A billboard honoring the founder of the Ku Klux Klan now stands within sight the historic bridge in Selma, Alabama that was the site of the 1965 “Bloody Sunday” clash between civil rights protesters and police. The New York Daily News reported Saturday that the billboard shows Nathan Bedford Forrest — Klan founder and Confederate war hero — astride his horse with the motto, “Keep the skeer on ‘em,” meaning, “Keep them afraid.”…. Ironically, on the opposite side of the Forrest billboard — which reads “Visit Selma’s War Between the States historic sites” — is a sign welcoming the president and others to Selma for the 50th anniversary of the march…. “Selmapostherald.com Welcomes President Barack Obama and you to Selma,” reads the other sign.
Looking back at the Civil Rights struggle confirms one thing: 50 years doesn’t do much to change those steeped in hatred and bigotry. Some folks just don’t care about being on the wrong side of history and humanity, and they still operate under the sad misconception that “White Makes Right.” They could choose to look past skin color and see that we humans really have far more in common than things which set us apart one from another. Instead, they choose to focus on what can divide instead of unite us in our shared humanity. They choose to live in darkness instead of basking in the light.
There are no lack of things which may be used to divide. From slavery and the Civil War to Jim Crow to the Civil Rights Struggle to the Voting Rights Act, American history is replete with examples of Whites seizing and maintaining the power to determine what happens to African-Americans. The 50th anniversary of the march over the Edmund Pettis Bridge could (and should) have been something to bring people together and help create a greater degree of racial harmony. Then there are those like Patricia Goodwin, who for reasons buried deep in her dark soul is heavily invested in perpetuating the myth that this is all about “Southern heritage.”
Putting up a billboard featuring KKK founder and Confederate war hero Nathan Bedford Forrest sends a very clear message of racism and divisiveness at a time when many are working to heal the wounds of the past, something no one would accuse Goodwin of. At a time when many are distancing themselves from the KKK, Goodwin is redoubling her embrace of it.
The Southern Poverty Law Center pointed out that Goodwin is a known neo-Confederate activist who has called the historic 1965 march “the Mother of All Orgies” and has previously fought efforts to commemorate the civil rights marchers who were beaten with bullwhips and police batons on Bloody Sunday.
Godwin is known for signing her emails “The Wizardess,” a reference to Forrest’s title as the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
Goodwin is, of course, free to express herself as she sees fit. If she chooses to do so in a way that reveals her to be an unreconstructed racist, then she deserves to be outed for what she is. With Klan members using the 50th anniversary of the Selma march to pass out recruitment fliers, it’s clear that the assessment that racism is dying may have been a wee bit premature. Fifty years on from the Civil Rights struggle, there are still those who believe that being White makes one a superior being and that African-Americans are “less than.” Most of those folks look and sound pretty stupid, but hatred is something that harbors no respect for decency and humanity. It does make it pretty clear that a person steeped in hatred has little of value to offer this world.
