America’s largest organization of people of Greek descent has come out— with good reason— against an Alabama publisher who called on Ku Klux Clan to “clean out Washington.”
In a strong rebuke to the editorial in the Democrat-Reporter newspaper, the American Hellenic Educational and Progressive Association (Ahepa) called on its publisher and the author of the editorial, Mr. Goodloe Sutton, to resign.
“If we could get the Klan to go up there and clean out D.C., we’d all been better off,” Sutton wrote. “We’ll get the hemp ropes out, loop them over a tall limb and hang all of them,” Sutton added.
The editorial, published on February 14, didn’t appear on the newspaper’s website, but two students at Auburn University’s school newspaper shared an image of the printed piece on Twitter, catapulting it into the digital sphere for scrutiny.
“We are alarmed by an editorial published in the Democrat-Reporter, an Alabama small-town newspaper, that opened, ‘Time for the Ku Klux Klan to night ride again.’ The KKK terrorized immigrants and minorities, including Americans of Hellenic heritage, during its resurgence in the early 20th century. The KKK’s intimidating and sometimes violent discrimination toward Greek immigrants led to the founding of our Order in 1922 in Atlanta–the home of the KKK’s headquarters at the time.”
George E. Loucas, President, Order of AHEPA
The statement by AHEPA’s President George E. Loucas of Ohio continued:
“Therefore, any call for the KKK to ‘night ride again’–no matter where it is published or the volume of the media outlet’s circulation or distribution–must be condemned.”
This isn’t the first time the organization has been publicly at odds with the KKK, the nation’s oldest hate organization.
In 1990, AHEPA filed an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief in the Georgia Supreme Court that backed the legal position of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of B’nai B’rith in support of a state law banning masks in public which was challenged by the KKK. Thanks to AHEPA’s efforts, the court ruled 6 to 1 to uphold the constitutionality of the anti-mask statute.
