The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 68, No. 26, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 12, 1981 Page: 9 of 24
twenty four pages : ill. ; page 20 x 14 in.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
and by noting what supported
those beliefs and what conflicted
with them, I was faced with quite a
problem. I was trying to see how
the Klan supported its beliefs, but I
could not talk to anyone about it
without being labeled a racist. I
couldn't get people to stop
screaming at me long enough for
me to explain to them that this is
not my view, but this is how the
Klan justifies its actions. Many
liberal-minded people proved to be
as close-minded as the members of
the Klan.
Eyery time someone mentioned
my Klan film I was besieged with
questions about the Klan, myself,
and my involvement with the
Klan. I gradually began to learn
how to answer the questions
efficiently so the discussions could
spread to some of the issues that
the Klan raises.
At this point, let me mention
some of the main tenets of the Klan
beliefs:
1) Racism. They believe that
races are different. They believe
the white race is genetically
superior and they quote several
niiirr pmm
communism is a Jewish phenom-
enon. They will show lists of
Jewish names of people who were
" responsible for the communist
revolution in the USSR and who
are editors of communists papers
in the U.S. They believe thaftas the
Jews continue to take over
America, that they will convert the
U.S. to communism. White people
must fight the Jews and the Jewish
sympathizers, the Klan believes,
film Klan leader Beam. Lower left: Klansmen march in Texarkana. Above:
right: Marching in sheets. Lower right: The next generation.
studies that support this view. The
Klan also believes that all
civilization is a product of the
white men. They believe the
Egyptians, the Greeks, and the
Romans were white people, and
they quote historians who support
this viewpoint. Beam told me
several times, however, that many
white people are not worthy of the
name 'white.' He also noted, on a
radio station talk show, that he
"does not hate black people,"
and that there are some black
people he likes, it is just that he
prefers white people and white
culture.
2) Supporting white interest. The
Klan argues that the KKK
supports white culture, white
history, and white pride in much
the same way the NAACP
supports black people. They feel
one cannot support the existence of
one organization without
supporting the existence of the
other.
3) Death of the white race. They
feel the white race is dying because
white people have stopped having
as many children. They feel that
zero-population growth is a white
cultural phenomena, and they
quote high birthrate figures in
black ghetto areas. Beam often
mentions that the white race is a
minority since only one out of 17
people in the world is white.
4) Jews and Communism. The
main emphasis: The emphasis of
the Klan in the sixties was blacks
and racism. Today's Christian
Klan sees a bigger problem. The
problems of white people, they
believe, are caused by Jews. They
believe the Jews have stolen the
U.S. government out of the hands
of white people. They note that
generally white people do not
support busing, integration,
welfare, or the influx of refugees
and illegal aliens, yet these are the
things the government gives us.
The Jewish-controlled media, the
Klan says, has deceived the white
public into accepting these actions
complacently.
The Klan today believes that
and it is the organization that can
and will fight.
5) The take-over. Contrary to
popular belief, the Klan does not
wish to hang a bunch of Jews or
blacks this weekend for their
jollies. There are some members
who might not object strongly to
that suggestion, but most of them
are preparing for something in the
future—a future filled with a
nuclear war. The Klan teaches
classes on how to survive a nuclear
holocaust. Food storage,
radioactive contamination, bomb
shelters, etc. are all covered in
these survival courses. The Klan
believes that after the U.S. is made
helpless (due to nuclear superiority
of the USSR) the Russians will
send in ground troups. The Klan is
instructing its members in
paramilitary training, which will
allow its members to fight off the
communists. It is this way that the
Klan plans to take control of
America.
The leaders of the Klan
understand that they will never
again have the 8-10 million
members they had in the 1920's.
They are planning to be the few
who survive a nuclear war, and
they plan to take control of the
future that follows it.
I must admit that one of the most
interesting things I have observed
during the months that I followed
the Klan is the number of people
who support the Klan without
becoming members and the type of
people who did actually join. The
media said the Klansmen were low-
income, low IQ, poorly educated,
and hatred-filled people, but I met
enough incredibly well-educated
people (including one Rice student)
to belie that assumption.
Klansmen also differ greatly in
their emphasis on specific Klan
beliefs. Some are more intellectual,
others more militaristic.
The Klan, for the present, is
satisfied with becoming a
political force. The violent image
of the Klan is being used by its
leaders to obtain political goals.
They can scare any politician by
threatening to robe up a few
Klansmen and send them into his
territory.
The Klan's recent rally with local
Seabrook fishermen attracted
almost more media people than
anyone else, but the state came
through with promises of help to
the fishermen the very next week.
All the Klan did was make a few
speeches, burn a small boat, light a
cross, and they got action. If the
state does not satisfy the
fishermen, the the Klan will robe
up some Klansmen, put guns in
their hands, put them on a shrimp
boat, call them the Klan Coast
Patrol (prepared to find
Vietnamese fishermen violating
fishing practice), and call in the
media. They know they will get
results and they will get some fast.
The Klan has learned, like
everyone else, how to use
government officials and the
media.
This leaves me in the difficult
position of having to produce a film
that is informative about the Klan,
yet is not Klan propoganda. We
have shot 24 hours of Klan footage
which must be formed into a one-
hour documentary. The ideal of the
observational documentary is to
remove one's prejudices and beliefs
from the film. However, the very
act of deciding what to shoot in
addition to the decision of what
footage to include in the film is
creating a film of my perception of
the subject. Therefore, I must
attempt to be aware of my feelings
toward the subject and to try to
remove any effect they have on the
editing process.
I hope that the film will be aired
on Channel 8 (PBS) this summer.
My greatest fear concerning the
film is that people will gain no
appreciable understanding of their
own hates and prejudices. I have
always believed that knowledge is
better than ignorance; so I hope
that by studying the Klan, we may
gain some insight into dealing
with the world's racial conflicts.
The Rice Threadier, March 12,1981, page A9
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Dees, Richard. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 68, No. 26, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 12, 1981, newspaper, March 12, 1981; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245466/m1/9/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.