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It's a classic move for a criminals and criminal organizations. Al Capone routinely sponsored food drives and clothing giveaways to the poor. The Los Zetas cartel leaves gifts for the poor to celebrate the Epiphany holiday. Pablo Escobar was practically worshipped in Colombia for building low-income housing and building stadiums in his impoverished country.Beginning in the Klan's salad days, they took a similar approach and handed out the turkeys like Nino Brown on Thanksgiving. Sociology professor Katherine Blee, who has written several books about women in the Klan, told NPR that in the 1920s, the Klan routinely "sponsored, in public, baseball teams, father-son outings, beautiful baby contests, weddings, baby christenings, junior leagues, road rallies, festivals."The Klan, needing to remain close with local authorities, was particularly adept at shifting the focus off the racism and murder with public works projects. In his book One Hundred Percent American: The Rebirth and Decline of the Ku Klux Klan, Thomas Pegram cites several instances of local chapters, or "klaverns," shilling out money for the ostensible public good, "in an effort to legitimize its credentials as a quasi-public organization."A Klan-sponsored beautiful baby contest probably wouldn't garner too many entrants in 2015, but their current Adopt-a-Highway ploy fits perfectly into this mindset. Shift the focus to everything you're not. What's the Klan? Why, they're the people who clean up the roads. The newer, gentler, Ku Klux Klan. Why, they haven't lynched anyone since 1981!Another way the Klan is trying to change their public image: passing out "Klandy."
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