The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 221 - Oregon and The Ku Klux Klan

Episode Date: November 21, 2016

Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine the KKK years in the state of Oregon. SOURCES TOUR DATES REDBUBBLE MERCH 

When you're staying at an Airbnb you might be like me wondering could my place be an Airbnb and if it could what could it earn? You could be sitting on an Airbnb and not even know it. That in-law sweet guest house where your parents stay only part-time Airbnb it and make some money the rest of the year whether you could use a little extra money to cover some bills or for something a little more fun. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.ca slash host. Just uh... what? You listen to the dollop. This is a bi-weekly American History

podcast. Each week I read a story uncooperative. Oh that's oh sorry sorry then it. Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the topic is going to be about or what he did wrong and your energy is low. We had an HR meeting. We didn't have an HR meeting. We did we sat down we had an HR meeting. You sat down and you said this is an HR meeting I'm HR we need to talk about some things and I said I'm not talking to you about that. We were having a sexual harassment meeting which we have to have by law legally. It's very hard to be like all wear all the hats you know what I mean. Excuse me? Yeah. No you know. If anyone

essentially rests anyone on this podcast on or off the show it's you to me. I do the research. Okay so what does that mean? You can grab that you can grab anything you want this is a locker room. And then I'm human resources. Well conflict. I'll take human resources and I want to talk to you. You don't get to take it. It's not just a thing you take. Well you're complaining about wearing all the hats. Give me one. Organizational structure is already set up. I'm sorry I'm human resources but. I'm not into I don't want to do this. All right so I'm just gonna go over the sexual harassment. Do not. God do you want to look

here to do? I'll do one bottle. People say this is funny. Not Gary Gara. Stay okay. Someone or something is tickling people. Is it for fun? And this is not gonna come to tickling podcast. Okay. You are queen fakie of made-up town. All hail queen shit of Liesville. A bunch of religious virgins go to mingle. And do my thing. Hi Gary. No. I think done my friend. No. No. You know what? Just shout. 1843. There we are. Oregon. Okay. Settlers. I always should look I always should. Here's a name that I didn't look up. I look up some of them. Some of them I forget. Okay. Settlers in the Willamette Valley, Willamette. Sure.

While I met. There's so many different ways you could do it. Sure. But I would say if I was them, I would say Willamette. Well, you are them right now. Valley. They established a provisional government, right? Okay. The Oregon Territory. That's what we have, right? I mean, basically, right now we have a provisional government. The Oregon Territory had been a slow-burning battle for dominance between the U.S., Britain, Russia, and Spain for years. By the time 1840 came along, it was basically a joint occupancy situation between the U.K. and the U.S. Okay. It's kind of like a reality show. Kind of like the real world. That's right. We take seven countries, throw them in a territory. Who's going to get the most people to live

there to get it permanent? That's when U.S. settlers began to pour in. Missionaries came to spread. Sorry. That's when they began pouring. Pouring in. Pouring in. Sorry. That's when they started pouring. Okay. Interesting. Missionaries came to spread. I've come up with Pornhub. I've invented Pornhub. And then they just, and that's why they went to Oregon. Yeah. That's why nothing got done. It makes sense. They were all just masturbating. Missionaries came to spread the message of the Lord to the, and save the Savage Indians, right? That was their deal. Good. People looking to make their state. They must have just been so like over the, excuse me, we have a new religion for you. They were like, oh my God. I should

get, I should, I should watch my clothes on the rocks. I should tell some of the, yeah, I'll do one. I'll do one on that. There's, there's some fascinating shit about that. Then there's also people looking to just make their stake and have a new life, you know? Sure. And then of course there were the horrible races. Right. Yep. Thank God we got rid of that. In 1844, the Oregon legislative committee passed a provision that stated free black people in the state would be flogged if they didn't leave within two years. Oh my God. Freedom. Yeah. You got two years to hang out in Oregon, black man. Yeah. I don't think a state gets closing time. You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here free blacks. Such a crazy

