C.P. Ellis

When reading about C.P. Ellis, I thought the most important piece of information he shared with us was the reason why he and other people join hate groups in the first place. He talked about how bad his life was, how poor he was, and even how he had a kid who was blind and mentally disabled. All of these things made his life so tough that he claimed, "I didn't know who to blame. I tried to find somebody. I began to blame it on black people. I had to hate somebody." It seemed like he forced himself to hate black people just because he needed a community of people to associate with. I really don't think he actually deep down hated black people, Jews, or anyone else. It was just that the only time he felt like he was part of a group and part of society was when he joined the Klan. If this happened to C.P. Ellis, I wonder how many other people this happened to as well. People like Ellis originally believed that hard work and dedication would get them somewhere in life. Ellis claimed, "All my life, I had work, never a day without work, worked all the overtime I could get and still could not survive financially. I began to say there's something wrong with this country. I worked my butt off and just never seemed to break even." At this point, its important to try and see imagine the situation that C.P. Ellis was in. No matter what he did in life and no matter how hard he worked, he never was even able to pay off his bills or live even remotely happily with his family. So, when Klan members started to associate with him, it seems like it would be normal, human nature for him to join that group of people. He had felt secluded from the rest of American society his entire life because of his low income and the fact that he realized that people with money were the ones with all the power. So, when a society of people actually did want to accept him, it makes sense to me that he would join it. At the same time as offering him somewhere to go, it gave him an opportunity to let off some steam and anger because of the tough life he was living. This story was really interesting to me because whenever we think of the Klan, we think of lynchings, killings, and extreme racism. But, we never really think too much about why Klan members are so racist and what drove them to join the Klan in the first place. We just assume that they are terrible, racist people. This story interests me because it shows a different side of the Ku Klux Klan. Out of the thousands of people in the Klan, we have no idea how many people were in situations similar to the one of C.P. Ellis, but its interesting to know that not all people who join the Klan join it because they are extreme racists. Sometimes they just want to be apart of a society. C.P. Ellis shows how hes not the nasty racist he pretended to be when he ends up working with a black woman on the school board in order to promote integration. He claimed, "Here's a chance for a low-income white man to be something". When Ellis was given the opportunity to join a society other than the Klan, and he was accepted by that society, he was able to do good with his life and eventually get support from a majority of local African Americans. This just shows how if more people like Ellis were to be given a better opportunity and better chance to be successful in their lives, it would lead to less racism, less hatred, and a more successful country.