Hide Article Text (OCR)
THE CHAMBERLAIN DEMOCRAT, Chamberlain, S. DSow the Wind, Reap the WhirlwindKu Klux Klansmen have beenmobbed and badly used in the last few weeks in several parta 0f thecountry. Some have been killedThis is indefensible, but it is log-:oa'- Th* Ku Klux Klan is just asindefensible as the mobbers are.An organization which is lawlessmust not whimper at the fruit of its own folly*These disturbances will continueand will grow worse as long as an organization exists which abrogatesto itself the regulation of other peoples conduct outside of the law, and whose membership are ashamed or afraid to. show their faces. The final outcome will be a state of anarchyintolerable.The Ku Klux Klan is founded on cruelty and intolerance, despite all its high-sounidmg platitudes and pretentions, though it may still numberin its ranks well-meaning men who think they, are doing God’s work The Puritans of Salem thought they were doing God’s work when they burned “witches.” The medi.eal Christians thought they were doing God’s work when they tortured dissenters on the rack. We know nowthat they were mistaken. In this age of reason men ought to get away from fanaticism and bigotry, and not permit their racial or religious prejudices to blind them to justice and charity.The plea of Klansmon that their organization docs not permit or condone violence in any form, and that masked whippers have used its regalia without authority, does not relieve the ICIan from moral responsibility for the outrages that have now provoked such a storm of retaliation. If there were no masked and hooded Klan there would be no Klan disguise for irresponsibles to adopt for their deeds of darkness.The Klan can lay claim to respectability when, and only when, it comes out into the broad light of day. It must consign its masks to the discard. They are the regalia of cowards and evil-doers,* manly men should scorn them. If there is any good work for the Klan to do, it can best do it in the honest light of day. If its work can only be done under cover, it is work that honest men should scorn to do.So long as the Klan clings to its maskings and mummeries, its propaganda of hate and intolerance, such collisions and outbreaks of mob violence as have lately disgraced several cities may be expected to continue. They are the harvest sprung from the seed the Klan has sown.—Edmunds County Democrat.
Newspaper Details
Chamberlain Democrat
Chamberlain, South Dakota, US
Thu, Sep 13, 1923
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Mitchell P.
SD, USA 02 Feb 2022
Other Publications Near Chamberlain, South Dakota
Chamberlain Democrat
