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Editor’s note: In response to the start of “Klan camp,” a coalition of rural advocates and civil rights groups speaks out against racial hatred. Below are excerpts from an article in The Daily Yonder by Rachel Reynolds Luster.
BOONE COUNY, ARKANSAS — Today (July 20, 2015), near the small community of Zinc, Arkansas, the Ku Klux Klan begins a training camp for participants ages 16 and up with the goal of creating “a mighty army” to achieve what it calls “racial redemption” and protect whites from what they claim is “racial genocide.”
The camp is in the heart of the Ozarks, near where I grew up.
The Klan will claim their message of racial hatred represents white America, white Christian families in particular, and that their actions are for our protection.
We all know these claims are lies and delusions. Today, we’re launching a campaign to say so. Because recent events remind us that it is not acceptable to remain silent in the presence of hate.
There is a long cultural history of silence in the face of prejudice in rural places. While there are people who have made the stand against hate, far too often people find it easier to refrain from public conversations about race and other matters of social justice. Some rural communities have fewer numbers of people of color. While the individuals who reside in these communities find racism and white supremacy immoral, they will not speak out. It becomes easy to believe that it is not our problem. I am here to tell you that it is. It is all of our problem. It’s a northern, southern, western and eastern problem. It’s a rural and it’s an urban problem. It is a white, black, and everything in between and beyond problem. It is an American problem. We can no longer be complicit in silence. We must speak out, because it is right and necessary.
People around the South are coming together in response to the Klan’s “training camp” by building a regional coalition to stand against hate and silence and to reclaim our identity. Today we are launching the #NotmyOzarks campaign. . . . It is up to each of us to break through the silence, join with others bravely speaking out in their local communities, and build long-term campaigns for change.
Change begins at home, wherever that might be.
We must pull together to fight for our future.
We stand up as grandmothers, parents, youth, teachers, gas station workers, church members, farmers, writers, and organizers and say that we will not accept the KKK’s divisive tactics. . .We come together to support communities where racial hatred finds no protection. The time has come for each of us to stand up in our home communities and ask, “What will the coming generations expect of us?” And then we need to act accordingly. Won’t you join us?
Follow the campaign at #NotmyOzarks and on Facebook.
