Tag Archive for KKK

You Gotta Watch this Show!

Why didn’t someone tell me about this program?  It’s well into its  second season and I’ve just started watching it.  I’m glad I have On Demand to look back at old episodes.

I’m talking about “United Shades of America.”  The host, W. Kamau Bell, travels  all over to look at how various issues affect real people.  It’s not a dry documentary, thanks to the host’s humor (he’s a comic) and his conversations with people he agrees with, disagrees with, and others in between.  A person who isn’t keen on guns, he bought one and talked to people about why they’re important.  He visited a KKK meeting and talked to Klansmen as they burned a cross (note: Bell is Black). He went to a hard-core prison and mixed with the inmates.

I enjoy the show because he, like me, takes a slightly sideways look at life and situations, delving into the oddities and people experiencing  them–all in a straightforward, human way.

The show is on CNN on Sundays at 7 P.M. in my area.  Look it up  and give it a try.

 

 

 

 

What’s in a (Bridge’s) Name?

Here’s an irony: That symbol of civil rights advancement, the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama–it’s named after a man who was not only in the KKK but Alabama’s Grand Master and an infamous racist.  His side may have lost the Civil War, but he kept up his hatred of any kind of freedom or rights for Blacks.

I wonder: is the name of the bridge an irony or a useful reminder?