Detention officer Wayne Kerschner admitted to being a member of the KKK and blogging for a KKK Website. He also said that he attended a rally in Tennessee and was an officer in the United Northern and Southern Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
The Alachua County sheriff's office fired Kerschner after the revelation. Clearly, the idea that a member of the sheriff's office is also a dues-paying member of the KKK is incredibly problematic.
Some other questions that come to mind are the following:
1) Are there other Klan members in the organization? Perhaps there should be an investigation of other officers and their backgrounds, particularly those who are in alignment with Kerschner. I don't believe that he was alone in all this.
2) Kerschner's background should be investigated in more detail: In spite of the fact that Kerschner defines himself as a "dang fair officer," the truth is that his record may not prove this to be the case. Any interactions that this officer has had with minorities in the course of his profession should be investigated to ensure that he was not unfairly arresting people of color or hurting them in some other way.
3) The real enemy is not the Klan: Subtle racism is a far greater enemy than the KKK. While few people are crazy enough to actually join the Klan, there are millions of Americans who hate people of color. By focusing on the Klan only, we might be missing the point. Additionally, institutionalized racism is created through decades of work-implementing policies that lead to disparate outcomes for minorities. That means that the biggest hurdles for black people come from the structure of the institutions themselves, not from the hearts and minds of those who run the institutions. In other words, much of the damage has been done, and there can be racism in an institution even when there isn't a racist person in the building.
The bottom line is that there is still a great deal of work to be done. Cutting ties with the one KKK member on staff does nothing to make us confident that racism has left the building. We must be more intelligent than that.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition. To have Dr. Boyce's commentary delivered to your e-mail, please click here. 
Comments: (15)
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By: Andre on 1/03/2010 6:18PM
Thats a "dang good" point, Dr. Boyce
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By: igrayson on 1/04/2010 9:48AM
That is speaking truth to power.
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By: Tish on 1/03/2010 8:37PM
The sad thing is, these people will come back and say what we do in our private life is no one's business. To be fair and equal you can't be in a hate group and try to be fair to people that are different than you. If that was the case then it wouldn't be no need to be a kkk.
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By: newpatriot on 1/03/2010 9:05PM
It's amazing to me that the Klan gets treated worse than the Talliban. I have no love for the klan but, the last I checked, Homeland Security has yet to declare the Klan a terrorist group or a threat to national security. So if they have a legal right to exsist how can you fire someone for being an associate. We know that there are Muslim Mosques in America that are suspected of funneling money to terrorist groups, yet they operate without any scorn from the media or the NAACP. The bottom line is a decision is gonna have to be made regaurding the Klan,are they a free speach group protected under the constitution or an enemy of the state? Until that decision is made, nobody should be fired for being associated with them. Would it be fair to fire a Black person for joining the Nation of Islam??
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By: harvey on 1/03/2010 11:10PM
There is a dfference, with the KKK that has a history of advocating and carrying out violence against people of color to the point of murder.for being who they are, based on the kkk teachings of genetic survival of the white race after freeing of the slaves. Yes they are free by the law to exist like other organizations, but it does not mean the individual has a right to jobs with vested authority of power that governs people lives.where his affiliations with the klan and our democracy for all people does not go hand in hand.The safety of the peo[le comes first before individual rights of belonging to an org that promotes taking away those rights. The Nation of Islam is a religous group that teaches seperation in response to violence and hatred of the blackman by american laws that was legislated against them. It also teaches self defense against violence, which is lawful. The only comparison of the kkk and the nation of Islam is the seperation of races for stated reasons. Islam loves all men that love them the kkk is against all nonwhites and Jews,so we are talking about segments of society that have to be protected from individuals from seeking positions that have the power to take freedom and life before and after.
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By: Tish on 1/05/2010 12:24PM
I'm so sick of people trying to make reasons for the most hateful group in American history. This group has killed thousand in the name of God and hate.This is truly not free speech. It doesn't just go back to slavery with the strange fruit, but that same strange fruit happens today. They try to keep that hushed. As far as I concern they need to wipe all of those coward bastards off the face of the earth. They are terrorist peroid.
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By: concerned citizen on 1/05/2010 2:09PM
FYI the Nation of Islam is a religious group. not a commonly known hate group that has admitted to violating tne rights of americans subjecting them to tourtue, lynchings and burning. How could you corelate the two groups is beyond comprehension.
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By: toyna on 2/02/2010 12:01AM
the klan should have been label a terrorist group, hanging, unlawful killing, bombing, burning, WHAT MORE EVIDENCE DO YOU NEED? one of the worst group of TERRORISM THE USA HAVE EVER BIRTH, NOT BY THEY WORDS, BY THEIR ACTION!
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By: john on 1/04/2010 8:20PM
I am a black man and I am not too concern about this guy being a KKK. We have many feminists as judges, prosecutors, psychologist,etc. So, why target this guy when feminists way outnumber KKK and just as deadly and unjust--look at the tv judges of mathis, brown, judy, etc. all are pro-feminist and anti-male.
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By: brubaker on 1/04/2010 9:03PM
Am I worried about Klan violence? NO!
Am I worried about some "brother" gunning me down for nothing?YES!
Has the Klan ever called the police on me?NO!
Has blacks ever called the pigs on me?YES!
Do I hate the Klan? NO!
Do I hate corporate and government blacks?YES!
Obama doesn't see color either, but he's already killing people of color for the white man!This doesn't bother Dr. Boyce at all!
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