This appeal sparked outrage in the US: The publisher of a local paper in Alabama has called for the lynching of liberal politicians in Washington by the Ku Klux Klan. After fierce criticism of his editorial, Goodloe Sutton showed little insight. Rather, the 79-year-old put in an interview with another newspaper in the southern state again after.
In his February 14 editorial for Linden’s weekly newspaper, The Democrat Reporter, Sutton wrote that it was time for the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) to resume its nocturnal actions. „Democrats in the Republican Party and Democrats“ in Washington are the „true ruling class,“ secretly forging plans to raise taxes in Alabama, he wrote.
Sutton called on the KKK to invade the „guarded housing estates“ of the US capital. At the same time he conspired in conspiracy theories. Thus, the „Northeastern elites“ are actually using the various conflicts around the world involving the United States to sustain the country’s „military-industrial complex.“
„This editorial is totally disgusting“
„My God, under which boulder this guy crawled out,“ wrote Alabama’s Democratic Senator Doug Jones. „This editorial is totally disgusting – and he should relinquish – Now!“ Demanded Jones. He witnessed what it meant when no one did anything while others – „above all with influence“ – published racist and hateful comments.
In another interview with the Montgomery Advertiser, Sutton defended his views. „If we got the clan to go there and clean up Washington D.C, we would all be better off,“ the 79-year-old said, making it clear he was thinking about lynching the „socialist-communist“.
When asked if he considered the clan a violent organization, he added, „Well, they killed only a few people.“ They had only become violent „when they had to“. The racist and violent secret society had rebelled against the end of racial segregation with lynching and torture of black people.
Sutton’s editorial surprises all the more as the editor made a name for himself as an investigative journalist in the 1990s. Several prizes he had received at that time were now withdrawn. Research by the Montgomery Advertiser also made transparent a whole series of articles with racist, anti-Semitic or anti-gay undertones that Sutton had published over the years.
