Once Upon A Time, Not So Long Ago

[wlotus]

Once Upon A Time, Not So Long Ago, originally uploaded by wlotus.

Residents of Pocahontas, VA watch as the Ku Klux Klan marches through the town. You can faintly see the hooded Klan members in the center of the upper half of the photo. This is an undated photo of a photo on display at the Pocahontas Exhibition Coal Mine.

When T was a teen, she once rode her bike through the mountains around Pocahontas on what she thought would be a relaxing trip. She stumbled upon a clearing full of hooded KKK members who had just lynched a man, his body still hanging on the tree. The fact that she is alive to tell the tale tells you just how fast she pedaled to get out of there.

T just turned 40. I am a mere six months older than her. While I was in East Orange, NJ worrying about what boys liked my sister better than me, T was in Pocahontas, VA worrying about staying alive while going to school with the children of the murderers who call themselves "The Klan".

Selah.

Comments

[iswari.livejournal.com]

That is intense.

[spritely-ariel.livejournal.com]

That's horrific. How terrible for T.

[balmofgilead.livejournal.com]

Geeze, what an experience to have.

I had no idea that sort of thing went on into the 80s and that there are people that young carrying around that sort of memory. Yikes.

[autodidactic.livejournal.com]

Virginia's the Commonwealth that stole me from my lesbian mother. Not to mention, yeah, there's still a bunch of that shit there. I loved Virginia for its flora and fauna. But yeah, there's a deep vein of hate still there.

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

That deep vein of hate is exactly why I was glad to come back home.

T confirms the hate is still there. "Including mine [towards them]," she added. But she and I want to bring shockingly diverse tourism to the area to forcefully shake them out of their ignorance, whether they want to be shaken or not. They are deeply racist and homophobic in that area. We'd like to take a Dykes on Bikes tour through there someday.

[warkitty.livejournal.com]

When we moved to Virginia (from various yankee lands) we were fascinated by the reminders everywhere. From the store "Winn Dixie" to the Jefferson Davis Highway. In '85, Grandpa came to visit from Clifton, NJ and as we were heading somewhere or another, spotted a large sign at the entrance to one of the civil war battlefields. It was letting everyone know there was a KKK meeting going on there that day.

Then again, when I was in Appleton Wisconsin I went to a restaurant for dinner and the waiter remarked on my accent. Upon confirming that yes, I'd just come that way from Tennessee, he shocked me by saying something that would NEVER be said to a stranger in the south. He said to me "well, you southerners had one thing right, some races just do better as slaves."

I never was so horrified in my life. Quite the reminder that it's not all Southern.

[untied.livejournal.com]

i would expect to hear that story from a seventy year old woman.

[lilrongal.livejournal.com]

*speechless*

[arkadelos.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting this. This picture helps people to be more understanding of where the other person is coming from, and this understanding can in turn lead to more sympathy/empathy and respect. It has also helped me to understand what a few of my ancestors went through because they were immigrants, another victim group.

I have been wanting to say that for a few days now but I haven't had the time. I need to leave for class.

[queenlyzard.livejournal.com]

Creepy. And very sad. But you knew that already. *hugs*