Former Ku Klux Klan Exalted Cyclops…and U.S. Senator…Robert Byrd died last week, and his passing reminds us once again of the very real truth that plenty of high-profile, modern-era white Democrats have within themselves the same capacity for racial hatred as does anyone else. I’ve mentioned this before in previous columns, and Byrd’s death provides us with another instance to make the note. Byrd was a member of the Klan, an officer, actually, and once wrote a charming love note about American blacks to Theodore Bilbo, the virulently racist governor of Mississippi and U.S. Senator during the first half of the twentieth century, which included this passage:
“I shall never fight in the armed forces with a Negro by my side ... Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds.”
Lovely.
Byrd went a long way to revealing why he really turned his back on the Klan and open racism when he made this statement during a 1997 interview: “Be sure you avoid the Ku Klux Klan. Don't get that albatross around your neck. Once you've made that mistake, you inhibit your operations in the political arena." So the real problem with Klan membership is that “you inhibit your operations in the political arena?” Not exactly a strong condemnation of racism and Klan ideology, to be sure.
(As a bit of an aside, I think equally as revealing, at least about politics in general, is a statement that former president Bill Clinton made about the late senator’s involvement in the Klan, when he said the other day that as a country boy from West Virginia, “he (Byrd) was trying to get elected.” Honestly, I’m not sure what’s worse; a racist seeking public office, or a person who’s willing to do or say anything to get elected. Either way, the people are poorly served.)
Still, with all apologies to the former president, the body of evidence over the course of Byrd’s life suggests that his animus toward blacks was both real and ever-present; the only difference is that he became smarter about hiding it for the benefit of political expediency.
Some will take offense that I have given Byrd’s membership and leadership in the Klan the same weight as I have given his public service as a U.S. Senator. President Clinton surely would. My response is that I don’t believe, based on all that we know about his feelings toward blacks, that he was any less of a racist at the point of his demise than he was when he became an enthusiastic young Klansman back in the early 1940’s.
On that note, I am reminded of that which was said by Byrd’s early hero, the aforementioned Theodore Bilbo, on Meet the Press many years ago: "No man can leave the Klan. He takes an oath not to do that. Once a Ku Klux, always a Ku Klux."
And there you have it.
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Bob Yetman, Editor-at-Large at Christian Money.com (www.christianmoney.com), is an author of a variety of materials on personal finance and investing, as well as on topics of fitness and self defense, to include the recently-released book Investor's Passport to Hedge Fund Profits (John Wiley & Sons, Inc; www.investorspassport.com) and the new unarmed combat training DVD Thunderstrikes - How to Develop One Shot, One Kill Striking Power (Paladin Press; www.mikereevesonline.com).
As an African American, I am especially saddened by anyone's involvement with the KKK. It seems as though Mr. Byrd never really changed his attitude towards Blacks, but rather did what was necessary to uphold his political standing. Sad legacy, I'd say.
Posted by: S. Fegan | July 06, 2010 at 03:31 PM
I am so glad that you will print the truth. Jesus made us all. We can all become children of God. Byrd has elected himself to a bad place.
Posted by: Brett Gage | July 14, 2010 at 03:43 AM