I was too small to think anything other than they look like ghost at the time. My mama told me they were bad people. As we walked past them I heard one of them preaching the gospel right out of Matthew. I asked my mama why they were bad. Mama just said they were not teaching it right. I trusted my mama.
When I got older my brothers told me what the Klan was. I didn't know any black people. I wondered what they thought was wrong with them. My brothers told me the Klan was bad people. I trusted my brothers.
Then when I was in elementary school this kid was talking about his dad was in the Klan. The kid was really nice and he did pretty good in kickball and dodge ball. I knew the Klan was bad people. So when it was my turn to be captain I never picked him to be on my team. I always threw at him in dodge ball. He was a bad person because his dad was in the Klan. This went on for a while.
Then I found out his dad didn't live with him. His dad beat his mom and she took her son and ran away.
I asked my mom about why his mama ran away and didn't call the police. She told me the klan is bad people. I told her how I treated the nice boy. Mama said not to do that. I was bad people because I judged someone without knowing them. The next time I was captain I picked him first.
He moved away and went to Brookwood High School after 7th Grade. I ran into some of my old neighborhood friends and asked about whatever happened to him. After graduating from UGA and becoming a lawyer he had died of AIDS some years earlier. It broke my heart. All I could recall was being a bad person.
