NEWS: Crosses Burn in the South

My Point

Originally posted by SpittinCobra
No attack, just trying to see your point.

I suppose I can be somewhat hard to pin down at times, so I can't knock you for that.

Hatred is an expression of fear. Fear gives power to evil.

The one thing all Klansmen fear more than anything else is the exposure of who they truly are. Even "public" Klansmen dread exposure of their inner selves.

Shaking our fists at the darkness will not make it go away. Instead, we must drive it away with the light of truth.

If I were to distill my opinion on all this down to a single sentence, I suppose it would be this:

The solution to evil is not more evil, but love, compassion and honesty.

A Better Path

I urge my fellow members not to fall into the seductive trap of hatred.

There is hope even for Klansmen. They must be exposed to the truth of who they are and shown why they are wrong to cloak themselves in evil.

They must be dealt with, as all criminals must, and prevented from harming innocents, but to fear them is to give them power they do not deserve.

Hatred will not cure them, it will only breed more of them. They are lost, so we should help them find their way.

That is not an easy task, but nothing worth accomplishing ever is.

In Practice

Whoever did these cross burnings must be found and punished. Ambivalence regarding that is moral cowardice and unacceptable.

If they are Klansmen, then they have earned their shame.

But if they are not Klansmen, then what are we to make of them?

Either way, hatred will solve nothing. It mirrors the hatred of the Klan, and only nourishes the rot of evil in all who embrace it.

Instead, with the example of love, even the most incorrigible of Klansmen may come to repent in time.

That is what I pray will happen, and to the extent I can reasonably help to bring that about, I will.

I too come off wrong sometimes. Thanks for the clarity.
That is a sincere thank you.

Containing The Outbreak

Originally posted by RANT
I'm not saying it's necessarily the Klan or even organized, but I'd give good odds it's Baptists. The political kind.

The problem is that we really don't know who did this, which is the basis of my concern.

We cannot necessarily change the culture of North Carolina from here.

But we can drive hatred from the culture of ATS by renouncing it ourselves.

That is something we can do from here, and whoever is willing to listen, I urge you to consider the importance of doing this.

It's not easy. Hatred comes as naturally to humans as fear does.

But it's worth trying.

I used to fear bigots, and have been a victim of bigotry all my life.

Only when I stopped fearing and hating them did they lose their power over me.

Do not fear. We will win.

Majic you're in dangering of coming across as a principled pacifist. Which endears you to me but will make your life hard on this board. Pacifists are seen as cowards by quite alot of people around here.

Im not saying you shouldnt express your opinions but just expect to be ridiculed.

No One Hates War Like Warriors Do

Originally posted by subz
Majic you're in dangering of coming across as a principled pacifist. Which endears you to me but will make your life hard on this board. Pacifists are seen as cowards by quite alot of people around here.

I'm a pacifist who recognizes that sometimes war is unavoidable.

Should the U.S. have stayed out of WWII, for example? We almost did. Would that have been the right choice? The “high ground”? The “path of peace”?

When war comes, it is our moral duty to end it as quickly and painlessly as we can.

Not all pacifists agree with that, but that's my perspective on it.

My perspective is also that even in the bitterest of wars, I urge firing not a single shot in anger, but necessity, and only in necessity.

Anything beyond that is a path of evil.

Closing The Barn Door Sans Cow

Originally posted by subz
Im not saying you shouldnt express your opinions but just expect to be ridiculed.

What? Me? Ridiculed? Shirley, you jest.

The day the ridicule stops is the day I must have stopped logging in.

It's okay. In reality, I usually don't mind it that much on a personal level -- and, hey, I'm no saint myself. But I despise what it does to ATS, and where I indulge in it, the shame is mine. And indulge I do.

I could kick myself a million times for some of the stupid, insensitive and hateful things I have posted to this board and others -- and will undoubtedly post in the future.

To any and all whom I do that to, I'm really sorry. I'm even more sorry that as much as I try, I will no doubt fail again and post something that makes us grit our collective teeth.

Sometimes I can be just so damned snippy -- not to mention groan-worthily preachy, to boot.

Again, sorry.

I try not to be, but well, I'm a pretty flawed individual, and that's unlikely to change in my lifetime. All that time I spent on alt.flame back in the early '90s doesn't help me in the politeness department, either, but I'm really trying to get better.

So does ridicule bother me? Sometimes.

But frankly, most of the time, I have earned all the ridicule I get.

Such are the ironies of life.

