They brought people to town to learn how to hate…

Yesterday started with rain like only it can do in Mississippi. Which is to say very, very heavy.

Yesterday was also very special day for the group as we had the opportunity to hear a staff member of the foundation, Charlotte Grahm, share her story of growing up in 1956 in a place called Laurel, MS. Laurel is more famous, or infamous, for being the home of the Ku Klux Klan. It was in Laurel that the Klan brought people to, “learn how to hate black people.” Charlotte talked about the pain of seeing her family members being terrorized by the Klan and wounded by the overt incidents of systematic oppression at the hands of the Mississippi public schools.

While there were several vivid stories of the treatment and oppression this 52 year old experienced one distinct story rams home the absolute ruthlessness that families like Charlotte’s experienced then and still live with today at the hands of the “religious officials.” She called the Klan the religious officials because they often were the pastors, deacons, and elders of the church, that while they were beating people they often quoted scripture and made reference to the created order of things.

Charlotte started by sharing with us that at a young age her brother had died in childhood of sickle cell anemia. The reality of this she explained was actually a good thing because of the treatment that the boys and men of her town experienced at the hands of the Klan. She explained that it was very routine for members of the Klan to approach a house and "pull out "the men of the family and proceed to beat them, humiliate them, and degrade them in front of their wives and children. The purpose was to emasculate the men and destroy the family. With tears in her eyes she said it was a good thing her brother never had to experience that.

The rest of the day was filled with painting, tiling, cleaning and other kinds of work but it seems strange to talk about those activities after sharing the horrors that Charlotte experienced. How do we respond when death is better than life?

I suppose the best way is to respond is by doing what they do at the Perkins Foundation. They bring people to town to teach them how to love.
Thoughtfully
Mike