BY JOELLEN COLLINS
When I was a little girl, I wanted to be named Katy because of the song “K-K-K-Katy,” a World War I refrain about the love of a young soldier who stuttered. Revived in World War II as one of many pieces about lonely solders, it entranced me, and I fantasized someone writing such smitten lyrics using my name. However, as I became aware of the cruel realities of racism in our country and in the rest of the world, I could no longer hear those three Ks together without a shudder. We all know now that KKK is the acronym for the Ku Klux Klan. Ironically, the original Kate song about a yearning lover later inspired parodies of the Klan.
I grew up with a repulsion at the cruel and misanthropic actions of that group, believing that most of my fellow Americans would not espouse those attitudes. Thus I was shocked on Halloween to see three older trick-or treaters attired in Klan outfits, and my dismay left a sour taste in my mouth. I have thought about what I would say to and how I feel about those adolescents who knocked at a friend’s home. I was in the rear of the house and only saw them briefly as the front door opened. I think their choice of outfits should stimulate discussion about this incident.
First, I know there will be some immediate conflicting responses, such as “How did their parents allow this?” or “Perhaps they dressed up somewhere away from their parents?” or “This action goes beyond the line of acceptable behavior,” or “We have the First Amendment, and if the Klan can still gather, then these boys have the right to copy their clothes.”
I also realize that there are many models of savagery, hatred, and vivid acts of violence in the media sourced by kids today, such as video games where the winner kills as many creatures as possible, television shows that idealize the “heroes” who must resort to Mafia tactics, swordplay or AK-47 shootings to conquer their foes, and so forth. Some might even say that dressing in white hooded outfits is no more offensive than emulating a zombie or any other gruesome creature.
I think just as dressing as Hitler is offensive, so is the lack of understanding behind emulating Klan members, who embody Hitlerian brutality and inhumanity and use lynchings and murder to further their ends. I know kids want to scare others on Halloween, but this crosses the line. What if teenagers dressed up as the widely recognized boys in black who killed so many at Columbine, aiming machine guns at other students? What might the victims say?
If I were teaching history today, I would use this holiday getup as a means of discussion. Where or why do we condone these behaviors? Do we really consider our actions? Are what we put on as costumes elements of attire or an homage to bigotry? What would you say to these kid-Klanners as you passed out Hershey’s Kisses?
