The Naughty Baptist

Nice men in pointy hats

I saw a tweet about the KKK losing a lawsuit, and my mind immediately flashed back a couple decades.

This sticks in my mind the way childhood memories do. Some things about it are vague. I don't know how old I was, exactly. I know we still lived on Wilmington Island, so that puts me at nine or younger.

I'm not certain where this took place, either. I remember a red light, and oak trees. That leads me to thing we were on Victory Drive. I wouldn't swear to this, though, and really it doesn't matter.

While a lot of detail is very vague to me now, I remember with clarity the main points. My mom was driving the car, my older brother sitting in the front seat. I was in the back, behind mom. We were stopped at a red light. And a nice smiling man was trying to hand my mom a pamphlet.

There were several nice, smiling me. I remember them clearly, too. Especially their white robes and white, pointy hats.

The main thing I remember, though, is my mom rolling up the window and refusing to take any of the junk those nice men in pointy white hats were trying to give her. I remember the word "junk" being used, too.

As we rolled to the red light my mom rolled up the window, and someone (probably Tommy, my brother) asked what she was doing. Mom didn't want their junk, didn't want that junk around her kids.

I'm not sure how old I was before I realized my mom had thumbed her nose at the KKK.

I've no idea if my mom remembers this. It's crystal clear in my mind. I love my mom for a lot of reasons. This is, hands down, one of the best reasons.