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

[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.