GOODBYE KKK --
Years ago I had the great privilege of performing a funeral for a man named Jim in northern Oklahoma. Jim was just your average man with a modest house, married with a dog and a couple of kids and was known as a very hard worker. He worked for the railroad on a crew laying and maintaining rails. Jim was a very strong and well built man.
In the early 1930’s the KKK came to town and organized many of the men in the town. One Saturday morning about 150 men dressed in the KKK garb of white sheets and white hoods gathered for a very public march though the town square. As they started to march Jim stepped out in front of the men and declared that this KKK march was over and that everyone was to go home. It was Jim alone standing up against 150.
The local grand wizard started a rant, loudly spitting out threats and vulgar language at our man Jim, and then ended his tirade asking what Jim was going to do about it. Jim stepped forward and decked the grand wizard square in the jaw, and the grand wizard was out before he even hit the ground. Jim turned toward the 149 and asked, “Who was next?”
After a few tense moments, the march was over and the KKK never dared to publicly gather again in that town. The courage of one man, overcame the sin of so many.