When The Klan Comes Calling

What a week.

Friday's Ku Klux Klan march in front of Syracuse Elementary School was one of the most bizarre occurrences I have ever witnessed.

Grown men and women, some wearing robes and hoods - marching up and down the street as a couple hundred onlookers berated them.

Only in America.

The KKK has an absolute right to do what they did. No question. I guess, in a twisted sort of way, I'm glad they have that right. If they didn't, I wouldn't have the right to write this column in this newspaper.

Places where rights like this are suppressed by the government are generally not very fun places to live.

But this Klan march posed a dilemma. How do we cover it? What do we put in the newspaper?

We decided not to pull any punches - to print what they said. To give as accurate a representation of the event as possible.

The language a couple of the marchers used as they arrived on the scene was shocking and offensive. So be it. Their words speak for themselves. The marchers exposed themselves for what they are.

To sugarcoat their message would be to shield the public from the truth.

If there was any support for them among the onlookers, it was invisible. No one I saw appeared to want the Klan there. The marchers were greeted with a chorus of boos. They were insulted by onlookers: "Get a job, crackhead." "You guys come from the unemployment line?" "Our town doesn't want you." "We're Christians here, go march someplace else." "Stop the hate." "Aren't your legs getting tired?" "Black history's OK, the Klan should go away." "You guys are losers."

One woman rushed forward to confront them and was restrained by police. Another broke into a chorus of "America, the Beautiful."

I live in Syracuse. I must say I was proud of the "welcome" my town gave the KKK.

The marchers were there because a quiz about the Klan was given to fourth-graders at Syracuse Elementary. When the quiz became public, controversy erupted and the materials were removed from the classroom.

The Klan members came to support the teacher who gave the quiz. They think the materials should stay.

I do not consider myself politically correct. Far from it. But when I looked over a copy of the Klan quiz I was stunned.

At first glance, it looked like a joke. You know the kind. Those R-rated sheets that get passed around the office. They're ugly because they're drawn by hand and have been copied over and over.

The questions were bad enough. But what really struck me were some of the answers this particular fourth-grader gave.

One of the questions asked the student to "give five reasons people join the Klan." The student's first reason? "It's good fun."

Other reasons? "You believe in white, not black." "You're tired of seeing blacks." "You are opposed to forced school busing."

Apparently the students were quizzed on material contained on a poster in what is known as a "learning center." Other learning centers displayed information on Martin Luther King, Thurgood Marshall, John F. Kennedy and others.

But what must that poster have said about the Klan to elicit the response "It's good fun" from a student?

Other questions on the quiz included a list of Klan terminology. The kids had to define what a Grand Wizard, a realm, a Grand Dragon, a province, a Grand Titan, a den and a Cyclops were. They also had to identify what colors Klan leaders wear.

I'll tell you one thing. These 10-year-olds know way more about the KKK than I do.

There also was a word search. Students were instructed to find words like fire, burn, cross, klavern, bomb, robe, nigger, commie and Jew.

As unbelievable as all this may seem, even more unbelievable is that the Klan information in question has been in the learning center for 10 years. In 10 years, not one complaint.

Wawasee Superintendent Mark Stock says the incident is being fully investigated.

He concedes that the quiz was inappropriate and vows that steps will be taken to ensure an incident like this will never be repeated in his school district.

I have no reason to doubt him.

Since this is a personnel matter, it is confidential, Stock says, and he refuses to identify the teacher involved.

We know the teacher was Lera Reinholt. We were told by Wawasee patrons.

She's been a teacher for long time - 27 years or so.

I really don't believe Reinholt has hoods and sheets in her closet. I don't think she was recruiting Klan members. I don't think she's a racist.

She has stated that she does not support the KKK or want their support.

I think she had a serious lapse in judgment and I think she probably understands that now.

Some have said the quiz was taken out of context, that to judge the quiz, you must judge the entire learning experience.

I disagree. The context does not exist where it is appropriate to ask fourth-graders to learn the inner workings, terminology and organizational makeup of a hate group.

Will this end her career? Perhaps.

Careers have ended over less.

But whatever happens, I think it should be out in the open. I don't think Stock should shroud this thing in the secrecy of executive sessions.

Up to this point, most of the information we received was not from the school. It was from patrons. And if it weren't for patrons, the incident never would have been made public. The administration was aware of the situation two or three weeks before it became public.

I think there should be dialogue - a laying out of all the facts. Perhaps an explanation from Reinholt. Maybe an apology.

The people who pay Wawasee's bills - the taxpayers in the school district - deserve an explanation.

They don't deserve a decision made in a secret executive session and then revealed in a terse, one-sentence announcement by the school board.