Oh hey, its our old enemy again

Eh, in other news, the kkk is getting its very own television show on A&E. I have never been a fan of reality television, and yeah, this just re-enforces my disdain for most things called “reality”. So, some people are freaking out about this, I'm just scratching my head. This thing has been on the stove cooking for over a year, which is how it works. What, don't tell me you really thought that a new show starting in January was being filmed right now? I am not a Hollywood regular, but lets be honest, it takes time, a lot of time to film, edit, and produce a show of any nature, reality television is a little simpler because, as I understand it, they don't spend nearly as much time re-shooting scenes because of errors.

But it is disturbing. This is not a historical context type show as I understand it. If anything, the title alone gives me pause, it scares the hell out of me. To think in 2016 we have not evolved past this type of thing is frightening. Now, that said, when I first heard about it, I assumed that the show would be following a bunch of kkk members around while they do their thing. It appears, after doing some reading, that it is a documentary of sorts, following a group of “anti-racists”. Um, okay. So, we are going to follow a group of people who dislike the kkk, and what they stand for. So, off to A&E's website to see just what this show is about.

Well, it seems they will be following four racist families who have a member trying to “escape,” the klan, and a group of anti-hate group activists who seek to convince members to leave the hate group. Oh, where can this go wrong? So, today in 2016, we are going to give some people the platform to speak their hate, and insanity. Yes, I understand the premise is to show that people don't want to be part of an American terrorist group, yes I understand that there are people who feel trapped because they have parents, siblings, and grandparents who are members. But the fact is, if you don't want to be part of it, you leave. I know its difficult to leave your family, not everyone can do it, but for some of us, its just that simple.

I digress. So, the new documentary will have all kinds of lovely things, and despite what A&E is saying, this will give the kkk a platform to speak, well four families with that organization anyway. This could, and probably will help spread the word. I won't go as far as some of my peers who say it will normalize their views, but that is because their views are already normalized in many portions of the country. What viewers of that show are likely to see will be old news for so many minorities, people like myself who had a really “nice view” of racism while growing up in the 80's and 90's. By nice view, I mean actually experienced it, first hand. Not second hand, as in witnessed it, God knows I wish it was only witnessed.

At the end of the day, racism has been alive and well within the country since its founding. It never changed, it never really left us. All it did was found a way to hide in plain sight where it was considered hateful. Hate crimes have not increased in number to the best of my research, they are just being reported more now. Racism, for what its worth, has not become acceptable again, its just had a bright light shown on it.