I Do Not Understand That Kind of Hatred

On Christmas Eve my oldest was reading the section in the paper entitled "Today in History" and he informed me that the Klu Klux Klan was formed on Christmas Eve in 1865. We then had a discussion of how much hatred those people must have had in their hearts to form such a horrible group on Christmas Eve.

Now I have not researched the early beginnings of the clan, the paper described it as "Several veterans of the Confederate Army formed a private social club in Pulaski, Tenn., called the Klu Klux Klan." One account stated that the original group was formed just to play pranks and was not originally formed against any "race." Still seems odd to me that you need to have a "private social club" to play pranks.

From my freshman year in high school until I moved to Texas I lived in a town with an active KKK. I had a good friend whose uncle was "Grand" something in the local KKK. They had meetings, they were active.

I remember my father coming home from work one day and talking to my mother in the kitchen, I don't think he knew I could hear him. He said that things could be getting bad in town the next few days and we shouldn't go into town unless it was necessary. He said a cross had been burned on a local family's front lawn. I remember being very frightened for that family, but I never heard any more about it or them. I didn't ask because I knew my dad would be upset that I knew. He always tried to protect me from bad news.

I just do not understand the hatred. I do not understand how this group could have been formed on Christmas Eve.

I'm not perfect. I have on occasion stereotyped groups and held things against them, just as I am doing now with the KKK, but I do try to teach my children to be better than I am and to be accepting of others and their differences. I pray that other parents are doing the same and that eventually there will be more love in the world than hate.