You are walking down a street in
Middle Class America thinking about how to make ends meet when your eyes falls
upon a pamphlet that startles you out of your contemplation: ““Neighborhood Watch.
You can sleep tonight knowing the Klan is awake.” The throw-away was signed by
the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
The surrounding homes in the area of
Ridge Road in Fairview Township, Pennsylvania, a municipality along the Susquehanna
River northwest of Elizabethtown appear as typically snug as most other
similar communities. However the local chapter of the KKK felt it was necessary
to organize a crime watch and so contacted Frank Ancona, the organization’s
imperial wizard and president, at headquarters in Park Hills, Mo.
“It’s just like any neighborhood watch
program. It’s not targeting any specific ethnicity. We would report anything we
see to law enforcement,” Ancona said. “We don’t hate people. We are an
organization who looks out for our race. We believe in racial separation. God
created each species after its kind and saw that it was good.” (According to
Eric Veronikis, PennLive.com, who was given a flier by a resident of the area).
Ancona gave his blessing to the action.
Although there are apparently KKK splinter
groups, in the interview with PennLive it was asserted that Acona’s
organization has chapters in every state except Hawaii. The KKK boss complains
of discrimination but points out the secret nature of membership in the
following way: ““Members could be the guy who is delivering your pizza. It
could be law enforcement from the local sheriff’s office. It could be the nurse
taking care of you in the emergency room.”
Ancona
asserted that the KKK is not affiliated with the neo-Nazi or skinhead movements
and that residents of Fairview Township should be relieved that the
neighborhood watch is underway. Nevertheless, the Traditionalist American
Knights consider anyone outside the organization as an alien: ““Anyone who is
not part of the klan is considered an alien,” Ancona said. “These are things
that band us in this brotherhood.”
In nearby Lancaster, a multi-racial
community, a resident reported to LancasterOnline that: "This morning my
parents woke up to find this flier on the front door of their house. Everyone
on their street received one. We are Mexican, so to see our concern to why
someone would just leave this on our steps is a very big concern.”
Crime does exist in this and most other areas of Pennsylvania.
But can it be solved with the help of an openly racist organization with a past
of lynchings and other atrocities?
Not
unsurprisingly, there were numerous letters to the editor in response to the
news about the KKK crime watch. For example, a man identifying himself as Sgt-Jones-Sr
wrote PennLive saying:
“It's time to call these guys what they
are. I fought for my country and nearly died while in it's service (and I'm not
white), yet I'm watching terrorist run amuck. Who cares about their
neighborhood watch attempts. How many Americans died at the hands of the KKK
through lynching's, hangings, & burnings at the stake (they even took
pictures with kids standing around)? I guarantee you it was more than the
number of innocent Americans that died in 911. If an American branch of
Al-Qaeda came in my neighborhood and said we go to church now & we denounce
Bin-Laden's actions & we have "traditional values we intend to
promote" & we just want to protect our neighborhood from crime. I
would be outraged & every & major media outlet would be on it. We need
to stop focusing on what say they're for and label them what they truly are,
TERRORIST!. Terror is terror, killing is killing & lynching's are a more
horrible way to die than a bomb. Picture a 13 yr. old American boy beaten,
strangled, shot then nearly decapitated, & then a cotton gin fan hung
around his neck and it was done by Al-Qaeda, then they took pictures at a
celebration afterward. This would mean war. This happened in America, only
difference is it was celebrated & supported by this group the KKK. Al-Qaeda
never lynched a kid for whistling at a white lady, yet we accept & protect
this groups use of the first Amendment as justification for their beliefs &
actions? We didn't stop the hunt for Bin-Laden but we won't go after a home
grown terror group that takes pride in killing Americans in the past &
present. Irony?”
A contrary view: Please understand that
some of these people may have been hurt at sometime in their lives and need the
Lord also. Remember, we are all decendantsof Adam and Eve! We are in the SAME
FAMILY!!!!!! All Are equally guilty of sin. Why discriminate against our
relatives, our family.! Most important, JOHN 3:16 For God so loved the world, that
He gave His only begotten son, that WHOSOEVER believeth in Him, should not
perish, but, have EVERLASTING LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Christopher Lavery Sr.)
