Opinion
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Editorial
Greenberg's View
The Klan's Reemergence
T
he telltale signs are forebod-
ing: The Ku Klux Klan is active
and growing in Michigan and
18 other states. The Jewish community
would be foolhardy to ignore this trou-
bling trend. To be on guard is to be armed
against tension, incitement or worse.
Only a few years ago, the KKK seemed
weakened by the draft of other white
supremacist movements like the neo-
Nazis. Now the virulently racist and anti-
Semitic Klan is undergoing a national
resurgence once more.
Born amid Reconstruction following
the Civil War, the Klan and its fires of hate
repeatedly have seemingly been snuffed
out, only to rise again like the mythical
Phoenix.
And it's not like the Klan is just momen-
tarily rearing its ugly head. It's growing
in membership, which can only mean
deeper, tougher roots. It's also cooperat-
ing more with neo-Nazi groups, especially
the Minnesota-based Nationalist Socialist
Movement and the Idaho-based Aryan
Nations. It doesn't require a genius to fig-
ure out what this collusion and cross-pol-
linating potentially means for Jews.
The United Northern and Southern
Knights of the KKK, headquartered in
Michigan in Milan, helped spur this
phenomenon when it sent racist fliers to
hundreds of schools in February 2006 to
coincide with Black History Month and
later endorsed Proposal 2, the 2006 anti-
affirmative action Michigan Civil Rights
Initiative, reports the Anti-Defamation
League's Bloomfield Township-based
Michigan Region. The ADL monitors rac-
ist hate groups and reports its findings to
law enforcement and policy makers.
The activities of Michigan's KKK chap-
ter, when viewed in tandem with other
hate groups, underscore how the Klan has
rejuvenated itself nationwide. Michigan is
home to at least five active Klan groups.
Such groups are known as Klaverns.
The ADL has documented a spike in
activity by Klan chapters across the coun-
try. Ever ready to "blame" Jews for what
it perceives to be a negative, the KKK has
proclaimed that America is drowning in a
tide of non-white immigration, controlled
and orchestrated by Jews. The Klan is
vigorously trying to deliver this message
to Americans who are concerned about or
who fear immigration.
"If any one single issue or trend can be
credited with re-energizing the Klan:' says
Deborah Lauter, the national ADL civil
rights director, it is the debate over immi-
gration in America." Now that's powerful
testimony.
Other triggers include gay rights and
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urban crime. Hispanics are a frequent
target.
The Internet has been a boon for the
Klan as it preys on vulnerable white
people looking for "scapegoats" for their
or the country's so-called ills.
The ADL provides a chilling profile of
today's young Klansmen. Some may still
hold cross burnings dressed in robes and
hoods, but they more likely are almost
indistinguishable from racist skinheads
or neo-Nazis. Their power centers are as
apt to be white-power music concerts as
white-power unity rallies or ritualistic
cross burnings.
We're deeply concerned to hear that
Klan groups have become increasingly
"nazified," with members embracing and
immersing themselves in neo-Nazi and
racist skinhead subcultures, adopting the
music, dress, tattoos and imagery of neo-
Nazis.
Consider this a wakeup call and a call
to action for the entire Jewish community,
especially our communal watchdog orga-
nizations. 11.7
by previous generations of Californians
paved over and fouled the air of some of
the most magnificent areas in America.
Somehow, that all became the fault of the
auto industry. So it must be punished.
California was the first part of the
country to embrace Japanese products
wholeheartedly. There were several rea-
sons for that. In the late 1970s and early
'80s, when the transition was in full
force, the Japanese actually were mak-
ing better cars. That may no longer be
the case but perception always lags far
behind reality.
Another reason, though, was that
Toyota, Honda and the others were free
of original sin. It was not their cars that
smogged up Los Angeles. The deed was
done by the time they got on the scene.
Detroit was the villain of that scenario
in the minds of California liberals. So
Michigan is getting no less than we
deserve. I never thought I'd be thank-
ful for John Dingell, but he's about all
that stands between us and the wrath of
California.
You will find similar sentiments
in the academic communities of the
Northeastern states. But they hate almost
all things American. The domestic
auto industry is just one of many that
they find distasteful and so ... well ...
Midwestern.
That sense has accelerated in recent
years because of the conviction that
automobiles are primarily responsible for
global warming. This is regarded as a set-
tled issue, beyond debate. The reluctance
of automakers to sign a suicide pact and
consent to unattainable fuel standards
infuriates them even more.
The Michigan way of life was a beauti-
ful thing but it now must be retooled. The
insistent demands of big labor and the
environmental lobby, however, may take
away the breathing room we need for that
to happen.
E-mail letters of no more than 150 words to:
letters@thejewishnews.com .
Reality Check
California Schemin'
A
mong the most astonishing
things I heard during last fall's
election campaigns was Sen.
Debbie Stabenow's assertion that she was
going to protect Michigan's way of life.
I wasn't quite clear how she intended to
accomplish this. I think it had something
to do with fending off Canadian garbage.
The senator seems to feel that a certain
standard of living is some sort of entitle-
ment in this state, whether it coincides
with economic reality or not. Read the
papers, Deb. The job infrastructure that
sustained that way of life doesn't exist
anymore; and the departure of Pfizer, the
sort of big pharmaceutical company you
like to rail against, didn't help, either.
But entitlement is in the water here,
from the attitude of the labor unions
to the collection of dolts on the Detroit
Board of Education who fritter away
money on purposeless travel while shut-
ting down schools. These people couldn't
find their way back to common sense
with a flashlight and a German shepherd.
Stabenow's
position is all the
more poignant
because of the
total indifference
to Michigan's
plight by several of
her most esteemed
Democratic
colleagues in
George Cantor
Congress.
Columnist
You would be
hard pressed to
find a group of people more hostile to the
auto industry than those in the California
delegations. They couldn't care less if
Ford and Chrysler both went belly up. A
few of them, like Rep. Henry Waxman and
Sen. Barbara Boxer, might even think it
was a pretty good idea.
The anti-automotive mentality — or
more precisely the anti-Big 3 mentality
— is part of the air they breathe. And I
use that image advisedly.
The terrible land-use decisions made
George Cantor's e-mail address is
gcantor614@aol.com.
March 1 ® 2007
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