idea. It's closing time. No settling down. Come on now. You had a good run. So after two years, they would be flogged every six months until they left. Oh, well, I mean, if you get that first flogging, you're like, I'll see you in five and a half months, motherfucker. Five and a half. Yeah. Cause you get out of there. Gotcha. You don't, you don't stick around for your second flogging. Then the provision was rewritten in December 1845 and they got rid of the flogging part. So they're okay. Instead, any free black people who stayed in the state would be, quote, offered up publicly for hire. Wait, so anyway, sorry, sorry, sorry. So their solution to the flogging was to bring slavery back. Well, it's not

slavery as much as it is offering up publicly. So you're having like an auction to for hire. I assume a permanent 24 seven position. Now, when you say that's slavery, are they are they are the freed black people getting paid? Or they're getting, I mean, it's for hire. So they're just getting sold. There's no, I don't, I don't know if there's any discussing of wages. It's slavery. Well, it's, it's, it's, it's a, it's new slavery. It's an auction to hire a gentleman for a good. Yeah, slavery. Okay. Because it's only black people, right? Yeah, slavery. And they can only be hired by a white person. Okay, that is, yep. Absolutely. That's slavery. So 10 years later, when Oregon wrote its constitution, right, so now it's

the state, those provisions would become a moot. Okay, they weren't actually big on any new ideas in Oregon. So the fellows who wrote the constitution just plagiarized it from 172, 172 of the 185 sections of their constitution, they just lifted from other states. So they weren't, they weren't like, new ideas, we don't know. Right. They were, they were just like, they wanted like a C constitution. Yeah, they were cheating. Yeah, they cheated. Yeah, they cheated their constitution. Cool. The body writing in the constitution fell into two camps. Those who wanted to limit state spending and those who wanted to exclude blacks. Those who wanted to limit state spending. And those who wanted to exclude black people

from being in the state. Okay. So they have to compromise. Right. Oh, but they did reject slavery. Well, yeah, but they rejected slavery before and they just reinvented it with a new name. All right. Well, a whopping 75% voted not to make Oregon a slave state. Great. So that's good. That's great. That's higher than our numbers now. Then they immediately voted whether or not to exclude black people and mixed race people from Oregon in 89% voted for that. Wow. So no slaves. No blacks. No blacks. You don't have to work for us, but you can't hang around. Article one, section 35 of the Oregon state constitution, no free Negro or mulatto not residing in the state at the time of the adoption of this constitution

shall come reside or be within this state or hold any real estate or make any contracts or maintain any suit therein. And the legislative assembly shall provide by penal laws for the removal by public offices of all such Negroes and mulattoes and for their effectual exclusion from the state and for the punishment of persons who shall bring them into the state or employ or Harvard them. It's pretty tight as far as what they can't do. Be there. Breathe. Be there. Do anything. No walking if you're black. No breathing if you're black. Smell anything. No sleeping. No smelling. Don't look weird. No talking. No looking. No being black. What else is there? Oh, wait. No being black. Right. Said that. No being part black.

Right. No being part black. Let's use that horrible term again. Yeah. Mulatto. Yeah. It's not racist. No it's not racist. We're not making slaves. We're asking them to get out and go be slaves somewhere else. That's what I'm talking about. That's not racist. As one future state senator explained. Some believers in the doctrine of abstract human rights interpret this vote against admission of free Negroes as an exhibition of prejudices which prevailed against the African. Absolutely not. It was not a slave. No. But I have never regarded it so. You know I never even thought about it like that. I guess they are all black. It was largely an expression against any mingling of the white with any of the other races.