Well crosses are burned for many reasons, but if you visit a kkk website you will understand more about this topic.

Most true klan members will say they never burn crosses, but the illegal klan members more like terrorists use it totally for intimidation.

This country is made of freedoms and I do believe everyone should have a right of opinion. But burning a cross is just a terrorist act and against our local laws in NC. Maybe those who burned them had some cause, not racial, but a cause of some type of justice. Still this does not give right to terror!

Check this link for info on cross burning
KKK cross burning

I wont condone ridicule Majic, sorry

BOT, has anyone considered the possibilty that this could be islamic extremists burning these crosses as a literal attack on Christianity. After the Koran desecration that has been admitted to by U.S investigators shouldnt we of expected some retaliatory desecration?

Burning a cross is a desecration of a christian symbol.

Since everything lately gets blamed on islamic extremists I wonder why this theory wasnt floated earlier.

Has historical precedent from the KKK blinded people to the usual scapegoats of those radical islamists?

freedom of speech???

if it was their crosses on their property then its ok???

yupp...

Some questions from a european: Are KKK processions legal in the US? Is the KKK legal or do they have frontends? Are they open or secretive? Are they still killing people? Are they religious? Are they a "wasp" group? Are they more nationalist or more racist?

North Carolina is an interesting state, and upon further pondering about the cross burnings in Durham, I have to say, it kind of makes sense. North Carolina, as well as Virginia, are kind of a transition zone between predominantly northern values and southern ones. Although the difference between the values of the two are blurry at times, I believe there to be more liberalism in the north than the south. As such, it would make sense clashes would occur around the Research Triangle Park area. There is even a city in the RTP area nicknamed Central Area for Relocated Yankees or Cary. But, at the same time in these areas where many northerners relocate, there are a high proportion of southern-cultured generations of families. As well, Durham has a high proportion of Black people and Durham is very liberal in a lot of places. These two factors may prove too much to bear for some people who are vehemently opposed to such situations who are seeing their culture ignored or even opposed itself.

I know these statements of North and South culture are very general and while I believe there to be a difference, I am unsure of the specifics. Perhaps someone else knows something about any apparent differences in the two cultures devoid of any mention of bestiality or race-car religions.

Well, they are a WASP group, why the catholics made the White Knight of Kristianity, a Catholic KKK since they can't join the KKK which is WASP only.

Secretive? Well, they had a demostration in Cleveland, had to get the permits and all that. Main reason they did it is the Mayor of the time was a black liberal, so they knew he wouldn't stop them since being a democrat believes in freedom of speech, as long as there wasn't any violence done. The KKK rally went with the same republican bs, but thankfully they didn't go out and kill anyone.

Do they still kill people? Well, I think the question is do they do it publicaly anymore? They use to have picinics with blacks hanging from the trees, KKK and other republicans wearing their sunday best as the blacks they just lynched hung above them. But today they might just do it without the picinic setting.

Wow you said the "R" word in the same thread as the KKK. I'm recommending kevlar suits for one and all if a certain crowd gets whiff of it

Somebody please read my links!

Burning crosses is a christian thing, look at some churches with pictures of a cross in flames. read the bible it mentions many times about god and fire!

And the KKK is just a religious rights group not a racial, religious.
Yes they are known for there past during the 50s and 60s...
but this is not what this is about......
this is just pure terror, one trying to intimidate another for their own selfish needs!

The Other Side Of The Fiery Cross

Originally posted by ncbrian211
Somebody please read my links!

I did, and found the website fascinating.

I was aware of the Klan's roots in the Reconstruction Era -- which, by all accounts, was truly hell on earth -- but I hadn't seen the story told so well from the Klan's perspective before.

I recommend that anyone who wishes to dismiss the Klan out of hand as a hate group check out the Klan's perspective on all of this. It is instructive.

Not all Klansmen are slavering demons who hate everyone but themselves. They have their own story to tell.

But let's not forget what the Klan stands for. It may very well have served a noble purpose at some point in its past, and I will not presume to pass judgment on that.

However, my challenge to modern Klansmen is this: do you still think it is necessary to have an organization opposed to “Negro rule” in this day and age?

Even assuming that America “needed the Klan” in times past, do we need it today?

America in 2005 is not America in 1865. Much has changed over the past 140 years -- thank God!

To those who see the Klan as noble defenders of righteousness, I challenge you to consider if we need the Klan today, or if it has outlived its usefulness.

Honesty will serve you far better than passion in this exercise.