Forgive me if I've misunderstood your post, but I highly doubt that black people today are being kept down by the Klan.
You have grossly misunderstood my post, unfortunately. The whole exchange leading up to what you are citing had nothing to do with the klan keeping black people down. The insinuation of such was never there.
It also means the Ku Klux Klan is not a racist organization because they have no political power.
Ken
It started here: the strawman argument was that I was (erroneously) asserting that political power is the
only socioeconomic qualifier for racism. So, I replied with this:
So, to reiterate, racism is not only about getting a government check, or political power. It is about power period. It is about substantiating your prejudice in a way that represents your position in a power(ful) role. It is not just being able to jail someone of a different race, or killing someone of a different race - because killing someone of the opposite race is just murder if the killing is not a representation of substantiating a prejudice. This is very simple, but is often missed.
So, a group that is able to 1) organize nationally, 2) base the organization on the idea that their particular race is superior to any other race, and 3) uses violence, fear and even legislative power to substantiate this idea makes the organization a racist group.
The KKK is both racist in the most basic dictionary form of the word, and they are sociologically racist. I think it is a little disingenuous to use the KKK as a talking point on [non]racism because they have no "perceived" political power (when in fact, they actually do.) It is especially ignorant when someone responds like this, without understanding what you are responding to - or without actually reading/comprehending it. Sociological stipulations... that is plural: political power... that is [a] singular [stipulation]. Ho hum...
Of course, that was not nearly clear enough, so this comment surfaced:
I don't know which Country you are from but in the USA the Klu Klux Klan is probably the most hated organizations in this country. For any person attempting to run for a political office; if it were found out that they were a member of the Klan or even had the backing and support of the klan, that would be a surefire recipt for defeat. The Klan no longer have any political power in the USA.
Ken
Which, to me, begged the question of how someone could so willingly ignore the incorrect information in a post, especially given the person is insinuating that their residence is the States. Nevertheless, I gave the poster a laundry list of KKK members who have worked as cops, lawyers, senators, presidents, etc. - since his argument was that the "very aware and always socially and politically cognizant American majority" would never allow such a person to run for office. But, of course, it happened scores of times, and it is still happening. I also replied with this:
See, finding things out after the fact is more damaging than the luxury of "a surefire recipe for defeat." How much of their influence has been in law, police behavior, educational benefits, taxes, drug problems,etc. The clan has plenty of political, economical, legislative and financial power. The ones listed are just the ones that had been caught/found out. If this many had these positions of political, legislative, judicial, or financial power for this long, how many others are in these positions and the public does not know about it?
And, once again, political power is not the only sociological stipulation for determining racism. It just happens to be the most prominent and overt stipulation.
We only know of these people because of people diligently working to find this information; there are still possibly as many working in political positions of which we are unaware. Moreover, since the replier stated rather emptily that "The Klan no longer have any political power in the USA," I decided to post this:
Many people in history have forged grand acts of evil simply by convincing people that this evil doesn't exist, or has lost progress - when in fact the public's rejection of said evil(s) work to substantiate, perfect, and hasten these grand acts.
"Only the small secrets need to be protected. The big ones are kept secret by public incredulity" -Marshall Mcluhan
Ignorance is bliss for the men who depend on it to execute their grand plans of evil, disunity or crime.
to highlight the folly in a statement that would dismiss the KKK political power in the USA, when it has reached internationally - and, there are still political figures being fired or called out for having ties with the KKK not even 3 years ago. Again, those that we know of are just the ones we have
found information concerning their involment with KKK. There may still be just as many we don't know of with ties to the KKK working in political, social, economic, financial, educational, and judicial positions of power.
Now, with ALL of that said, where is there even an insinuation that this exchange had anything to do with me saying the KKK is keeping black people down? If I have to put in this much work into explaining what I thought was quite clear - and rather verbose (to ensure clarity,) then I think there are some deeper problems than what is being spoken about in this thread.
For one thing, the Klan hate Jews just as much (if not more) than they hate blacks, yet Jewish Americans are among the most successful in the US. If the Klan are somehow intentionally keeping black people from becoming successful, why not the Jews? For another, the social problems black people face are also apparent in other countries such as the UK and France, where the Klan has never had any real influence.
I know this was part of the quote that got a very long response, but I don't think you can compare Jewish success to Black success in any fair way. Do you really think that a people that the States believes are the chosen people (Jews) of God are on an even playing field with the people that have been believed to be an inferior, beastly race good for nothing more than property to be bought, sold, bred and raped whenever (Blacks?) Many people still feel this way, otherwise we wouldn't have the endless Trayvon threads, and the silly race threads - let alone a prison system that is legal slavery - and just so happens to have a huge population of blacks within their walls (because, of course, blacks just commit more crime: its science
.)
PLEASE tell me that naivete oozing from your post is a joke. I am not even trying to be insulting - I am serious this is scary. Israel has whole countries wanting to nuke them, yet they are on par (if not better off) with the U.S. - especially since we give them
everything: money, weapons, technology, soldiers for contracts, aid - and, their citizens are pretty much guaranteed access to this country. Let me know where you are coming from, so I can prevent carpel tunnel syndrome onset if need be.
And, if you are using a very vanilla example of situations people go through in other countries to somehow equate it to what blacks go through in the States...
First of all, are you Black? Secondly, if you aren't Black, how could you possibly know what it is like to wake up in a country that, for example, thinks your entire race is so flawed that it is the anthropological duty of people who feel they are in a better situation to "fix" you, or at least dialogue on how Blacks can be helped? And, if you are Black, you need to really be Black - not "I'm 1/32 Black because my grandmother's cousin thrice removed was 1/4 Black" type of stuff. No Antebellum American "One-drop rule" Black. You need to look Black, so that you know what it is like to see people follow you in stores, so that your features can be the highlight of every
primate-related ignorant joke. You need to have skin like a Black person, so you know what it is like to
truly be profiled because of the color of your skin - not just suspicion, but being profiled to the point that you are denied service, access to public areas, harassed by cops, or even murdered. You need to know what it is like to wake up every day and have an anxiety and uncertainty about your life
in the country of your residence that many White people in America have the luxury of not experiencing. If you aren't Black, or don't even look Black (with aforementioned features and such,) I respectfully ask that you don't comment on the "plight of the life of a Black person" ANYWHERE in the world - because you would be at a severe empathic, sympathetic, and intellectual disadvantage. You cant just throw out the same hackneyed and regurgitated statistics parroted on the media about "Black crack babies, drugs, and prisons," read a few Toni Morrison books, or Maya Angelou poetry, and figure "I understand black problems in America enough to where I can actually talk about how to 'help' them."
Blaming the Klan or other white supremacist organizations for the problems black people face may have worked 50 years ago, but it does not work today.
This was already stated in an above reply... a very lengthy one. You completely missed the point. Completely. And, how do you know the problems Black people faced 50 years ago, and if this nonexistent "blame game" on the KKK worked 50 years ago? Again, are you Black? Did you have Black relatives who went through this time period? Were you alive 50 years ago, and
Black?
It isn't required of you to state your race, but I sure hope you are White - or even Indian, Asian: something other than Black - and this is just a classic case of general ignorance and lack of knowledge (and I mean that in the most sincere, non-abusive way.) Because if you are, in fact, Black then there are other issues going on that reach to the core.