In: Economics
“The Klan’s Fight for Americanism”
The 1920s and, at its peak, claimed millions of Americans as
members. Klansmen wrapped themselves in the flag and the cross and
proclaimed themselves the moral guardians of America. The
organization appealed to many “respectable,” middle-class
Americans. Here, Imperial Wizard Hiram Evans, a dentist from
Dallas, Texas, outlines the Second Klan’s potent mix of
Americanism, Protestantism, and white supremacy.
There are three … great racial instincts, vital elements in both
the historic and the present attempts to build an America which
shall fulfill the aspirations and justify the heroism of the men
who made the nation. These are the instincts of loyalty to the
white race, to the traditions of America, and to the spirit of
Protestantism, which has been an essential part of Americanism ever
since the days of Roanoke and Plymouth Rock. They are condensed
into the Klan slogan: “Native, white, Protestant supremacy.”
First in the Klansman’s mind is patriotism-America for Americans.
He believes religiously that a betrayal of Americanism or the
American race is treason to the most sacred trusts, a trust from
his fathers and a trust from God. He believes too that Americanism
can only be achieved if the pioneer stock is kept pure. There is
more than race pride in this. Mongrelization has been proven bad.
It is only between closely related stocks of the same race that
interbreeding has improved men; the kind of interbreeding that went
on in the early days of America between English, Dutch, German,
Huguenot, Irish, and Scotch.
Americanism, to the Klansman, is a thing of the spirit, a purpose
and a point of view, that can only come through instinctive racial
understanding. It has, to be sure, certain defined principles, but
he does not believe that many aliens understand those principles,
even when they use our words in talking about them. . . .In short,
the Klansman believes in the greatest possible diversity and
individualism within the limits of the American spirit. But he
believes also that few aliens can understand that spirit, that
fewer try to, and that there must be resistance, intolerance even,
toward anything that threatens it, or the fundamental national
unity based upon it.
The second word in the Klansman’s trilogy is “white.” The white
race must be supreme, not only in America but in the world. This is
equally undebatable, except on the ground that the races might live
together, each with full regard for the rights and interests of
others, and that those rights and interests would never conflict.
Such an idea, of course, is absurd; the colored races today, such
as Japan, are clamoring not for equality but for their supremacy.
Th whole history of the world, on it s broader lines, has been one
of race conflicts, wars, subjugation or extinction. This is not
pretty and certainly disagrees with the maudlin theories of
cosmopolitanism, but it is truth. The world has been so made that
each race must fight for its life, must conquer, accept slavery or
die. The Klansman believes that the whites will not become slaves,
and he does not intend to die before his time.
The third of the Klan principles is that Protestantism must be
supreme; that Rome shall not rule America. The Klansman believes
this is not merely because he is a Protestant, nor even because the
Colonies that are now our nation were settled for the purpose of
wresting America from the control of Rome and establishing a land
free of conscience. He believes it also because Protestantism is an
essential part of Americanism; without it America could never have
been created and without it she cannot go forward. Roman rule would
kill it.