Kkk In West Virginia (Mason: insurance, movies, gated)

[phoenix_talons]

Thanks to everyone for sharing their stories. It's a mind-opener. My position on illegal aliens hasn't changed, but I can see now that companies that hire them are just as in the wrong.

Someday, someone will write about these anecdotes to inform and educate future generations. But keep the stories coming.

[appalachiangirl]

I can understand the anger with companies hiring ILLEGAL immigrants and their sneaking into America illegally,but what I don't understand is why the KKK hated Catholics and European immigrants as most came here LEGALLY and must have been needed to work in coal mines,factories etc,because if the local populations could fulfill this need so called "bosses" wouln't have sent people to Europe to recruit workers (which they did).

[ArizonaBear]

Originally Posted by appalachiangirl

I can understand the anger with companies hiring ILLEGAL immigrants and their sneaking into America illegally,but what I don't understand is why the KKK hated Catholics and European immigrants as most came here LEGALLY and must have been needed to work in coal mines,factories etc,because if the local populations could fulfill this need so called "bosses" wouln't have sent people to Europe to recruit workers (which they did).

Probably because the above groups; in particular the Irish, Italians and especially the Eastern Euros (most of whom were Catholic as well) were willing to work for/under substandard wages/conditions that a 'WASP' would never tolerate-----even back then.

[MissShona]

Originally Posted by David Kennedy

That area is 'Redneckville' and I'll bet that some holler still holds a get-to-gether once in a while. I'm
sorry to say I have this knowledge of this topic...but it too, is part of the history of this state and its people...the secret part that should be kept secret...

Why should it be kept secret? Nothing will ever come about to prompt change if the particularities of the KKK are hidden away...

[appalachiangirl]

I still don't get how the turn of the century KKK could claim they were Christian,yet have so much hate for their neighbors who did nothing personally to them (in some cases including killings!)

[David Kennedy]

The members of the KKK were very fundamentalist christians...mostly Baptists and Methodists with a natural religious dislike for Catholics (and particularly Mormons too). If you search out the early history of the beginnings of the KKK, you will see that it was brought about to establish law when none existed after the Civil War. Nathan Bedford Forrest was a war hero and the organization he helped establish got out of hand. I feel its place in WV was natural to the community because no actual law existed here from 1863 to about 1880. People began to demand schools for the children and that put pressure on the elected to act responsibly.

[ArizonaBear]

And; of course the irony of the Klan is that both their symbolism (Greek words) and their attire (which was based very strongly on the Hispanic/Spanish garb worn by certain members of the Catholic Church in Spain) had nothing to do with WASP culture.

We will not even discuss the fact that Jesus Christ was a Jew who (probably) resembled a typical swarthy Middle Easterner.

[phoenix_talons]

Another irony. The term "Aryan" originated from ancient Persia to describe their lineage and language. These days, White nationalist/supremacists and skinheads embrace ultra-hardcore metal rock. But who created the rock and roll genre that started it all? African-American musicians.

[MissShona]

Originally Posted by David Kennedy

The members of the KKK were very fundamentalist christians...mostly Baptists and Methodists with a natural religious dislike for Catholics (and particularly Mormons too). If you search out the early history of the beginnings of the KKK, you will see that it was brought about to establish law when none existed after the Civil War. Nathan Bedford Forrest was a war hero and the organization he helped establish got out of hand. I feel its place in WV was natural to the community because no actual law existed here from 1863 to about 1880. People began to demand schools for the children and that put pressure on the elected to act responsibly.

Umm...you're leaving out a very key point; that they were essentially a renegade group looking to maintain the ways of the "Old South" which mainly meant maintaining the WASP superiority over everyone else...especially Black people (side rant: it's really unsettling to see people type "Negro" in these posts...is that what you call Black people today, "Negros"? As far as historical purposes...all I can say is the word "Negro" went out for a reason {comes from the Latin root "necro" which means "void/nothing/black"}; I think Black people of yesteryear deserve the same respect as Black people today in regards to their label). Sure they saw themselves as the saviors of their community, but we know better. And plus when evil (yes, I think the KKK was inherently evil) manifests itself with no opposition...of course it will be seen as good or whatever else people want to see it as. Those were difficult times for the South and they retorted to emotion-based, ignorant morals as a way to defer the inevitable future.

I'm sorry, but I do not know how the modern mind can rationalize or justify anything that the KKK stood for...

[David Kennedy]

These were not 'Renegade Groups at all...they were upstanding, moral people of almost every community...the leaders and those in authority...preachers, teachers and law enforcement. officials.

The south looked upon the Civil War as the 'War of Yankee Agression' ....a denial of their right to exist as a soverign entity...as a state in the same respect as the 13 colonies. Separate and distinct....

You are mistakenly covering a social group with a present-day mind-set...it will not work.
Segregation had existed with the English and ALL of the european groups...it was religious and nationalistic...the blacks were nothing more than a servitude commodity.
Blacks were sold into slavery by their own...Black Muslim traders were made rich by the slave trade in the 1600 and 1700's.

When segregation ended in the 50's...the WV black school system suffered...the black teachers in Wv were required to have Masters Degrees...the whites, a 2 yr certificate...the blacks had better schools as far as degreed staff was concerned...I was lucky, I had a black teacher and she was exceptional in everyway...exceeded the pool of white teachers as her degree came from Columbia U...instead of a small podunk college...

They were not perpetuating southern values...they were keeping their communities under a strict control...as I've said before, no law existed in Wv after the succession from Virginia...the new state did not have funds...or even a capitol...the capitol was a floating brothel with 2 barges pulled behind...the state records were kept on those barges...Tied up in Wheeling for 2 years and then down river at Kanawha City for 2 years...