Well that finally I get it. It's not that you don't want them around. You just don't want them around white people. Right. No mingling. No mingling. And upon a theory that as we had yet no considerable representation of the other races in our midst we should do nothing to encourage their introduction. Yep. True. So they didn't have any representatives so don't have them come live there. We already then they're then they're then they're being taxed without representation. Yeah. I mean at this point you know there's none here so none should be here. I think is what we're saying. We were building a new state. It's believed people should encourage only the best elements to come to us and discourage

others. Yep. So that's not racism. No. That's just. That's just. That's just ranking people based on a skin type. That's right. That's different. Not racist. Not racist. So. But I do hate black people. I should point that out. Yeah. Well that's different. Right. It's a different thing. I can do both. Yes. I'm actively racist and I don't believe they should be here. Right. So that's not racist. Thank you. No. We're not. It's not like we have slaves. Oh my God. No. What year is this? I just don't want them looking at my house. Yeah. And I'll be honest. Look if we could have slaves I'd be down. Oh boy. Boy howdy. Well it's just there's so much yard work. When Oregon was granted statehood in 1859 was

the only state in the union admitted with a constitution that forbade black people from living, working or owning property there. That is insane. It was illegal for black people to move to the state. So the only state that was allowed to become a state that did not allow black people to own, live, walk around, fish. Because of this Oregon became a. Like how fish made the list. Yeah. Walk around, live, fish. Because of this Oregon became a refuge for whites fleeing the south after the Civil War. I love that too. Of course we've got to get out of here. This ain't the right climate for us white people. Someone someone said that they actually use this to in advertising for people to come to the

state like Oregon. A beautiful state as white as it is grand. That's right. You won't find one black person here. Not because we're racist. No, no, no, no, no. We don't want slaves. No, no. But because there's no black people here based on our law, there won't be any black people coming in. That's what I'm talking about. Oregon. Come join the white paradise. No Asians either. So then the four, then the 14th Amendment was passed, which gave all people born in the US citizenship and gives them full and equal benefits of the law. It's tricky. So that's, yeah, this is tricky. So that supersedes Oregon's, you know, nonsense. Right. Oregon originally ratified the 14th Amendment. Okay. And then two years later,

took it back. What? We're unamending rescinded it. We had our fingers crossed. The thing about when we were like everybody should be equal and stuff. We thought about it. We didn't realize that meant black people were going to be here. We didn't know. We thought we totally forgot about black. We thought that meant the dogs could sleep inside. We can't have black people here for the love of God. And again, we are not racist. We don't have slaves. Why? How can I be racist? I just don't like looking at having around, you know, and just look so they can't walk here. They can't live and they can't fish. Big deal. I can't be racist if they're not here. Some of my best friends hate black people. Right. And

yep. The good people of Oregon did just pass laws, but also did the work that needed to be done on the streets. For instance, the citizens of LeGrand burned down the town's Chinatown. They burned it to the ground in 1893. Many of the Chinese got on the first train and got the hell out of there, but some stayed and set up a camp close by. Oh, boy. So they're bad asses. Those are bad ass people. Yeah. But that wasn't going to work for Whitey, who went to the camp in a mob and destroyed it. And this time forced them to flee. Right. Good. This was the way of Oregon for many years. The Oregon Supreme Court had decided in 1906 in Taylor v. Cone that black people could be legally segregated from whites in

public places. But for reasons I can't really understand, some minorities chose to live there and stick it out. That's insane. But also, like, there is something to that. Like, if somebody is like, you can't come in here and you can get in there, you're like, fuck you. I, like, I don't think I would do it. I wouldn't. But I wouldn't play baseball if there were no, like, if I was Jackie Robinson, I'd be like, I'm not playing baseball. It's crazy. They're all going to cleat me and be the worst. Okay. But don't you think that's different than going somewhere and living in like Oregon? Like, like baseball, it's a big deal because there were the Negro Leagues that were tons of players. But you were still treated like

shit. I mean, you're still you're still saying to yourself, like, you know what, I'm going to bite the bullet and I'm just going to go out there and just so you're so you're saying that someone's biting the bullet for Oregon. I bet you in a way they're like, we're staying here because fuck you. Yeah, probably. The Golden West Hotel opened in Portland in 1906. It was a hotel owned by black people exclusively. That's where we're staying when we go there. Right? Yeah. Yeah. It was exclusively for black clientele. It was also the only hotel in town that would rent to black people. It's where all black entertainment and dining also took place. My guess is way better vibe, way better vibe. Naturally, Portland authority

