Aryan Outfitters
MoJo (Mother Jones Magazine) presents this entry into their Photo Blog. I will first present their text and a few of the photographs, then my comments.
Coming from five generations of Ku Klux Klan members, 58-year-old “Ms. Ruth” sews hoods and robes for Klan members seven days a week, blessing each one when it’s done. A red satin outfit for an Exalted Cyclops, the head of a local chapter, costs about $140. She uses the earnings to help care for her 40-year-old quadriplegic daughter, “Lilbit,” who was injured in a car accident 10 years ago.
The following is a photo essay about Ms. Ruth by New York photojournalist Anthony Karen, a former Marine who has spent several years photographing members of the Ku Klux Klan. The essay includes audio of interviews with Karen and Ms. Ruth.
Ms. Ruth obviously puts a great deal of effort into the garments she sews. That she is creating robes for KKK members to wear, and that she goes as far as to bless each one –which indicates she believes she is doing something good in the eyes of her god and religion–greatly disheartens me. I know very well that most people don’t believe and think as she does, but the fact that some (any) still do is very troubling indeed.
