Multiracial Integration: Why & How


Background

About Multiracialism Multiracial Integration Many Different Forms Variety of Races

The 'Why'

Things in the Past
	~Ancient Era
	~Colonial Era
	~Modern Era
A Cohesive Society Our Shrinking World Start Right Today

The 'Now'

The World Learns Community Together Racist Bloggers Media's One Problem World Wide Web Melting Pot Theory Meritocracy

The 'How'

Educating the Young Laws to Help Make friends Be Respectful Treat All As Equals Be Yourself

Miscellaneous

Racial Timeline Further Studies E-mail Interview Video Interview Survey Evaluation Interactive Glossary

The 'Why'

Things in the Past---Modern Era

If one were to ask you about the modern era, racism would no doubt be an issue nowadays. Just several decades back, racial discrimination was widespread, and on this page, we would be examine how this discrimination had led to some of the worst racist acts in human history; the attempted genocide of all Jews during the Holocaust of World War 2, and the unimaginable acts of the feared Ku Klux Klan.

The Holocaust, an event which still brings tears to many peoples' eyes; it was generally defined as a state sponsored systematic murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazis, who were in power back then. More accurately however, the Holocaust too included the killing of POWs, Soviets, Slavs, Poles, the physically or mentally disabled, and the gay or homosexuals; in short, anyone who was not deemed to be "pure" and "normal". Even before the second World War, the Nazis were a critically racist regime and wanted a pure race of humans, Jews were considered by them to be "dirty" and "corruptive" as seen from this quote by a Nazi politician, Joseph Goebbels,

" Our starting point is not the individual: We do not subscribe to the view that one should feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, or clothe the naked. Our objectives are different: We must have a healthy people in order to prevail in the world."
The anti-Jew feelings escalated during World War 2, and the Nazis tried to use propaganda to instill hatred towards Jews among the German population, saying that Jews were not humans, but rather "aliens". Hans Frank, the extremist Nazi governor of Poland even dared to go as far as to say,

"I ask nothing of the Jews except that they should disappear."

	"	I have survived and am here with my children and grandchildren. We will never forget and will pass on this memory so that this horror will never be forgotten	"

-Holocaust Survivor,

Scroll of Remembrance

The most surprising fact was that another religion, in this case Semitism (Jewish), could be considered as being less than human, and that in order to maintain purity within Germans, these racially or religiously "impure" races had to be exterminated on an unprecedented scale. As Adolf Hitler himself once summed up all his feelings in this quote,
"Once I really am in power, my first and foremost task will be the annihilation of the Jews. As soon as I have the power to do so, I will have gallows built in rows---at the Marienplatz in Munich, for example---as many as traffic allows. Then the Jews will be hanged indiscriminately, and they will remain hanging until they stink; they will hang there as long as the principles of hygiene permit. As soon as they have been untied, the next batch will be strung up, and so on down the line, until the last Jew in Munich has been exterminated. Other cities will follow suit, precisely in this fashion, until all Germany has been completely cleansed of Jews."
The tone of voice filled with hatred and the phrase "cleansed of Jews" really summarized up the intentions of the Nazi regime.

Jews were forced to work day and night in the concentration camps, the unfair treatment of the Jews were apparent in many personal recounts by survivors, as one man put it, if they worked well they were beaten up, if they didn't work well then they were accused of plotting a conspiracy and were shot. As soon as they died, either from overwork or being gassed in chambers, their bodies would be piled up in an open field to be burnt, and their ashes were purposefully desecrated. These horrors prompted the single word engraved on the memorial at the destroyed village of Oradour-sur-Glane,
"Remember"...

Now, we would take a look at the Ku Klux Klan, or KKK, one of the most notorious fascist groups in history. They mainly advocated white supremacy, racism, anti-Semitism and anti-Catholism; and they were widespread in the USA from their formation in 1866 till their decline in 1944. The members of the early KKK were mostly old Confederate soldiers, whose only purpose was to prevent or suppress Reconstruction, which allowed for African-Americans freedmen, or past slaves, to be integrated back into society.

Followers of the KKK believed that the only way to get rid of this was through acts of terrorism and intimidation. These included lynching, gang fights and cross-burning. Concentrating mainly on the African Americans, the Ku Klux Klan spread terror among the black community; cases such as when a black man was hung for voting in the elections were commonplace. Some famous cases include torching an African-American school located in Scituate, Rhode Island. Not only that, in the early 20th century, the KKK organized several attacks targeted at black soldiers returning from World War 1.

Apart from all these, the KKK had a lot of influence both within communities and politically during the 1920s at the peak of their power. They used this influence to indirectly cause racial distrust that eventually led to events like the Detroit Race Riots. In places like Anaheim, California, the situation worsened as the KKK secretly attempted to attain power by taking over the city council. Although the attempt failed, it is important to note the extent of power the Klan had during that period.

However, by 1930, membership of the KKK declined rapidly as they lost public support. Despite this, the KKK still existed, and in the 1950s, many individuals in the numerous Klan groups began to undermine the Civil Rights Movement. They resorted mainly to acts of terror and intimidation, coupled with assassinations of civil rights activists and ordinary black people. The killings became more brutal, with the murder of Willie Edwards in 1957 by forcing him to jump off a cliff, the shooting of NAACP organizer Medgar Edwards in 1963, and the infamous lynching of Michael Donald in 1981. This brings us to the end of this topic, if you wish to know more about the Race Riots that the KKK influenced you can proceed to the next page.

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