The Klan made life less dull; it gave meaning, shape, and purpose to the days. Folks got their news from editors loyal to the Klan or from a gossip chain that started with a Klan poison squad plant. They took their moral guidance from preachers in the pocket of the hooded order. They were good people, or so they told themselves, of the same faith and same race, with the same fears and the same goals—though they were modest only to a point, as this showing of self-congratulatory sentiment made clear. The few who did not look like them were no trouble in Kokomo. The town mandated segregation in
...more