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that cross was burned by the ku Klux Klan here in this field in ceres California. Why did it happen here? That cross was burned by the ku Klux Klan here in this field in ceres California. Why did it happen here? Why did it happen here? Why

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has the KKK suddenly reappeared in our midst spreading hate and fear. In the next hour we will examine a disturbing rise in bigotry across our nation, a revival of racism and anti Semitism. We will examine why it is happening and what can be done about it.

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Why did it happen here? Why has the KKK suddenly reappeared in our midst spreading hate and fear. In the next hour we will examine a disturbing rise and bigotry across our nation, a revival of racism and anti Semitism. We will explore why it is happening and

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what can be done about it. Why did it happen here? Why has the KKK suddenly reappeared in our midst spreading hate and fear? In the next hour we will examine a disturbing resurgence and bigotry across our nation, A revival of racism and anti Semitism. We will

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examine why it is happening and what can be done about it. Growing. Why did it happen here? Why has the KKK suddenly reappeared in our midst spreading hate and fear. In the next hour we will examine a disturbing rise in bigotry across our nation, a revival

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of racism and anti Semitism. We will examine why it is happening and what can be done about it. Really? Mr Lionel, do you feel that bigotry is on the rise in the country today. Well it's hard to measure bigotry, but certainly I think

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that people feel more free to say things that they perhaps would not have said uh 15 or 20 years ago, I think that people are feeling freer to do things That they wouldn't have done 15 or 20 years ago and I think people are feeling more

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threatened by persons who look different from themselves and they're feeling more threatened by people who appear to them to be getting breaks that they aren't getting and these are just perceptions, most of them have little in the way of validity, but um these kinds of feelings

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seem to be contributing to a rise and expressed bigotry. What about the ku Klux Klan? Do you think there's a revival? And is that a concern? I think there's a revival and I think it's a concern. I think that the Klan, like other groups like it,

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the American Nazi party and those kinds of groups do disrupt the fabric of our society. They do play upon existing tensions and existing hatreds and existing animosities and they exploit them. They do not however constitute the problem. The problem is deeper and more chronic than the

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Klan and people have been exploited and treated unjustly because of the color of their skin or the religion they worshiped long before there was a clan, what do you think the problem is then if the clan is merely, let's say an extreme form of racism? What

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is the problem? I think the problem is the existence of racial ethnic and religious bigotry. I think the problem is the refusal of this country's leadership and this country's institutions to respond to the problem. And I think the problem is also the willingness of politicians and

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others to exploit racial divisions for their own narrow purposes. And I think that until America gets very serious about trying to create a pluralistic society that has a modicum of um Goodwill, We're going to continue to have the problem and we'll continue to have groups like

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the Klan that we can blame it on. You. Look at a lot of issues like integration in schools, housing, consumer agencies, What's your interpretation? How far have we come? I don't think you've come nearly as far as we should have. I think that if you examine,

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for example, the indices of the quality of life that statisticians generally examined to find out how people are doing, you'll find that the quality of life for large sections of our population is terrible. If you examine the gap in income between certain racial groups and the

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white population, you'll find that it hasn't improved in absolute terms income levels have gone up real and cash. But the gap, the income gap between the white population and racial and ethnic minorities is not appreciably improved. Um I think we've got laws on the books that

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we didn't have before, that are very useful to protect people. But like most laws, they protect you after the fact we're not doing enough to prevent the harm that's visited upon people by racial and ethnic and religious prejudice. We're not doing enough to protect people from

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that. What can the state do? And really that leads into why hold the hearings now? Well, we're not holding the hearings now because this is a particularly opportune time to do it. We're holding the hearings because it's become apparent, at least to me and others who

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keep their finger on the racial pulse, if you will of this country, that we are experiencing some, some problems uh, in the area of increased racial tension, increased ethnic tension and increased religious tension? The hearings are being held because we need to know the precise nature

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and magnitude of the problem. We really don't know. For example, we don't report racial incidents and and develop statistics on racial incidents the way we develop statistics on other kinds of crime. We know at any given point in time, how many burglaries have been committed in

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the state of California? How many armed robberies, How many murders, How many rapes? We don't know at any point in time, how many synagogues have been bombed? How many crosses have been burned? How many black, how many black families have had their homes attacked. And so

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we're holding these hearings to find that out. We're also hoping to find out what communities are doing about these problems. Many citizens are aware of the problems and are willing to work together to try to ease the tensions, and we'd like very much to know what

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they're doing now. What can the government do? State government is very limited in the response it can make to these kinds of problems. The Department of Fair Employment and Housing has a statutory mandate to assist communities in helping in getting racial tensions reduced. But that's not

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enough assistance. Moreover, the focus for the resolution of these problems has got to be at the local community level. Uh, local government. Private citizens have got to work together to develop mechanisms, structures for resolving racial tension and racial violence within their own communities. And so the

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state can only give um limited expertise, limited staff and money, resources to do that. What about law enforcement, do you think that the police are responding adequately to increased examples of racial violence, for instance? Well, we've had two sets of hearings, um, and and both hearings.

