In his wonderfully written book Blood Done Sign My Name, Timothy B. Tyson writes about his father taking him to a KKK rally in Oxford, NC. His father wasn't in the Klan, and took Tyson only to show him what true hatred looks like. I loved that book, and for similar reasons, I picked this book up at the library. Likely, there is not a group on this earth (save the Church of LDS) that I would least agree with more than the Klu Klux Klan, but I have always been interested in how the group grew, and just what sort of hate filled person would join. Eastern religions say you cannot have good without evil, and I respect that. I can't say I am opposed to racism if I don't at least half understand the history of the other side.
While I came to this book as someone just picking a fight with the other side, I came away with a deeper understanding of my adopted homelands of North Carolina and the paradox that it was during the 1960's. Billed as a moderate bastion, North Carolina was also the largest strong hold of splinter groups of the KKK. Why? That is exactly what David Cunningham sets out to explain. And explain he does! Without going into too much detail, North Carolina's political climate of the 1960's bred the Klan simply because it wasn't overt in being a bunch of racist shitheels. Because other states like Alabama, Georgia, or Tennessee were overt in racist policies, the Klan wasn't needed. Inversely, Florida was particularly hard on the Klan, and it didn't grow because members tend to be whiney babies who don't want to deal with something if it takes too much work. So....that leaves North Carolina in the middle trying to be progressive but still keeping that racist tinge about it. Ultimately it does a decent job at neither and caused much more trouble.
While my bias is showing, not only against the Klan and to a degree North Carolina, I understand the jam it was put in and Cunningham points this out. Elected officials could not simply blow the lid of segregation (causing a firestorm started by the Klan) any more than they could keep the lid on it (causing a firestorm by desegregationist). Anything they did was going to turn out badly, so they attempted to do the best they could by splitting the middle. Though, splitting the different leaves ya a little bit short all the way around.
This is a great read for anyone trying to understand how a group of cousin gazing, mouth breathing, backwoods, shitkickers could organize themselves into one of the largest organizations in the country. They (correctly) perceived a power vacuum in North Carolina, and filled the void with stupidity, bad bumpersticker slogans, and moronic looking outfits. This reviewer has crudely reviewed a book of intellect, and serious historical study, but that is my choice. I would seriously recommend anyone who is interested in history, the south, Jim Crow, and race relations grab this book and understand the paradox. It is hard to do sometimes, but we owe it to ourselves to do it from time to time.
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