By: Keith Kappes
Columnist
Carter County Times
Flashbacks of civil rights history came to me last week when TV news showed dozens of men carrying signs and wearing white masks as they marched in downtown Louisville.
The marchers were members of The Patriot Front, a white nationalist group formed after the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.
I first thought it might be a comeback of the Ku Klux Klan, a hateful group of Christian Protestants who were so proud of their racial and religious hatred that they hid behind fancy white costumes and pointed masks.
The KKK existed in Kentucky for almost 100 years as they terrified blacks, Catholics, Native Americans, Jews and others with beatings, lynchings and the burning of crosses, homes and houses of worship.
The Klan’s violence and cruelty gave America its first horrible taste of the politics of hate and division.
Today, citizens of the world are learning painfully in many instances that the so-called American Dream has become a myth unless you were born here to parents who are white, native born, English-speaking citizens.
The Patriot Front’s visit to Louisville was publicly and rightfully criticized by Mayor Craig Greenberg, the Louisville Branch of the NAACP, the Anti-Defamation League, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations. I agree with them that no one should celebrate the cheerleading of hate.
Moreover, I fear that these self-appointed, self-anointed paramilitary groups could take advantage of their constitutional rights of peaceful assembly and gun ownership to get folks so agitated that we get a repeat nightmare of the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.
Finally, I was totally disgusted last week by comments from top ranking federal and Florida officials that immigration detainees who escape from “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Everglades would be enjoyed by hungry pythons and gators.
Contact Keith at keithkappes@gmail.com.