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The complaint was made that the police weren't responding sufficiently. But bear in mind that the police too, are limited in what they can do to resolve these problems. For example, a crime has to be committed before they can be brought in. Well, the damage has been

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done at that point, moreover, they may or may not be able to discover the perpetrator of the crime. Uh, in addition, if they do discover the perpetrator and do successfully convict the person and that has happened, it hasn't really solved the problem because when you find

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a jewish synagogue smashed, the holy place desecrated a cross burned and property vandalized and you find the person who did it, you haven't prevented that from happening again because the hatred, the animosity, the neighborhood citizen apathy that allow that kind of thing to happen still exists,

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you see. And so although I'm sure there are great, great many more things the police can do. Indeed. One of the things I'd like to have them do is help set up a reporting system that will allow us to monitor statewide these kinds of incidents. Um,

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we can't depend on the police alone. Thank you. It would be some people saying that we have what that is again. Um, question all right. Do you feel that bigotry is on the rise in the country again? Well, it's hard to state in absolute terms that

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it's on the rise, but it's, I have noted that people seem to feel freer to say and do things that they didn't feel free to say and do. Um, 15 or 20 years ago. And it's clear that people are reacting to a perception on their part

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that certain racial ethnic groups are somehow getting breaks and getting favors that they're not getting and no doubt the faltering the problems in our economy have something to do with that. But I suspect what we're seeing is simply a willingness to engage in rationales and activities

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that people didn't feel would be very popular thing to do some time ago. I think that this country has always had a level of racial ethnic animosity and ignorance. And um, what changes primarily is the outward showing. You mentioned this issue that groups like the Klan,

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for instance, perceived blacks as getting the benefits. Now you hear a lot of talk these days not just among the clan of reverse discrimination. Is that an accurate perception or not? Well, the first thing I'd say is that this perception of reverse discrimination, I do not

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recognize such a concept, you understand, but this perception um, exist among people who are totally unrelated to the clan. I mean, I I think that's a perception on the part of a lot of citizens who are, who are not inclined towards otherwise inclined toward clan rationales.

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Um, I um, this concept that, that blacks or other minority groups are somehow getting things that the white population is not getting is not a true or fair perception, although it would be exceedingly difficult to convince some people of that. Um again, if if, you know,

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the just look at the indices of the quality of life for these people, you couldn't possibly say that blacks are somehow taking things away from white people if we're taking things away. I can't imagine what they are. Um, I think that um, the recognition, for example,

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by our judicial system, that it is not enough to eliminate the outward signs of discrimination. It is not enough to tell. For example, a corporation, you shall not discriminate anymore. You do not thereby eliminate the injustices that black or hispanic workers experience when they go into

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the workforce, because the effects of the past discrimination are still operative, you see. And so the attempt by the courts to respond to the effects of past discrimination, resulting in the creation of affirmative action programs, goals quotas call it what you will have created a feeling

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in the part of white workers that they are being unjustly treated because if you hire um people pursuant to a quota system, the people you don't hire a few. I feel outraged. But the fact of the matter is that for most of the existence of this

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country, the white worker has benefited from the existence of discrimination simply by virtue of the fact of not having to compete in the labor force with large numbers of blacks and women and Hispanics and other groups who were not allowed into the labor force. They benefited

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by being able to form unions that only had to deal with the problems of white workers. Um We have unemployment rates um nationwide of 1% and in terms of ethnic and minority groups, the percentages are three and four times as high. And so it's hard for

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me to understand how someone could justly feel that they've been unfairly treated. But I realized of course that we are in a competitive environment and that's how, that's how people feel in a competitive environment. Okay, thank you. I was not going to vote yes. I used

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that argument on him and he decided sometimes you can. Um, I don't think that the concept of affirmative action has been logically worked out enough. I don't, I'm not sure that if we did more people would accept it. But the philosophical and legal rationale for it

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should be explained more clearly. That's why we have um, it's never applied in many areas of our country. But americans like to think of themselves as truly fair people, you know, give the other guy a break. Don't kick a man when he's down. That kind of

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thing is super american thoughts and it's part of the myth. We have all countries have their mythos, you know, and America's got hers and that's one that's part of it on the rifle range and I just always managed not to have to do that. So I

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wouldn't have to fire the gun. So finally one day frank show would have commanded 27 coalition really worked good at that point. And within a matter of weeks the Klan activities has really subsided on your is calling a minority people in human names and talk about

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the need to learn how to shoot and kill in order to preserve their racial purity and then burn a cross on their backyard and call themselves christian and you as a white christian do not in some way stand up and outrage and shame and say this

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is wrong and unchristian then you have become a part of the problem. The Klan and the nazis are particularly a white racist problem and the only way they can be effectively fought in my view is by white folks. Better yet white christian people for these are

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the very people that the Klan sincerely and naively believes are on their side when a town does not have a community identity, when people do not or cannot get out of their homes on weekends and go over and visit and get to know their neighbors and

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learn how to love each other and serve each other and protect each other. Then each family feels isolated. Each citizen feels helpless about not having a mayor or our own police force and so it is very hard to get a consensus of feeling in real linda,

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that's why the clan can thrive. There any scattered community like Rio linda is likewise vulnerable to racial incidents and groups. Series has a mayor, they have their own police force, they have a common community center, they were able to make a shambles out of a clan

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and positive reasons affecting its peace and tranquility as a community experiences. Yes, well anyway, I wanted to talk to them about their personal experiences, what brought them into being so active in the clan and having the kind of philosophy that they have with the people that

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have lived there most of their lives feel that maybe this is about the time we're ready to to um we're going to dedicated barriers exist that fly under the color of conflict of interest, neutrality, isolationism, bureaucracy and anti radicalism stand in the way of life.