In 1974, David Duke founded the Louisiana Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. One of his first big accomplishments was that he was able to get members to hate Jewish people as well as black people. Being the inclusive guy that he is, he opened membership of the KKK to include women, Catholics and teenagers, thereby expanding their base.
In 1979 Duke ran for a Louisana Senate seat as a conservative Democrat (a great example of why NOT to vote straight along party lines) with 9,897 votes.
In 1981 he founded the National Association for the Advancement of White People (NAAWP).
In 1989 Duke was elected for a seat in the Louisiana State House.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center:
David Duke is the most recognizable figure of the American radical right, a neo-Nazi, longtime Klan leader and now international spokesman for Holocaust denial who has nevertheless won election to Louisiana’s House of Representatives and once was nearly elected governor. He is also known for his avid pursuit of women and, especially, money — so much so, in fact, that he finally went to prison in 2002 for using cash raised to support white supremacist causes to pay for his own gambling and home improvements. Since then, Duke has become an itinerant anti-Semitic salesman, traveling regularly to Europe to sell his books while his latest white supremacist organization, EURO, remains almost entirely inactive.
In case you didn’t before, now you have a feel for who and what David Duke is about and what he stands for. And, now, he has endorsed the racist and misogynist Donald Trump to be the next President of the United States, calling him the “best of the lot” among the many that are running for President.
So this is a great opportunity… although we can’t trust him to do what he says, the other Republican candidates won’t even say what he says. So he’s certainly the best of the lot. And he’s certainly somebody that we should get behind in terms, ya know, raising the image of this thing.
Trump’s followers have been shouting “White Power” at this rallies and after being whipped up into a lather at these events, they have been inspired to beat at least one man senseless and then urinate on him-because he had brown skin- and then leaving him that way on the street.
Trump’s response? To the shouts of “White Power”: He said that “they are receptive to making America great again.” To the fact that an innocent man was beaten senseless for no reason other than the color of his skin: He said that the people following him are “very passionate.”
Racism is alive and well in the United States. Having their racism and misogyny out in the open is refreshing. It allows us to take our money and our votes elsewhere with people that actually believe in the betterment of all humanity.
Here is the audio, should you choose to stomach it, of David Duke’s show:
Featured image via Flickr
