Sheets and Hoods and Brits, Oh MY!

Saturday night I went to a play at a local playhouse. I was pleasantly surprised at the performance. It is called "The Foreigner" and it is about a UK citizen who goes to Georgia for a weekend away from his hellish life in London. To escape the gaze of the people at the B&B, his friend concocts a story that the foreigner does not speak english. So the Brit learns all the local gossip because people speak their secrets in front of him not realizing that he really does understand what they are saying. This charade ends up invigorating the Brit and replenishing the humanity of the locals. The play was very funny and quite provocative. The most controversial part of the play was when the local bumbling Klansmen came to kill the foreigner as they tried to purge all non-white non-christian influences from the area (they were attacking a Brit for crying out loud...you can't get anymore anglo-saxon in the modern world). During the climatic scene, several players dressed up as klansmen in hoods and sheets. The story re-presented the klan, I would say quite accurately, like ridiculous baffoons who are as intelligent as a "one-way" sign pointing the wrong way. In fact the storyline forced the audience to find great empathy in the foreigner as he proved to be witty, charismatic, and loveable. But I couldn't help but reflect on the image of men dressed in sheets. Being from the North does not mean that one escapes the Klan. Where I grew up in Michigan, klansmen continue to burn crosses (in their own backyards) and march in downtown areas wearing their sheets and hoods. But, I have to say, I think this was the first time that I actually saw a real live person actually wearing a klansmen outfit. I have seen plenty of images on the news and in archives but this was my first eyewitness account. It was sublime, surreal, and scary. Even though the players portrayed the klansmen in a residue of pathetic stupidity, it was quite a moment for me. It was quite provocative because in this part of the country, where I now live, many people want to make English the official language, they want to send immigrants back to their home countries, and they fully support building a wall on the Mexican border (some would support building a wall on the Canadian border too). I am not sure what to make of my first experience of witnessing someone wearing a klan outfit. Although clearly a farce, it struck me profoundly. I was not uncomfortable, in fact, I thought it was a brilliant act of provocative condemnation. But man, I'll tell you, seeing dudes in hoods and sheets....even as farce, it was much more intimidating than I thought it would be.