spent all their efforts trying to close it down, trumping up charges of prostitution gambling and and not for not having the right licenses. You don't have a whore license. What that there's no whore. There's no. Exactly. We don't have that. We don't have prostitution here. Well, you need a license if you're going to have it. No, but we don't. We don't. It's not a thing. Registration, please. I'm sorry. Registration for the whores. What? The whores. There are no whores. You've hidden them well. Let me see the registration. Okay. We got a horse sniffing dog. Bring in the horse sniffing dogs. What? Come on. That's a guy on his knees. Hey, he's a he's German and he used to deal with sheep. He's a German shepherd. Now let

him do his thing. He's barking outside that door. What do you got in their whores? Come on. Are there whores behind those doors? Kitchen. There's whore food. Okay. Hmm. In the 1900s, a new force emerged in the south. Always good to hear the Ku Klux Klan. I got to go was reborn on Thanksgiving night in Stone Mountain, Georgia in 1915. 16 men drove from nearby Atlanta to Stone Mountain to swear allegiance to the new KKK. What are they Highlanders? Quote, the small group soon found itself gathered under a burning cross and before a hastily constructed rock altar upon which lay an American flag, an open but an open Bible, an unsheathed sword. They are Highlanders and the canteen of water. Weird ending. Because when we get

thirsty from the sword, it's a long walk up there. I need that open. I'm tired. Okay. Taking a break. This is the song part of the podcast. Okay, that happened. Sorry. I'm sniffling. I'm coming. I'm getting over. You got a little cold. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I want no part of any more of this conversation. That's I think I was just me being a doctor. Oh, so you're a doctor too. You run HR. You're a doctor. Yeah. I'm the I'm the I'm also the nurse. Yeah. And perhaps out of your mind. So Colonel Simmons wanted Sanders so bad. He was actually not actually a Colonel, but a former member of the military who had never risen above the rank of private, but now wanted himself to be called Colonel. He's out. So

you can just that's sort of just like, you can just say whatever. Yeah, that's my new first name Colonel. If you're going to join the clan, you may as well take a rank. Oh big. There's a sword. He he described it this way. And thus on the mountaintop that night at the midnight hour, while men the worst while men brave the surging blasts of win wintery winds, wild wintery winds and in dirty temperature, far below freezing, bathed in the sacred glow of the fiery cross. The invisible empire was called from its slumber of half a century. So what it's Jason from Friday the 13th. It's it's pretty it has risen. There's very there's a very Lord of the Ringsish fields of the clan. How great would it have been

if they all died of hypothermia up there? Oh, oh, it would have been just never. It would have been fucking beautiful. So that not happen. Why can't it happen now? Good. That's why they bring the sheets. They get cold. Yeah. So for the next five years, Colonel Simmons would lead a rather disorganized, completely southern Ku Klux Klan. He worked for a time where they put the robes. Oh, man. Shit. Where's the wood? Just wait. I lost the few. Just just wait. Proceed, doctor. He worked for time as a minister and salesman for the fraternal orders. He preached like a an old time revivalist and was a hypocrite like one too. He spent his time at horse races, boxing matches and drinking. Also, instead of spreading the message

of the secret order, Simmons copyrighted the secret clan instruction manual, which is known as the chlorine. Oh, my God. Thank God, chlorine was around. Idiots. I drank all the chlorine and I still don't know nothing. My God, Hank, no. So, so it's supposed to be this secret, secret organization, right? Right. But if you copyright something, that means you have to you have to put a copy in the Library of Congress. It's so sort of revealing. A little bit. Right. So anybody who wanted to know what they're doing could have just got a look at this fucking manual. Idiots. Because that because he copyrighted it. The reason he copyrighted it because he wanted to make a little scratch. Ah, good. Good, good, good. Yeah. For each

copy, he got a little dough. After some time with the fraternal order of men in bedsheets floundering. He, as all people who believe in white power do, hired PR firm. Oh, my God. The Southern publicity association. Shut up. The Southern publicity association. We're very excited to have you as clients. Let me say that first and foremost. You are wonderful. I can't believe you guys weren't already with someone. I mean, we had we had the black people shooters here for a while. We had all Jews are bad. Yeah, they were a fun. Oh, man. They were a fun. They really were. We love what you guys are doing. This is just exciting. We have been big fans. Yeah. And hey, if this does end up working out, I think we want a

