KU KLUX KLAN AND THE NEGRO
_Members of the Klan take an oath to Bring about White
Supremacy, notwithstanding the Constitution, which guarantees
the Negro Equal Rights._
Under the constitution of the United States, the negro is guaranteed
equal rights with all other citizens. When the President of the United
States is sworn into office he takes an oath to uphold the
constitution and the laws passed under it. Every senator, congressman,
governor and other important officer in the United States and in each
of the states is sworn to uphold the constitution.
But the members of the Ku Klux Klan take an oath that puts the
constitution at naught. They swear to bring about "white supremacy."
Taken in conjunction with the speeches and writings of their leaders,
this oath shows that the Klansmen intend to work together to create
strife against the negro, to belittle him and his family, his
churches, his business, his social societies and other things that are
dear to him. The Klan is determined to put the negro out of business
in the United States and to drive him back to Africa.
As is all other main objects--the warfare on Jews, Catholics and
foreign born--the Klan intends to follow its own laws in dealing with
the negro. The writings of its leaders are very plain on that point.
In his oath the Klansman swears:
"I swear that I will most zealously and valiantly shield and preserve
by any and all justifiable means and methods White Supremacy----
"All to which I have sworn by this oath. I will seal with my blood by
Thou my witness, Almighty God. Amen."
Prominent lawyers who have examined this oath declare that it really
is an oath upholding mob rule and that any time the Klansman is given
orders he will follow his leaders in a crusade outside the
constitution of the United States that might lead to serious trouble
and bloodshed.
Chaplain Ridley of the Ku Klux Klan has written in _The Searchlight_
on white supremacy as follows:
"Back in the days of the reconstruction the fathers gathered at the
call of the low, shrill whistle and rode into immortal fame, rescuing
a threatened civilization and making real once more the White Man's
Supremacy. Klansmen of to-day, whether they assemble in the mountains
of Maine, or 'neath the shadows of the great Rockies, or on the plains
of the Wonderful West, or amid the trailing vines and wild flowers of
Dixie, meet to keep alive the memory of these men and preserve the
traditions of those days when the souls of men were tried as if by
fire."
In Texas a white man who testified in behalf of an accused negro--he
merely told the truth under oath as he knew it--was tarred and
feathered by masked men.
_The Searchlight_ has printed column after column of anti-negro stuff,
mostly under anonymous names or under the titles of organizations
whose addresses are not given. One such resolution adopted by the
"Patriotic Societies of Atlanta" condemns Rev. Ashby Jones, a
minister, for inviting an honorable negro to an interracial meeting
and for addressing the negro as "mister."
Here are some of the titles of articles in _The Searchlight_, showing
its evident purpose of stirring up racial feelings:
"Social Equality Put Under Ban."
"Negroes Must Serve on Chain Gangs Now."
"Separate Cars for Negroes."
"White Woman Marries a Negro."
_The Searchlight_ condemned President Harding for appointing Henry
Lincoln Johnson, a negro, as register of deeds.