Your argument that there is nothing to fear is based on the small proportion of self-identified KKK and neo-Nazis. I don’t think the argument holds up.
White supremacist groups, especially the KKK, have carried out not just vandalism but bombings, beatings, arson and murder. They are organized groups with philosophies. No doubt they have sympathizers who are not part of their official count.
If you argue we should not fear them because they are small in number, would you say the same regarding other terrorists groups? Surely there are fewer ISIS sympathizers in the US. Should we just laugh them off as unrepresentative?
The same goes for taking comfort in being a nation of laws. Laws may or may not be obeyed. Laws may be changed or reinterpreted. Justice may or may not be served.
Being a nation of laws is a pact among its citizenry and works so long as citizens feel duty bound to each other to play by the rules. This does nothing to stop those who do not feel a loyalty to their fellow citizens — ALL of them — from doing terrible things.
In communities around my state, both before the election and in the last few weeks, KKK literature has been distributed in the night. Fliers packed with pebbles in Ziplock bags have been flung onto people’s driveways to be discovered in the morning. The purpose is both to recruit and intimidate.
The only crime committed, in our nation of laws and free speech, is littering. Hardly worth the police’s time.
It is to be noted these packets were delivered anonymously in the night, not handed out on a street corner where faces could be seen and interactions had. So very Klan of them.
Secrecy is both cowardly and creepy, because it could be your neighbor, a guy from five towns away or someone who drove in from another state.
“What will follow the fliers?” people wonder. And that’s exactly what the clan wants. Join/comply or be a target is the subtle message.
This is how organizations like the Taliban, though less than a majority of the population, control a country, through intimidation and the unwillingness of citizens to risk standing up to them.
I have very real concerns about a small number of people — yes, not the majority — hijacking our nation, and my concerns are shared by a good many. Those of us speaking out are doing so in the hopes of heading this possibility off at the pass. This is only going to happen if the majority of citizens take the problem seriously. Therefore, I am objecting to a diminishment of the issue.
