Klansman At Their Worst

I really enjoyed reading the story of C.P. Ellis. The part that i found interesting was learning more about the KKK and who was apart of it. I always assumed that the people in the KKK were a bunch of rich white men that were just mad that someone that was different could be something in America. However, in this story i learned that the KKK actually is made up of mostly poor or low-income white men that for the most part aren't very well educated. They are men "who really didn't have a part in something. They have been shut out as well as the blacks" (66). they were men who had nowhere else to go and no one to blame their problems on. Most of them were there because the black race was an easy target for people to blame for their problems. They thought if they restored the white purity to the US their problems and the US problems would magically dissapear. I didn't think that this was the reason most of the people joined the KKK. I thought they just didn't like the black race and wanted to stay superior. But now i see most of them just needed someone to blame for all their problems and the black race was just the easiest target. THe thing that bothered me the most was when he said, "we had a lot of support from doctors and lawyers and police officers." (66). The fact that the people that are supposed to help enforce the law and make the US a safer and happier place for everyone were major supporters of people that randomly killed other people because of their race. Because they needed to blame something for the downfall of the US and the black people were the easiest target. Those lawyers and police officers were easily manipulated and went against everything they were supposed to stand for. If the US can't even keep their police in line and stop people from blaming others for no reason then how can they fix everything else?