An Alabama newspaper editor is doubling down on his wish to revitalize the Ku Klux Klan after publishing a racist editorial praising the KKK.
In his February 14 op-ed, Goodloe Sutton of Linden, Alabama's Democrat-Reporter, expressed hopes to rekindle the KKK's reign of terror while accusing Democrats of being communists and infiltrating the Republican Party in a scheme to raise taxes.
"Democrats in the Republican Party and Democrats are plotting to raise taxes in Alabama. This socialist-communist ideology sounds good to the ignorant, the uneducated, and the simple-minded people."
Sutton inherited the Democrat-Reporter from his father and has worked there since 1964.
In an interview with the Montgomery Advertiser on Monday, Sutton doubled down on his op-ed, suggesting that political violence should be wrought on Washington, DC.
Sutton said that lynching would be his preferred method of dealing with people he disagrees with.
"If we could get the Klan to go up there and clean out D.C., we’d all been better off...We'll get the hemp ropes out, loop them over a tall limb and hang all of them,"
Sutton clarified to the reporter that his article was "not calling for the lynchings of Americans," but rather "socialist communists."
"These are socialist-communists we're talking about," Sutton said. "Do you know what socialism and communism is?"
Asked if he recognized the Klan's history of racism and violence, Sutton responded by equating the Klan with the NAACP.
"A violent organization? Well, they didn't kill but a few people," Sutton said. "The Klan wasn't violent until they needed to be."
Sutton's vile rhetoric, coupled with his Monday interview, has people stunned.
Insanity.
Some are suggesting that Sutton should be treated as a domestic terrorist.
Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences.
Sadly, there was not much anyone could do to prevent Sutton from publishing his vitriol. Felisha Mason, executive director of the Alabama Press Association, told the Montgomery Advertiser that her organization, to which Sutton's paper belongs, does not "police" its members.
"We do not agree with the opinion," Mason said. "However, APA is not a policing agency. We simply have no authority over what our member newspapers publish."
