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The election of Barack Obama as president of the United States would, at least at first glance, seem to be a death blow to racist groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the values they espouse. But that is not how Thomas Robb, the organization’s national director, interprets Tuesday’s historic vote, which is about to put a black family in the White House.
Most of the rest of the country is celebrating Mr. Obama’s triumph as the fall of a racial barrier in a nation where segregation was protected by law just 50 years ago. The KKK definitely does not share that view, and is clearly struggling to put the best face on the unthinkable.
First of all, Mr. Robb argues in a posting for his blog that also appears on the KKK’s website that Mr. Obama is “the country’s first mulatto president,” and is not really black. That may be a surprising position coming from a hate group that for more than a century has railed against the dangers of miscegenation, but the KKK appears to regard Mr. Obama as something other than black in both a racial and a cultural sense.
<span style="font-weight: bold">“I know that you have been hearing that Obama would be the first black president,” Mr. Robb writes. “However, you and I both know this is not true. Obama is only half black. Not only is he only half black - he was not raised in a black environment. He was raised by his single mother,” who was white, and abandoned by his African father, something “so common with black men that there are jokes about it.”
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Beyond that, the KKK, which has lost both supporters and relevance in recent years, seems to see the election of Mr. Obama as an opportunity to mobilize whites. Adopting a “we told you so” tone, the group’s site argues that his victory “may be the best thing that has happened to us” because it could serve as an effective recruiting tool.
“Every time the television shows an image of Obama it will be a reminder that our people have lost power in this country,” Mr. Robb wrote. “The betrayal will stare them in the face each time they watch the news and see little black children playing in the Rose Garden,” he added.
For whites who supported Mr. Obama, especially young voters, Mr. Robb has nothing but scorn. He accuses them of being blind to what he calls “a race war — a cultural war — being waged against white people,” unlike African-American voters, whom he praises for voting in their own self-interest.
“White young people who are celebrating Obama’s victory, stop and consider you may not agree with us but you have to admit we were right about one thing,” he warned. “We have said that there is the calculated design to get into the minds of young people and turn them away from loving our people. Every time you reject your white heritage you prove once again we were right.”
Most of the rest of the country is celebrating Mr. Obama’s triumph as the fall of a racial barrier in a nation where segregation was protected by law just 50 years ago. The KKK definitely does not share that view, and is clearly struggling to put the best face on the unthinkable.
First of all, Mr. Robb argues in a posting for his blog that also appears on the KKK’s website that Mr. Obama is “the country’s first mulatto president,” and is not really black. That may be a surprising position coming from a hate group that for more than a century has railed against the dangers of miscegenation, but the KKK appears to regard Mr. Obama as something other than black in both a racial and a cultural sense.
<span style="font-weight: bold">“I know that you have been hearing that Obama would be the first black president,” Mr. Robb writes. “However, you and I both know this is not true. Obama is only half black. Not only is he only half black - he was not raised in a black environment. He was raised by his single mother,” who was white, and abandoned by his African father, something “so common with black men that there are jokes about it.”
</span>
Beyond that, the KKK, which has lost both supporters and relevance in recent years, seems to see the election of Mr. Obama as an opportunity to mobilize whites. Adopting a “we told you so” tone, the group’s site argues that his victory “may be the best thing that has happened to us” because it could serve as an effective recruiting tool.
“Every time the television shows an image of Obama it will be a reminder that our people have lost power in this country,” Mr. Robb wrote. “The betrayal will stare them in the face each time they watch the news and see little black children playing in the Rose Garden,” he added.
For whites who supported Mr. Obama, especially young voters, Mr. Robb has nothing but scorn. He accuses them of being blind to what he calls “a race war — a cultural war — being waged against white people,” unlike African-American voters, whom he praises for voting in their own self-interest.
“White young people who are celebrating Obama’s victory, stop and consider you may not agree with us but you have to admit we were right about one thing,” he warned. “We have said that there is the calculated design to get into the minds of young people and turn them away from loving our people. Every time you reject your white heritage you prove once again we were right.”
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