‘Time for the Ku Klux Klan to night ride again’

Posts : 4354 Join date : 2013-01-16

Quote :: Two decades ago, the editor of the tiny Democrat-Reporter newspaper in Linden, Ala., was being talked about as a potential contender for the Pulitzer Prize. A congressional citation read on the floor of the House of Representatives in 1998 lauded “his truly American heroism and dedication to the truth” and called him “one of Alabama’s finest and most ethical journalists.” Glowing profiles in the New York Times, People magazine and the American Journalism Review highlighted his tenacious reporting and down-home Southern charm.

Now, Goodloe Sutton is back in the news again — this time because he recently called for mass lynchings and suggested that the Ku Klux Klan should return to “clean out” Washington.

“Time for the Ku Klux Klan to night ride again,” began a Feb. 14 editorial in the paper, which went on to claim that Democrats, along with some Republicans, were planning to raise taxes in Alabama. It concluded, “Seems like the Klan would be welcome to raid the gated communities up there.”

Sutton, who is also the paper’s publisher, could not immediately be reached for comment. He told the Montgomery Advertiser on Monday that he had written the editorial, which ran without a byline, and stood by it.

“If we could get the Klan to go up there and clean out D.C., we’d all been better off,” he told the paper, explaining, “We’ll get the hemp ropes out, loop them over a tall limb and hang all of them.”

Posts : 4354 Join date : 2013-01-16

Quote :: On Thursday, however, Sutton had an apparent change of heart. He turned control of the paper over to Elecia Dexter — an African American woman from Chicago who served as the paper’s front office clerk.

Quote :: Dexter, 46, said she has worked at the paper for only six weeks and was disappointed when she saw the editorial. She has fielded phone calls, questions and emails from supporters of the newspaper who were dismayed over the editorial and negative publicity.

Dexter told The Post she had planned to leave if no change took place. She said that she and Sutton had an “open and honest” dialogue about his comments, in which he explained his decision to invoke lynchings and the KKK in the editorial.