
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 13, 1990                   TAG: 9007130684
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

WHAT HOODS REALLY DO FOR KLAN MEMBERS

DON JOHNSON'S letter (July 1) represented almost everything about the Klan that is to be loathed and laughed at. He cloaks his bigotry and hate in a "hood" of self-righteousness.

Don claims that those wearing the hood "know the evil forces." This "aids the officers of the law" by making it easier to identify the culprit.

The Klan is a true bastion of unselfishness. Just ask any non-Klan person who has ever had anything to do with them. Don boasts that "they sacrifice to serve." True. They sacrifice the rights of others to serve their own twisted morality.

Finally (though not stated by Don), the hood makes it harder for the Klansmen to be identified in a police lineup. Without this hood to hide their faces, Klansmen would sink into the sea of the penal system.

ZACH SIZER\ ROANOKE

by CNB