From the gift that keeps on giving …
Nobody bothers to understand what was going on during that period in the South when both whites and decent blacks were under attack by the North’s OWN “klan,” the Union League and the military authorities did nothing to protect helpless civilians. THAT’s where the Klan came from. If there had been no reconstruction, it is quite possible that there never would have been a Ku Klux Klan.
… followed by …
I think it’s safe to say that had there been no reconstruction, or at least not in the virulent form imposed by Stanton and his cronies, there would have been no Ku Klux Klan, without the qualifying “possible”. And don’t forget the Freedmen’s Bureau among the roll call of the oppressors.
… and then …
I think it is reasonable to believe that had there never reconstruction there would have no no Klan in the South, to speak of. Klan activities that reemerged with the KKK in the 1920’s were in the northern and mid west regions.
I’m waiting to hear Birth of a Nation declared historically accurate.
Of course if white supremacy and black inferiority was accepted by all concerned, black and white, in 1865, there would have been no need for a white supremacist terrorist organization to intimidate, harm, and kill black Americans and their white allies. But something went wrong after the Confederacy lost, because all those slaves who we are told were loyal Confederates and who loved their masters were cast adrift into freedom, leaving it up to the Klan to restore the natural order of things. Right? The Klan was simply a corrective measure, right? And we all know that the Freedmen’s Bureau was also a source of evil, especially in providing relief for whites and blacks (indeed, for more whites than blacks) as well as protecting the rights of black laborers and promotion public education. Bad, bad, bad.
As I’ve said before, it’s heritage, not history, especially when it comes from people who claim that they are there to preserve heritage. Sure. Old times there are not forgotten … indeed, some people would like them to return.
An example of the Ku Klux Klan “restoring order in the South” during Reconstruction.
Apparently it was all the North’s fault. Or at least the fault of the Republicans, since most northern Democrats had no problem with the goals of KKK activity.
Sure.
Crossroads 
From another poster.
“Forrest is my hero. His picture hangs on my wall. I don’t give a rat’s ass about whining liberals regarding him. One of my screen names if Fort Pillow. To me he is the standard of fighting for the cause in Dixy.”
The mindset of some, if not most, of these people is very, very disturbing. To say the least !
I think someone holding up a slave trader, the commander at Fort Pillow, and a leading Klansman as “the standard of fighting for the cause in Dixy” reminds us exactly what that cause was … white supremacy.
Okay, now that my blood pressure has returned to manageable levels and I can write without being banned for language, I was wondering. How do these apologists square their alleged distaste for the Klan’s use of the battle flag with their defense of the Klan? Is it simply that they prefer the Klan to be their “stealth” wing, doing the dirty work but not associated with their “cause?”
And ya gotta love, “Klan activities that reemerged with the KKK in the 1920’s were in the northern and mid west regions.” Once again, it’s the evil, tyrannical “Yankees” that are to blame. Naw suh, ain’t no Klan down heah.
Seriously, these people are “mental.”
Well, not according to Connie Chastain, who once claimed she didn’t read the discussion group under discussion very closely. Now she claims she has, including the post from which these statements are taken. Her conclusion: nothing hateful at all.
By the way, elsewhere former Crossroads commenter Ray O’Hara protests criticism of Ms. Chastain based upon her gender, suggesting where his sympathies really are. Maybe he’ll join the SHPG to show his sympathy with their viewpoint. He’s fond of denying the existence of racism in his home town of Dedham, Massachusetts as well as the greater Boston area, suggesting that deniers of racism are not limited to the South.
I agree that people who deny racism aren’t exclusively southern but that’s like saying Christian fundamentalism isn’t limited to the south. My personal experience around the US jibes with the cultural/geographic analyses in Albion’s Seed and The Cousins Wars. Root cause of persistent racism and other backwardness seems to be the Scotch/English borderlands culture imported to our shores in the 17th century, subsequently redistributed to southern Indiana, south-eastern Pennsylvania and other “northern” areas known for intolerance. Funnily enough, Christian fundamentalism seems stronger in those areas too.
It is also true that had there been no secession, there would have been no Klan, as there would have been no war and therefore no need to economically, politicallly, racially, and socially reconstruct the southern former Confederate states.
Note that it was the “decent blacks” who were suffering alongside the whites, as presumably distinguished from all the other blacks. Really classy remark, that.
–ML
I was wondering when someone would get around to that. Apparently “decent” blacks are subservient blacks who are willing to accept a secondary status defined by white supremacists. That leads us to ask who would think that constitutes decent behavior.
Well, I think we know who sees that as constituting “decent behavior.” it is also clear that what is meant by “decent behavior” is to stay in one’s place, as defined by slavery days, stay on the plantation, and don’t attempt to act as if one is actually free, by any reasonable standard of freedom.
Proof that ancestor worship warps one’s mind.
Speaking of ancestor worship ,Interestingly , the Egun (west African/Yoruba word for ancestor) is a deep rooted part of west African spiritual practice. Ancestor worship is an important part of Orisha-worship. This was brought to the Americas by the African Slaves. It’s an important part of Gullah culture and is also seen in New Orleans Voodoo and the practice of Hoodoo. As deep as it runs in the south, those like Wade Hampton that became a friend of the Gullah after the war , and someone like Beauregard in New Orleans had to have been exposed to this.
The slaves taught the whites of the slaveholding south more than is acknowledged or than they are aware. Cuisine and language come to mind. The enslaved Africans had a significant influence on southern English that is evident into the present day. And, lord knows, they taught ’em how to cook. Many a white southerner has been surprised to learn that what the north knows as “soul food” is simply what they know as good ol’ southern cookin’. 😉
Khepera, I feel many as the Gullah and the Garifuna pass down their history by oral traditions and it’s more of a journey learning about them than just reading about them. You don’t just go find a book about them read and study it. A griot is who teaches their history and culture not a book. I have a good friend that is a Garifuna and many close Gullah friends I have known for years. It as a world nobody sees unless they want you to see it.
Khepera, Not to say there are not some interesting books on the Gullah, one is a book written by Cornelia Walker Bailey, titled God, Dr Buzzard and the Bolito man. It’s about her and her families lives growing up as saltwater Geechees on Sapelo Island Georgia. Another is Blue Roots, African-American folk magic of the Gullah People by Roger Pinckney. Both writers are Geechees and do talk about Civil War history in bits and pieces in their books as seen with the eyes of the Gullah.