you make the best of what's still around
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| Bettmann Archive/Getty Images |
Gordon's book is not the first volume to tackle the Klan of the 1920s. One of the most influential works on that subject is Nancy MacLean's "Behind the Mask of Chivalry: The Making of the Second Ku Klux Klan." What's fascinating about this iteration of the Klan is how it challenges our expectations about the organization. These weren't the vigilante "night riders" of the Reconstruction-era Klan, or the violent defenders of Jim Crow of the Civil Rights-era Klan. This was a mainstream fraternal organization with millions of members. There were Klan-affiliated newspapers and magazines, a Klan-affiliated college and hundreds of Klan-affiliated politicians. Here's Gordon: |
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Far from appearing disreputable or extreme in its ideology, the 1920s Klan seemed ordinary and respectable to its contemporaries. At many of its events, elected officials spoke. Its members included both the well and the poorly educated, professionals, businesspeople, farmers, and wage workers, but lower-middle-class and skilled working-class people formed its core constituency. In addition to providing fraternalism and sisterhood, it conferred prestige on its members and delivered business networking opportunities; for these reasons, many joined in the hopes of raising their social and economic status or identity. |
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Although headquartered in Georgia, the second Klan was most popular outside the South, in states like Colorado, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin. It was white supremacist, but the geography of its membership meant the targets went beyond African-Americans. The second Klan was preoccupied with Catholics, immigrants and Jews. In an era of extreme inequality and rapid cultural change, it saw them as key threats to the liberty and prosperity of a middle class of white laborers and property owners. Here's MacLean: |
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The Klan's varied attacks on African Americans, Jews, and immigrants in fact converged on a common core goal: securing the power of the white petite bourgeoisie in the face of challenges stemming from modern industrial capitalism. The Klan sought to deny political rights to those whom it perceived as threats to that power. |
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The second Klan, writes Gordon, embraced a "producerist ethic" which "honored those who produced goods or services while denigrating those who earned without producing, by merely managing, owning, lending money, or buying and selling." This allowed the Klan to sound a populist note: it was opposed to an underclass of supposedly "dependent" racial others and an over-class of capital and concentrated power, also defined in racial terms. Here's MacLean again: |
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Jews served as the symbol of "bad," or big, capital, which Klansmen distrusted. By portraying exploitation, destructive competition, and economic concentration as unnatural anomalies caused by the perfidy of a small minority, the Klan's anti-Semitism implicitly defended the "good" or small-scale capitalism of the local commonwealth vision. |
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Entangled in this racial vision of American life was a commitment to traditional gender roles. Klan hostility to black Americans and Jewish immigrants, for example, was tied to concerns about the "purity" of white homes and white women. Klansmen viewed their women as property to be defended from racial others and "protected" from changing gender norms that enabled more freedom and autonomy. |
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The second Ku Klux Klan collapsed at the end of the decade, weighed down by controversy and internal strife. But it was hugely influential as a social movement — one of the largest, most mainstream expressions of right-wing populism in American history. It's not too hyperbolic to say that you can see its legacy in today's politics, where the president and his allies define America in narrow, racial terms, casting immigrants and nonwhites as the source of the nation's problems. |
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I had two columns this week. The first tried to put the president's attacks on congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley in the context of his theory of citizenship: |
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If Donald Trump has a theory of anything, it is a theory of American citizenship. It's simple. If you are white, then regardless of origin, you have a legitimate claim to American citizenship and everything that comes with it. If you are not, then you don't. |
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The second was a bit of rant, expressing my frustration with a media that focuses on the president's supporters to the exclusion of the majority that opposes Trump. |
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The anti-Trump vote is the single largest coalition in American politics. That was true in 2016, despite Hillary Clinton's defeat in the Electoral College. It was true in 2017, after Democrats won major victories in Virginia and Alabama. And it was true in 2018, when the anti-Trump coalition gave Democrats a majority in the House of Representatives. Despite their influence, however, anti-Trump voters are practically invisible in recent mainstream political coverage. Instead, the focus is the president's most fervent supporters, as it has been since 2015, when Trump came down his escalator and announced his campaign for the White House. |
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Manisha Sinha on the criminalization of humanitarian assistance to migrants and the connection to our antebellum fugitive slave laws. |
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Dan Berger on Clarence Thomas and "multiracial authoritarianism." |
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Laura Turner looks back on being a teenager and an evangelical Christian. |
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If you're enjoying what you're reading, please consider recommending it to friends. They can sign up here. If you want to share your thoughts on an item in this week's newsletter or on the newsletter in general, please email me at jamelle-newsletter@nytimes.com. |
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| A home in Charlottesville, Virginia.Jamelle Bouie |
I'm actually not much of a color photographer, or at least, I think I have a better eye for black and white, for light, contrast and geometry. But I want to be a better color photographer, and while it's a little cliché, one of my touchstones for thinking about color is William Eggleston. I'm drawn to the warmth of his photography and his interest in ordinary scenes and objects. |
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Consider this my attempt to take an Eggleston photo. I used a digital camera (a Leica M Typ 240 with a 50mm Konica lens) and did a little processing work to add warmth and mute the colors a bit. I think I'm close to the vibe I'm looking for, but I'd like to know your thoughts. |
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Now Eating: Peach Cobbler |
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It's peach season, so my wife and I made a peach cobbler last night, with a recipe from Deb Perelman at Smitten Kitchen. I'm actually not the biggest fan of peaches or cobblers, but this was terrific. If I were to make a single change to the recipe, it would be to add some vanilla extract to the topping. Otherwise, it's just about perfect. |
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4 1/2 pounds (about 10 large or 2 kg) peaches, unpeeled, cut into 1-inch chunks or slices (I cut mine each into 8 wedges) Zest and juice of 1 lemon 4 ounces (115 grams) unsalted butter, softened 2 cups (400 grams) granulated sugar, divided (I reduced this to 1 1/2 cups, and recommend the same) 1 1/2 cups (190 grams) all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon coarse or kosher salt 3/4 cup milk (whole is ideal; almond will work too) 1/2 cup hot water Heavy cream, cold, for drizzling
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Heat oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil, to catch drips. |
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Prepare the peaches: Place the peaches in a 9×13-inch baking pan and in roughly an even layer. Using a zester or a Microplane, finely zest the lemon evenly over the peaches and then squeeze the lemon juice evenly over the peaches, too, catching any seeds before they fall in. |
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Make the batter: With an electric mixer, beat butter and 3/4 of the sugar (1 1/2 cups if you use the full amount; 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons if you reduce it as I did) with sugar until sandy, about 1 minutes. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and beat until combined, about 30 seconds, then lower the speed and slowly mix in milk. Continue beating at a medium speed for 2 minutes more, until light and fluffy. |
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Assemble cobbler: Plop the batter in a large blobs over the peaches. Using my favorite $3.20 kitchen tool, a small offset spatula, or if you don't have one, a butter knife, carefully spread the batter evenly over the fruit so that it's no more than 1/2-inch thick in any place. Sprinkle with remaining sugar and drizzle the hot water evenly over the sugar. |
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Bake cobbler: Place the baking dish on the foil-lined baking sheet and bake for 60 to 70 minutes, until the top is cracked and golden brown, and a toothpick inserted into the topping comes out batter-free. (Ours took about 60 minutes.) |
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Be patient: Let the cobbler sit in the baking dish on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before serving. To serve, scoop into bowls and drizzle with heavy cream. |
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