couple sheet robes. You bet we do. Yeah, we do. Yeah. The Southern publicity association had previously pulled off a successful campaign for the anti saloon league. Okay. Who would want to be in the anti saloon? Yeah, that sounds like a much worse. Yeah, legal. Yeah. The PR firm reorganized the clan's finances and methods of finding members. They started giving out large loans and hiring hundreds of recruiters hiring. The clan essentially was organized into an amway for racist. That is crazy. The recruiters were called Klegels. This has to stop. It's not Wonka's chocolate factory. Yeah, Klegel. Klegely speaking, they would collect a $10 membership fee from a new member. Hey, man, you know what I just

found out? Vagina muscles is called Klegels. What's that? Oh, shit. Oh, damn, we've done it. Oh, boy. I'm already a Klegel. Yeah. Look, look, look, I'm typing myself. I'm typing myself. I'm typing myself. I'm typing myself. You're not a Klegel. I'm working. Actually, not a look. It's working. No, it's not. It's Klegel. Now that I look, we're fine. I'm working to tighten yourself up. I'm working to tighten myself. Oh my god. You can do it at work. No, no, no. That was then I'm a pair of Klegel. The $10 membership fee was divided between five people. Four dollars went to the Klegel. One dollar went to the state level recruiter who was known as the King Klegel. 50 cents went to the state leader known as the Grand

Goblin. The dumbest. Two dollars and 50 cents went to the head of the PR firm who was now known as the Imperial Klegel. Oh my god. And 75 cents went to King Gremlin. And with that, we'll fight the eye of Mordor. And two dollars went to the Imperial Wizard, who was not really a wizard. It's actually just Colonel Simmons. Come to me. Starting in June 1922, October 1921, the Klan grew from a few thousand members to 100,000 across the country. Awful. The Ku Klux Klan came to Oregon in the 1920s, the same way it spread to most of the country as a racist amway led by Klegels, the shitty shoe salesman of skin color and stupidity. Oregon in the 1920s was not a hugely diverse place, as you can imagine. Now, Dave, what

was that based around? I don't know how that happened. Previous policies? No, I don't know. You know, I just don't think black people like Oregon. It's because of Portlandia. 90% of the population. But think about how white of a show Portlandia is. That's what I mean. It's the whitest of the whitest shows. Yeah, right? Yeah. 90% of the population was Protestant. I mean, in a way, like that's true, though, like Oregon is still like of I'm not even like trying to sound like Dick, but Oregon is still a pretty white place, right? Yeah. Yeah. So the why? Yeah, we're getting to it right before we go there. So 90% of the population was Protestant. 85% were white and native born in the town of Lagrange, where they had

burned down Chinatown years before there was now a population of 7000 people, which 46 were Chinese and only 15 black people. Oh my God. That is crazy. Insane. That that to your point earlier. Why? Right? Well, I why are you wave the white part in the pump, but wave the white flag. Why are you in Lagrange? I mean, yeah. I mean, God, God bless him because those guys have fucking balls. Yeah. So in the summer of 1921, the Klan sent Louisiana salesman and Klegel Luther Powell to Oregon. To him, he was looking at a vast open territory of easy white marks for the picking at $4 a pop. Powell and a couple of other Klegels in Oregon saw the Protestant layout and preached that the only way to deal with the Catholic

menace and the moral degradation that came with it was to join the Klan. Real quick. So the Protestants, they don't like the Protestants. No, the Klan is Protestant. The Klan is Protestant and they don't like the Catholic. They hate the Catholic. Okay. And naturally Asians and even fewer blacks in Oregon were part of the threat to the state. The Klan put emphasis on Americanizing the aliens and stopping Asian immigration. You did. You have 46 Asian people. You've stopped it. That's just in that one town. Oh, well, overall, overall, there's not that many. No. So that meant putting Protestant Protestantism first and America second. It didn't take long. The Oregon Klan grew very quickly with 14,000 members by the spring

