The KKK wants me

I haven't been blogging here for a while. I've been stricken with a series of really nasty headaches, the kind that convince me that the theory that intracranial hypertension is caused by a series of small brain bleeds must be accurate. I know it's not actually possible but I could swear I feel my brain bleeding.

Anyway, I've posted some at Making Light but for most of last week I wasn't posting anywhere, just concentrating on writing my column and getting through work without my head exploding.

This weekend Cullen was gmailing a friend and an ad for KKK t-shirts popped up. These things are appalling, with slogans like "The original boyz in the hood" and "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas" and "I want you" and then an Uncle Sam guy in the robes. At first I was sure they were a joke but they are deadly serious, if hilarious in their awfulness. The site mentions that you can hide the logos and stuff, they are "discrete" so I guess you wear them and then flash them to liked minded friends.

Cullen has homework for his history class. Check this out, possibly the most insensitive (and that's being kind) assignment I have ever seen.

2) Prepare the opening statements for either side in an 1890's debate: Resolved - The Ku Klux Klan was necessary."

What the fuck? This given to a class that is mixed races, with lots of black students. Necessary? I don't care that he is offering them the chance to be against this argument, why would those particular words even occur to him?

I know, I know, it's overdone to use this argument, but honestly, can you imagine telling a class of Jewish kids that they have to go home and do the same assignment with "Resolved - Hitler's final solution was necessary"? It's insane.

And really, the fact that the students are not all white is not even the central issue. Why is anyone suggesting to any children that the KKK is "necessary"? We're talking about a terrorist organization that murdered innocent citizens and is still active to this day. You can get t-shirts with burning crosses on them online, today.

This is the 21st century last I checked. We should not be passing hate from the nineteenth century on to our next generation.