Afterthoughts on Racial Relations Training

Speaking of race relations and understanding our own local history - it may surprise some to hear that North Carolina to this day remains the stronghold of the KKK. NC's KKK population was larger than the rest of the South combined.

David Cunningham, professor of sociology at Brandeis University, delves into the KKK of the Civil Rights Era and the impact it had on southern communities - then and now. Cunningham notes that in cities where the KKK had a strong presence during the Civil Rights Movement, especially in NC, these communities now have rates of violent crimes that excede the rates of communities where the KKK didn't have a presence.

You can listen to an NPR discussion with Cunningham about his research and his book here

I lived in Winston-Salem for roughly 20 years, those years split between south Winston-Salem in a racially diverse part of town along Sprague Street - a working class community. My elementary school had seven white children in it - my sisters and I made up three of them.

I was going on 15 when we moved to Pfafftown, NC (5 miles or so outside of W-S), into a community that was the complete opposite - there was one black family that I knew of, several roads over. This new community and its surrounding communities - Rural Hall, King, Tobbacoville, etc had a *STRONG* Klan presence and many of the residents were proud of it. That one black family had a cross erected in their yard one night while I was in 10th grade and set ablaze. When they refused to move, their house was burned down.

I was in an interracial relationship in high school which attracted the attention of assholes very quickly. We were both young, in love, and scared - a deadly combination. Between social pressure and the scrutiny of our families, Brooke (we affectionately called her Danny, her tomboy name) hung herself shortly before our Senior Prom.

While we clearly serve the wider Greensboro community, I bring up Winston-Salem because it is our backdoor, my own experience with racial relations in the city, and because so much of it is a matter of public record. W-S also has the distinction of having a former mayor (Jack Cavanagh - among others), with strong ties to the KKK - a picture once ran in the paper of him attending a cross burning while mayor.

Anyway, food for thought. Hopefully the NPR segment encourages a person or two to read the book. Maybe as well it'll encourage us to look into the racial history of our own towns and see what skeletons are hiding in the closet.