It's a bird! It's a plane! Not that… ethnologist, journalist, hero without a cloak. Like one man, acting incognito, he made war on the Ku Klux Klan and won. It couldn't be otherwise, since he had Superman himself on his side.
William Stetson Kennedy was born on October 5, 1916 in Jacksonville, Florida. His family was considered to be the local aristocracy, characteristic of the South of the USA. They could boast kinship with an officer in the Confederate States of America, founder of the 'John B. Stettson' hat empire, and the Great Titan of the Ku Klux Klan. So why did a man of such origins come out against an organization that was part of his cultural background?
Stetson Kennedy did not agree to the activities of the Ku Klux Klan
One childhood incident may shed light on his motivations. It was common practice among affluent white southern families to hire black housewives. In the Kennedy house worked Flo, who in Stetson's memoirs was "close to him as a mother". Until the mid-1960s, the so-called "Jim Crow's rights" which legitimized racial segregation in public places. Flo violated these racist regulations by telling the white bus driver that he had issued her the wrong change for the ticket . As punishment, members of the KKK tied her to a tree, severely beaten her, and raped her. It opened the young Stetson's eyes to the fact that these hooded people posing as Christians and patriots are mere criminals.
In a private war against fascism
Stetson Kennedy dropped out of college. In 1937, he dropped out of his studies at Florida State University and found a job on the Federal Writer's Project. His duties included visiting villages across the state and talking to the local people. He recorded stories told by them, described customs, beliefs and traditions.
An unexpected turn in his life was soon brought about by the war. Peggy Bulger, ethnologist, former director of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, and in private Kennedy friend recalled:
(during the war) Stetson tried to enlist in the army like everyone else, but due to an old back injury, he was not put in boots. So, as he confided in me, he decided to fight fascism in his own backyard.
The Ku Klux Klan posed as a non-profit organization
His strategy was to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan. To this end, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia, the beating heart of the Invisible Empire. He hung out in bars trying to make contact. The false identity he chose for himself bore the name of John S. Perkins - encyclopedia salesman and fierce racist. There was no response for a long time. Until one day, a man he had met earlier handed him a note without a word saying: "Are you ready to meet DEATH? Wednesday, 6pm at Klavern No. 1. Be there. ” He knew that this message could mean a sentence or an invitation to join the clan. He decided to take a chance.
Ridiculous killers
He got lucky and was accepted into the organization. He put on a white hood, made fiery speeches and burned the crosses even more fiery. He was quickly promoted in the clan structures until he reached the rank of Klavalier - a man tasked with carrying out acts of violence.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation began reporting what he saw from the very beginning. Over time, when he realized how many representatives of local authorities there were in the clan, he stopped trusting the services. Instead, he collaborated with journalists and publicists, including Ralph McGill, Drew Pearson and Walter Winchell, to whom he shared weekly secrets from clan meetings.
Kennedy infiltrated the secret structures of the clan
Pearson, a recognized publicist and radio presenter from Washington, created a regular broadcast out of these denunciations, entitled "Minutes from the Klan's Last Meeting." Kennedy recalled:
Every Sunday we made public the names of judges, policemen, businessmen and politicians, all the people who attended the clan meeting. When we did, none of them showed up there anymore. The number of new recruits has decreased. Best of all, the violence is over, thanks to infiltration.
Has communicated to McGill the plans to recruit all of the Atlanta taxi drivers to provide the necessary transportation during the "inevitable" race war. Another time, he reported on a stir among clan officials from the rumor that the British government wanted to smuggle into the US five thousand "racially unclean" children - the fruit of the fleeting romances of black US Army soldiers and English women during World War II.
In such moments, it was impossible to hide the curiosity in the activities of the clan. Kennedy had no doubt, however, that it was a terrorist organization capable of extreme brutality. During the Great Dragon clan meeting (title of the leader of the movement), Samuel Green in a frenzy threatened to catch the "rat" that would reveal their secrets:
they will cut his tongue, strip him naked, nail his penis to a wooden log, the two ends of which they will set on fire, then give him a razor, leaving a choice - to either cut his penis or burn himself.
Kennedy was aware that the edge of this threat was aimed at him.
The man of steel extinguishes the burning cross
The idea suddenly dawned on Stetson Kennedy when he saw a group of boys in the street playing in passing secret codes. It was identical to the clan members. Kennedy realized that the secrets of the KKK are ridiculously child's play. So why not give American children authentic clan slogans? Help in realizing this idea, in a sense, came from the skies.
In the 1940s, radio plays with Superman, broadcast all over the country, were very popular. Kennedy contacted Robert Maxwell, producer of The Adventures of Superman. Persuading him to make the superhero fight the Ku Klux Klan was not difficult. After all, the world war has just ended, in which the newcomer from Krypton won with Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito. The man of steel just needed a new enemy!
Superman vs Ku Klux Klan
Together, they created a series called "The Klan of the Fiery Cross". Each episode was packed with the secrets of the clan, revealed the structure of the organization, revealed the details of their rituals, gestures, new arrangements, etc. the only goal is education.
The day after the first episode was broadcast, the Big Dragon breathed fire. So does the rest of the clan members. One of them disturbed the agenda by speaking:
When I got home yesterday, my kid was playing with his friends, some had towels draped over their necks like cloaks, others had pillowcases over their heads. The ones with the towels chased the ones in the pillowcases. When I asked what they were up to, they replied that this game is a new version of 'policemen and thieves', it's called 'Superman versus clan'! They also knew all our secret passwords. I've never felt so humiliated in my life! What if my kid finds my own clan robes one day ?!
Ku Klux Klan 1920 meeting, Chicago
After the second episode reached the audience's ears, attendance was close to zero at the next meeting. No one new was willing to join the organization. For a whole month, Superman continued his crusade against the Fire Cross Clan (the name "Ku Klux Klan" did not appear on the program even once), revealing his true face - full of hatred, violence, prejudice and cowardice. In the real world, another hero, like Klark Kent, who hides his true identity, also won. Kennedy recalled:
Never again has the clan been able to show America its complacent face. Last but not least, I knew the millions of children who listened to Superman were unlikely to grow up to be clan members in the future.
This land is your land
Despite an internal investigation, the clan never managed to expose the conspiratorial activities of Stetson Kennedy. It dealt the final blow to the Invisible Empire by exposing the financial fraud it had done, pretending to be a charity. Forced to pay 750,000. dollars (the equivalent of about 8 million today) in back taxes, the clan was unable to recover from the financial collapse.
Superman educated and raised. He stressed that America is diverse
In later years, Stetson Kennedy focused on writing and journalism. He wrote several books about the South of the USA, including the "In the footsteps of the Ku-Klux-Klanu" published in Poland in 1956. The KKK, however, never let him completely forget about himself. For many years Kennedy has received threatening calls. There were several attempts to set fire to his house and his dog was also shot.
He died on August 27, 2011, at the age of ninety-four. Following the deceased's last will, his cremated remains were dumped into Lake Beluthahatchee, to the sound of the song "This land is your land" by Woody Guthrie.