of 1922. Of those 9,000 were in the Portland Klan. The PKK. Yeah. The PKK. Big City Klan. Now the Klan that rose after the Civil War was a much more heinous and deadly Klan. This new one, because it had an emphasis on making money as a pyramid scheme, was trying to skate the line by not killing as much and more just terrorizing. In Oregon, this led to a practice known as necktie hanging. I think I should leave the room. They would grab someone off the street, put a rope around his neck, lift him just just off his feet an inch or so. So his feet could kind of still scrape the ground with his toes just barely at the ground and then they would and then they would put him down and set him free. So it was just

like a purely like we can hang anyone. Well, not anyone, but the people they wanted to threaten. So black people are Catholics, black people, Catholics, Asians, Asians, people who love to throw red shirts and white washes. People who are nice to blacks and Asians and Catholics. Hey, I've got a great solution to this. People who people who put colors in with whites. Did you say that? Yeah, that's what I said. Oh, thanks for listening and stealing prick. But that so it's to scare but not to harm because they because they're a pyramid scheme. So they don't they don't want to fuck up their money flow by really killing someone and then having everything get fucked up. I just it. They also set up

a shitload of crosses on fire up on hilltops above people. That's as far as we know, no one was murdered as far as as far as I could find it. There was no murder would bring the heat which however that doesn't mean there was no right. But it would also bring the heat now it kind of a profit. So they were if the community became scared of the Klan the Klegels would have a harder time making sales. So no murders. So they straddle the line of being feared but not doing terrible physical harm. Okay. So each Klegel got a standard recruiting kit. He was given contracts for the new initiations to sign and the IOP okay, the I pillowcase sheet situation, right? Oh, right. Yeah. And a prospect list. Okay.

Like in Glen Gary can rock like the names get the leads. I gotta get the lead. You got these leads are terrible. They have with these leads of Chinese guys. Oh my god. These leads are awful. I need white leads. I got some great leads over here. Come on. You got to give me the I'm not giving you any of my leads. Give me the new leads. No, go find the Asian people. Close these. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. You send me to four black guys houses. Good luck. Good leads. I need no leads. No. Jesus. Always be Caucasian. ABC. So what they would do is they would they would go first to a town and make contact with the Protestant pastors who they get on their side and then and then they'd go to the cops, right? And

then local politicians. And then from there they had the town sort of quartered. Once in a new town, a Klegel would hip hit up all these people that invite them to a secret meeting in a hotel ballroom. Okay. The meeting was pitched as a super duper secret meeting and you can only find all about the clan at that meeting nowhere else because it's super duper secret timeshare. It's double super secret timeshare. This is what they do in Amway. This is a timeshare when I was when I was doing stand up very early on. I worked as a bank teller part time. Amazing already. And a guy and a guy would always deposit money and he goes, he goes, you want, he goes, you want, he goes, you know, I work internationally.

I make money from all over the world. Just just I do it from my house. I go, he goes, if you're interested, you seem like a really smart guy. I was like, yeah. And then he got two other backtells. So he reels three of us in right and then and I'm kind of leery. And then we, he goes, Hey, so, so we'll do it. I'll have you over a Wednesday at six after after work. And he, and he pulls up and he's like, you guys, everyone just jumping my car. And I was like, no, no. And he goes, come on, everyone in my car. And I was like, ah, no, I'm not, I'm not going to do that. And the other two guys got in and I was like, I was like, you know what, I'll follow you. So we drive up and and we get out of the car.

