Klan For A Day!

The Birth of A Nation is at once one of the greatest movies and most terrible movies ever made. D.W. Griffith's expansive and innovative storytelling is on full display and the magnificent power of cinema is is all too evident, but tragically the story this tells is one of a dreadful history, of an aspect of American life which is truly shameful. That shame is not present in Griffith's portrayal of the Klu Klux Klan, the Secret Empire which in this movie rises up out of a misguided sense of necessity to stem the savagery of the freed black slaves who show they are incapable of leading themselves in a civilized manner and threaten the creamy white skins of Southern womanhood. It's the most profound and dreadful bullshit! But this truly is a well polished turd, and the artistry of The Birth of A Nation can be recognized, but never should its themes be celebrated.

D.W. Griffith was a Kentucky boy, like myself, and for that reason I was keen to include some of his work in my Film Studies classes. But these are high school classes and not college and so much more care must be taken in selecting examples of cinema. Last year when Spike Lee's BlacKKKlansman was in theaters, I sought to get permission from my principal to show The Birth of A Nation in class. I was eager to use the opportunity to drive home the misguided themes of the movie within the context of the new film. Much to his credit he listened to my arguments seriously but ultimately decided against it. I understand his decision. A news story that some white teacher was showing The Birth of A Nation to his mostly white students in a community famous for its conservative leanings could be publicity no one needed, least of all me. To attempt to explain the film being shown in some historical context with proper permissions from parents sought and signed, would've meant nothing to media intent on sensationalizing race relations in America at almost every turn. He likely saved me from myself.

But it's important in a way that Griffith made this document of the beliefs of the Klan. This rosy anti-historical account is a byway into the mind of the racist nationalist who lives in constant fear of the outsider, the one who unlike himself seeks not the same, but something new and different. The real Klan is about preserving the false memory of a more civilized time when order was maintained through violence and the utter and complete dehumanization of both men and women. It is the shame that will blight the American record for all time.

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