The Klan is Alive and Well

I recently watched “BlacKkKlansman,” a film that should not be missed.

It portrays how, in 1978, Black Colorado Springs undercover cop, Ron Stallworth and his White partner infiltrated the KKK and foiled a plot to bomb a Black power rally. The movie takes an unflinching view of the types who belong to the Klan, their warped “great replacement” theory, their distortions of American history, their stereotypical myths about Blacks and Jews and their various concoctions of government “conspiracies.”

In the film, the Klan members, most of whom probably have no knowledge of literature, art or music rant about the superiority of the Aryan race and the importance of preserving Western European culture. When you hear them say “America First” and other phrases that are bandied about by today’s right-wingers, you will see exactly where MAGA rhetoric and slogans came from.

The movie draws a straight line from the time of the Reconstruction up through the twentieth century, and, in a postscript, right up to the 2017 Charlottesville, VA demonstrations. There, when White Christian Nationalists marched in a torchlit parade chanting “Jews will not replace us,” Trump and his allies declined to condemn them.

That’s why there’s another movie you must see. Leni Riefenstahl’s 1935 documentary of Hitler’s rallies, “The Triumph of the Will.” The torchlit processions of Hitler supporters are indistinguishable from those that took place in Charlottesville.

At the time I saw “BlacKkKlansman,” I was reading about how Mussolini and Hitler took advantage of economic and social instability, widespread grievance and a fractured body politic. They used extreme rightist thugs, KKK types, to terrorize the citizenry into electing and supporting their fascist regimes. Up until recently, most people believed this couldn’t happen here. Now we should not be too sure.

Our era, like that of a century ago, is one of social and technological upheaval and fractious politics. Like Hitler’s thugs, a minority of extremists increasingly intimidate election officials, librarians, businesses, politicians and even judges many of whom choose to abandon their posts. It’s particularly chilling that people who would fit well into the KKK are filling that void.

Even if they are not burning crosses and stringing people up (yet), clearly, many in the MAGA base and their elected officials sympathize with the views of the KKK. Accordingly, some of the pet policies of the extreme right, such as those that discriminate against non-Christians, non-binary people, immigrants and people of color are being incorporated into law in many states, legitimizing and encouraging their agenda.

Make no mistake. The Klan is alive and well in America. We tolerate it at our peril.