The Klan taints Mississippi's reputation

Many celebrate Black History Month, but I can think of one group that probably cringes at the thought of blacks getting a month of honor.

Until a few weeks ago, I was not aware that the Ku Klux Klan is still very much a thriving organization. Call me na've, but I guess I thought that sort of thing phased out decades ago. After some research, I realized I was wrong.

The KKK sticks by its age-old principles but has a seemingly new approach these days. Lynching appears to be out of style. Now the organization settles for only burning crosses in what it calls Cross Lightings and has even upgraded its name to the Mississippi White Knights.

According to its website, the group is a holy order that no longer believes in violence. So, does that mean this originally notorious and violent group has reformed? Sure, if reformed means that whites are meant to be the dominating race and that every nonwhite is beneath them. The White Knights have given up violence, but do believe in "self-defense."

The group's definition of self-defense is unclear; however, based on what it says about interracial relationships, one could assume the White Knights are threatened by the presence of mixed coupling and feel the need to "defend" or preserve the sanctity of the white race.

At least that's what I walked away from their website with. What upsets me the most is that the White Knights use scripture to justify their racial beliefs. For instance, the website offers a list of questions like "What does the Bible say on race mixing?" and provides a scripture verse that is supposed to answer the question.

Unfortunately, the verse is completely taken out of context and some of the verses have nothing to do with the question.

As if this was not enough to make a judgment call, I decided to enter a chat room where I could chat with members and perhaps get a better understanding of the thought process behind this madness. One of the chatters, who used to be a member of a resistance organization called the National Alliance, opened up to me about his feelings on the topic, saying "I'm ready to fight and die for my race…I'll fight to the last breath."

He also said that after a few months of reading about Nazis, he realized the real enemy was the Jews. I believe this type of thinking greatly reflects the deluded beliefs of the Mississippi White Knights and any other group with a similar agenda. It is quite clear that hate is still very much a part of the equation, and as long as people believe they are in a battle to become the best race, it will always be about hate.

These people need to give it up. In today's society, efforts like this are comparable to throwing sand into the wind.

What's worse is that these ladies and gentlemen are covering the rest of us Mississippians in their proverbial bladder juice. Give it a rest; you're giving the rest of us a bum rap.