As I shall show further on, in discussing the history and structure of the
original Ku Klux Klan, there is absolutely no racial condition in the
South or anywhere in America today that warrants the existence of such an
organization. It is even worse than folly to make the religious element
figure into questions touching a section where racial matters are always
in the acute stage.
In order to swell its roster, and to bring under its banner of discord all
the elements in the country which it thinks it can handle, Ku Kluxism is
attempting to win the people of the Pacific Coast by putting forth the
doctrine of "White Supremacy" in relation to the Japanese question. I have
seen and heard read many reports from California indicating that the
Kleagles on the coast are doing a land office business and that the people
are "donating ten dollars" to the "noble cause" as rapidly as they can
sign the petition for citizenship. Without regard to the merits or
demerits of the Japanese question, as it affects the people of California,
there again creeps into the subject the discrimination against white men
by classing them as foreigners along with the Japanese. I know nothing of
the industrial conditions of California, but I am quite sure that a
portion of the prosperity and greatness of the State has been developed
by Catholic and Jewish people.
As a general proposition Southern people are exceptionally capable of
sympathizing with Californians in their peculiar racial problem, and would
probably back them in every way that is legitimate, but the Japanese
question is an international one, and should be and must be handled by the
State department in Washington, and not by the "Emperor" of the "Invisible
Empire" in Atlanta. The carrying on of a vigorous campaign for members of
the Ku Klux Klan on the Pacific Coast is an infringement on the duties and
prerogatives of the United States Government. If it is not stopped, it is
likely to lead to unpleasant and dangerous international consequences.
CHAPTER IX
RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA
One of the strongest pieces of evidence that the Simmons monstrosity is
not "the genuine original Klan," and that its claim to being "a monument
to the Confederate soldier" is an insult to the cause headed by Jefferson
Davis and Robert E. Lee, is its propaganda of religious animosity and
prejudice, which is directed specifically at Catholics and Jews. While it
claims to be a great and "noble cause" for the "uplift" of humanity, the
protection of womanhood, the enforcement of law and order and the
maintenance of "white supremacy," I am firmly convinced that its
fundamental idea is the creation of a secret political Empire for the
purpose of totally eliminating Catholics and Jews from public life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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