The Editor and the Dragon
I often make light of my Southern ancestry, but there's a few roots in my dad's family tree that warrant mentioning. In fact, one of those won a Pulitzer Prize in 1953.
As per the Center for the Study of the American South:
Walter Horace Carter won the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service for his reporting on the Ku Klux Klan. Carter persevered in the face of death threats, including those against his family, and used the editorial authority of North Carolina’s Tabor City Tribune to protest the Klan’s racist rhetoric and vigilantism. Carter’s bold reporting and the unwavering integrity of his editorials helped lead to the first federal intervention in the South during that era and to the arrest and conviction of nearly 100 klansmen.
Horace Carter, as he was known, was my first cousin twice-removed (his dad - Walter Raleigh Carter - was my Great-Great Uncle). And I can't say that I knew Horace at all, but it's still nice to know someone like this is hanging about in the family tree.
It's hard to overstate the courage necessary for Horace Carter to stand up to the Ku Klux Klan in the Deep South of the early 1950's. The Civil Rights Movement hadn't really started yet, so Southern legislators, governors and local law enforcement overtly maintained a system that protected white privilege, and punished anyone who opposed it. In other words, there was no one to help him if the Klan decided to seek revenge against him and his family. That started to change after 1953.
It's noteworthy that Horace Carter maintained his journalistic integrity throughout his editorial campaign against the Klan. He didn't make up deceitful arguments or quote false data to make his point. He stuck with rational arguments bolstered by factual information, as well as a profound understanding of the subject matter. It was the Klan that employed deception in their arguments, which is the hallmark of their existence.
America would be a much better place if our national conversations followed Horace Carter's example. Unfortunately, we are rapidly gravitating towards the rhetorical tactics of deceit and deflect favored by the Ku Klux Klan. And as Horace Carter proved, that path ultimately leads to a dismal end.
Click on the link below if you want to watch the hour-long documentary about Horace Carter locking horns with the Klan, which was produced by the University of North Carolina in 2013.