In Sunday’s edition of the Oakland Press, Jerry Wolffe examines the state of the Ku Klux Klan in Michigan in an article titled “KKK on the Rise?” The primary basis for the article is a recent report by the Anti-Defamation League that says the Ku Klux Klan is growing rapidly and is fueled by urban crime, job loss, and undocumented immigration from Mexico. In addition to talking with the Anti-Defamation League and law enforcement officials in Michigan, Wolffe talks with Phil Lawson, a leader of the Ku Klux Klan in Michigan. According to the article, there are a total of five Ku Klux Klan groups active across Michigan, ranging from a chapter of the Brotherhood of the Klans in Ironwood to the Church of the National Knights in Dowling.
The article quotes the Imperial Wizard of the United Northern and Southern Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Phil Lawson, several times about both the “astounding pace” at which the Klan has grown in recent years and the underlining views of the KKK. According to Lawson “Michigan has been a hotbed for the United Northern and Southern Knights of the Ku Klux Klan” which Lawson attributes to the fact that “the government is out of touch with the average person.” While Lawson’s KKK and other racist groups are quick to claim that they are “not racist” but rather work for the “uplifting and bettering our race,” their thinly disguised rhetoric is pure racism. Lawson speaks of “white people” who do not feel represented in government, “minorities,” and “illegal aliens,” while arguing that immigrants are taking the jobs of American workers. He claims that “personally know many Americans that have either lost their job, or have been forced to work for less because of an illegal alien willing to work for much less than the American worker was being paid” and raises other popular myths in the immigration debate including the idea that “illegal immigrant babies” are draining money from the Medicaid system and therefore depriving “American workers” access to federal assistance.
Lawson’s comments also show the extent to which the Ku Klux Klan and similar groups should be viewed as a threat–no matter how “extreme” they may seem. Groups on the racist right have been able to insert themselves into debates around a number of “contentious” issues in society–including immigration and affirmative action–and have used a form of populist scapegoating to organize a revived racist right. Rather than talking about the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), globalization, or other shifts in economics that are impacting workers in the United States, the Ku Klux Klan and other groups on the racist right are having a degree of success in taking what is very legitimate discontent among the working class in the United States and channeling it in racist directions.
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