Letters: Readers discuss KKK history, Catholics’ rights and local control of KCPD
Real history
The June 2 story from The Washington Post, “The other race massacres you never learned of in school” (2A) was sickening, but I appreciate receiving information I needed to know. Significantly, all five occurred in the heyday of the Ku Klux Klan (the two before 1900) or the resurgence of the KKK after World War I.
Historically, there was a lull in KKK activity after the U.S. Army departed the South and local control was resumed, without Black citizens’ participation. After WWI, as Black veterans returned with ideas of liberty and equality, there was a national resurgence. The KKK’s organizing resentment and fear no doubt resulted in more mass attacks.
My mother once told me that her father joined the KKK briefly in rural central Illinois, where there were no Black people, few Catholics and no other “objectionable” immigrants. I believe the KKK couldn’t have lasted long there. My grandfather died before I was born, but from my mother’s memories, I believe he was too easygoing to accept the KKK’s rhetoric long-term. Plus, he became the constable for the town, and as far as I know, there were no race massacres in Armstrong, Illinois.
- Mary Weston, Kansas City
Humane treatment
For the record, I think the Supreme Court made the correct ruling in Fulton v. Philadelphia. (June 18, 4A, “Foster care agency wins fight against city’s LGBTQ rule”) A Catholic adoption agency has the right to refuse to work with a family on religious grounds.
The group that has it wrong here is the Catholic adoption agency. In fact, Catholics who refuse service to gay couples on the grounds of their religion in reality fail to live out the Catholic creed: Treat all of God’s children with the same dignity and respect.
The Catholic doctrine holds that the holy sacrament of matrimony, by definition, can be only between a man and a woman. As a Catholic, you cannot marry a same-sex couple in the church. What you can do, and in fact what you are commanded to do, is treat all people with equality and respect. That means if you are a baker, bake that wedding cake and wish the couple well. If you are an adoption agency, place that child into a loving and stable home with same-sex parents.
It is not against the Catholic religion to treat gay married couples with dignity and respect, nor to render them your services. On the contrary, that is your commandment.
- Brian Grant, Leawood
Hear our voices
Soon, members of Congress will return to Missouri and Kansas, in part to participate in Independence Day festivities. With all that has happened in Washington, D.C., since Jan. 1, it’s ironic. These representatives and senators would participate in a holiday celebrating our nation’s independence from tyranny when many of them are engaged in that very thing.
We need to make sure our elected representatives in the House and Senate are hounded to hold town hall meetings. It would give them a chance to defend their votes against or for hearings on the Jan. 6 terrorist attack on the Capitol. It also would give them a chance to let their constituents know which way they lean on the pending For The People Act. This legislation has the support of 60% to 80% of Americans.
If our elected officials believe making it harder to vote is important, let them make their case. Missouri and Kansas representatives and senators know a majority of their constituents want the For the People Act. Let’s not allow our public servants to thumb their noses at the folks who put them in office.
Call your senators and representatives and ask for town hall meetings.
- Lew Hendricks, Kansas City
Us here, you there
It’s obvious to me that the attempt by the mostly white Republican Missouri legislators to control the Kansas City Police Department is a lot about racism, but is even more about raw political power by the Republicans.
Baffling to me is that when it comes to COVID-19 issues, their approach has been to leave it to local units of government. They also seem to prefer leaving controversial matters to local school boards, resulting in mass confusion.
Why the inconsistency? Just because they can does not mean they should.
- Don Breckon, Parkville
