The KKK Membership Drive

(This story is not mine. It's from a friend of mine who works at a company with employees from many different backgrounds, nationalities, etc. Names have been scrubbed for privacy.)

I got a call from my mother last night. She was upset because my dad did something "crazy" yesterday. A group was out delivering newspapers in their neighborhood - they live in West Texas. They left one on my parents' lawn. The paper was from the KKK - they were doing a membership drive. So my dad decided to call the number listed on the paper to see if he could join! "They must have wanted him to join since they took the time to bring it to his house personally". When dad called, he, of course, did not tell the guy on the other end that he was Black.

They carried on a conversation. They were both career military men (the KKK was Marine/dad Air Force); both had served in Vietnam and were stationed Thailand; both concerned about crime and violence; about the increase of unemployment; about the increase of people on welfare; and about the increasing number of young people who choose not to work but to hang out and do drugs. They talked for about 10 minutes. My dad asked what the membership requirements were and the guy told him: no Blacks; no Hispanics; no Asians; no Middle-Eastener's; no skin heads; no Nazi's; and no white fundamentalist groups (what are the KKK?). My dad sighed and told the guy that he guessed he couldn't join because he was Black.

The guy thought my dad was joking at first - they had so much in common. But then he realized my dad was telling him the truth. He told dad that if it were up to him that he would let him join but that the decision is not up to him. He thanked my dad for the call but stated that he would need to hang up. Before he did, my dad asked him to reflect on the fact that crime; violence; unemployment; people on welfare, young one's hanging out and doing drugs - these are human issues - it's not limited to one race, one nation or group of people.

As I was relating this story to my 14-year old son he was quite surprised. At school they are focused on the topic of race and since February is Black history month they just had a review of Jim Crow laws and they learned about the KKK. He thought that all ended with Civil Rights movement. They had just completed watching a movie called "Amazing Grace" - the story behind how the song came to be - dealing with the slave trade and redemption. This movie stirred emotions in him due to man's injustice to man - a maturing moment and the beginning of a loss of innocence. With today's revelation, when I had to say, "yes, son, there is still really a group called the KKK", I could see more hurt in his eyes. But then he cheered up and said, if people could come to (my work) and see how all the different people work together and have a good time that he thought it would help a lot. A nice thought - if life could be so simple! Thanks (my work) for setting a good example!