Mea Culpa Complex

Prominant Journalists now call for the American Association of Journalists to renounce its predecessory Organization for failing to help displaced Jews during WWII. Let Us examine this? We are talking about incidents occurring during Our grandparents and great grandparents era. We are accussing an Organization not then in existence, of crimes commited by another organization, said Organization founding being because of the disintergration of the prior Organization, basically because of the event incidents condemned. Yet the current Organization should suffer some punishment as the incidents took place.

What was the milieu in which the Incidents took place?

It was a time and place where Racism was rampant throughout the World. The Klu Klux Klan was probably the third most politically powerful entity in the Country, falling behind the Democrats and Republicans. Racists were everywhere, and powerfully placed. There were two Supreme Court Justices who belonged to the Ku Kluxers, which is never mentioned in polite company. Probably about twenty percent of Congress had some affiliation to the Klan during this Period of American history. This Author's closest neighbor as a child was a Grand Wizard of the Klan in his home state during this Period. He was a sort of likable old man in his declining years, and his wife often gave this Author Cookies and Milk (the Author was raised Roman Catholic by the way).

This Author handles this mea culpa bull the way he handles accusations from black people. His earliest ancestor arrived in this Country in 1841, and never owned a slave; being a steelworker in an Penn. steel mill. This Author had four ancestors serve in the Union forces in the Civil War, and most of his ancestors emigrated to this Country after blacks were freed from slavery. None of my family ever lived in Jim Crow States, at least not until such laws were repealed. Some of my family, including myself, had some involvement in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. We do not need the Guilt Trip, Thank You, and you can have it back. lgl