him with our
emotional insistence to hurry up, he no doubt thought that the Klan was after
us. It was worse, it was demons in our minds, screaming about what we had seen and
heard!
The clock showed 10:30
p.m. when we walked back into the dance; we had been gone a lifetime. It was a
sad, hard lesson to learn that things are seldom what they seem and people are
capable of unbelievable extremes and such hatred that I couldn't yet
comprehend.
It would take many
years and experiencing war to make me know the depths of the human soul.
Right then, at
thirteen years old, I was in shock. If this was what it meant to be white, then
I was glad to be a "brother" to the Seminole People, maybe they would
claim me and I wouldn't have to be white anymore.
I was sure embarrassed
by what we had experienced on this night and apologized to my brothers for the
color of my skin. They were wiser than I was, and told me not to worry, that I
had a good heart and would always know the right path to take. I don't know if
I lived up to that, but I was glad that they were still my brothers.
Finally
Whatever color,
nationality, or religion that you may be... whatever differences that you may
have... whatever problems may arise in your life... we learned that night that:
HATE IS NOT THE ANSWER.
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