I went into this one partly because I was a joiner and was curious to see
what it was all about, but principally because I thought it was a
fraternal order which was actually a revival of the original Ku Klux Klan
which played so important a part in the history of the South during the
days of the Reconstruction. That old organization has always had a certain
glamour for me as it has for every Southerner, and I could see no reason
why a fraternal order commemorating the deeds of the original Klansmen
should not fill a need in the country today. I knew absolutely nothing
about the structure of the new Ku Klux Klan, took it on faith, and assumed
that in its government and administration, it would function like any
other of the standard fraternal orders. I thought, from the meager
information with which I was furnished, that I was thoroughly in accord
with its principles, and that it would be more or less a pleasure to
belong to it.
In the case of the Ku Klux Klan I took an immediate interest in the work
of the organizer, brought him into touch with prominent friends of mine
whom I induced to join, and did all I could to make his work a success.
Shortly afterward I was made one of the organizers, and in this capacity
devoted nearly all my time for three months to the work, conferring
degrees, talking to people who were in favor of the Klan and to some who
were opposed, and carefully studying the entire system of organization.
The fraternal order man who can really visualize an organization is the
man who absorbs its work by observation and study, and there is no better
method of doing this than performing the duties of an organizer. In my
work as an organizer for the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, I was first
impressed with the fact, that, on account of its radical nature, it was
dangerous. The first thing to which a candidate is enjoined is absolute
secrecy. This is carried to the utmost extremity. A newly made "citizen"
must not tell his wife or his family that he belongs to the organization,
and must give no hint of it to his most intimate friends and business
associates. I at once saw that any movement built along such a line was
dangerous, regardless of its intentions, because secrecy of this sort
places upon the organization the vital necessity of receiving as members
only men of the highest character whose positions and reputations in the
community would be an absolute safeguard against mischief. A secret
organization composed of men of a low standard of civic responsibility
would be the worst thing that could get into any community.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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