A documentary about the KKK may be televised in 2017 and some of you can’t believe it.
Right when you thought the Ku Klux Klan was a thing of the past, they reared their ugly heads again during the Obama presidency, popping up at Confederate flag rallies and Trump campaign stops.
Now, with racism and White supremacy making a new, rebranded comeback, A&E figured it would be a good time to produce a docuseries on how the KKK’s values get passed down through families. Their offering goes by the title Generation KKK.
Variety reports:
The series has been in the works for more than a year and a half, with cameras following members of the Klan, and an A&E spokesperson confirmed to Variety on Sunday that the network has issued an eight-episode order for “Generation KKK.” It will premiere on Jan. 10.
Along with members of the Klan, the series will also include anti-hate activists Daryle Lamont Jenkins, Arno Michaelis, and Bryon Widner, who will try to convince members of the group to leave, or at least not force their children into the KKK.
The New York Times broke the story on the show and people are claiming that the Times, as well as the show itself, is teetering dangerously close to normalizing the known hate group.
“We certainly didn’t want the show to be seen as a platform for the views of the KKK,” Rob Sharenow, general manager of A&E, said in the NYT piece. “The only political agenda is that we really do stand against hate.”
If that is the case, why give them a platform? Granted, hate, especially now, cannot afford to be ignored. Turning an eye to red flags are how the Dylan Roof‘s of the world are born. At the same time, putting this kind of show on the air for everyone from the stupid to the impressionable to see can also be an indirect recruitment tool. Much like how people assumed Trevor Noah and Charlamagne Tha God‘s interactions with Tomi Lahren have done little to make her look crazy, but actually empower and legitimize her platform even more.
Generation KKK has yet to hit the air, so people are hoping to get in front of it and convince A&E and its parent company Disney to not go through with it.
Photo: Screenshot from Chappelle’s Show, because this has got to be a joke.