They get out of their car. I get in my and we walk in. I just see a big Amway poster and I just turn on, start walking away. And he's like, where are you going? I'm like, you could have just told me it was Amway. You wasted my time. You should have just driven with me. He's like, yeah, but I could sell you soap. Come on. I have pizza. Join my pyramid scheme. The plan is a pyramid scheme. That's amazing. So once, once everyone's at the meeting, the recruiter would do his masterful pitch and then the money would start rolling in. It's literally exactly like Amway as the clan grew, Klegels would rise up and send out sub-Klegels to other towns and the cash would roll in the more, the more recruits

you got, the more Klegels you made, pretty soon you don't even have to recruit, you're just staying there bringing in cash. Yeah. Work from home. Yeah. The upside of the pyramids came. The clan held meetings, participated in parades and held huge initiation ceremonies. One at the Oregon State Fairgrounds in Salem was attended by 1500 hooded clansmen. They burnt an enormous cross, you know, like you do. Yeah. The usual stuff. Who needs a Ferris Wheel? By June, Powell, the King Klegel, now King Klegel. Cool. Had several Klegels serving under him, recruiting members. You know, he gets a piece of each one. This is Scientology. But Powell's not satisfied with just a small fraction of the citizen of Oregon. He wanted

a big piece of the pie. Okay. So he moved to the, I feel like this was out of focus. He moved to a Multanama Hotel in Portland in June and started building his little racist Oregon Empire leaders. Cool. There he found Fred Gifford, who had once been an electric union member, but had been kicked out of the union for scabbing. For what? Scabbing. For scabbing? Yeah. Okay. I mean, amazing. So the one rule we have is that you don't work. Probably not. Never. Outside the union. Never. Would never. Okay. Can we wrap this up? I got to get to the other work. What? What other work? Yeah. What's up? Let's stay here as long as possible. Okay. I have to go. Why? My bowels are bad. What? I got to leave. My

wife's having a baby. I have to go and I don't have another job. The union is strong. I have to get moving. I have to go. I'm buying a bunch of pineapples. I'm making a dish. I don't want to talk about it, but if you don't think I have pineapples, I have tons of them. I have to get moving. I would never take another job. The union is strong, but I have to go. I'm starting this new thing where I jog every 10 minutes. I have to go now. Cause if I don't, I'm not, I have to jog for, I have to go jogging for 10 minutes. So I'm going and I'm going and if anybody says anything about how I'm working at other angles, that's bullshit. I just have to get a pineapple cause my wife's pregnant and I jog every 10 minutes and anyone

who thinks that's crazy is crazy themselves. This door's locked. Which one's open? So Fred Gifford was appointed the exalted Cyclops. This is unbelievable. Could you just make it like, could you make it crazier? It's like cosplay. This is cosplay. This is cosplay. This is cosplay. It's like cosplay for races, morons. Wait, wait. Do we have a title for the guy who's above Larry? Cause I thought, I thought of one. I thought of one. Cyclops. That's good. Cyclops. That's good. I have a couple of pitches. Exalted Cyclops. I have a couple pitches. I'm exalted. I love it. I have a couple pitches. Okay. Prince of the Hurricanes. Okay. Just, let me get through this. Let me get through this. Let me get

through this. Let me get through this. Doctor Magic Fish. Okay. So picture a magical fish with this guy as a doctor. That's a good one. I like that one. Here's another one. You're going to like this one. Commandant Mysterious. I think that works. And again, I love Cyclops. I like that a lot. I'm just pitching to have these. I like those. I like those. Okay, great. For two months, Powell and Giverd schemed and made moves behind the scenes preparing for their big coming out party in Portland. Oh man. I wish it was an actual coming out party. They reached. Hi. Amazing news. They reached out to the city's leaders in the idiotic style that matched their stupid leader names. They called the mayor, the police chief,

the district attorney, and the US attorney, reporters in the town and others. Excuse me, US attorney, I have the magical dragon master online one for you. Would you like to come try our magical elixir? We'll drive you. Okay. So that you're you're right. They had them all come to the hotel to room seven three seventy six from which they were quickly ushered out into cars and swiftly driven to a secret throne throne room. Oh, wow. So wow. A throne room. So I think they, you know, they, they whisk these guys out. The guys are like, man, this is exciting. We're going to a special, special place. Oh, cool. And then they take them to another place where there's there's Powell and Giverd, the King

Klegel and the Exalted Cyclops. Sure. Of course. And they're both sitting in giant chairs. And there they are in their sheet costumes, right? Hello. Hi. I love the idea that they had to wait extra long too. As long you think they'll be the best. These don't breathe. And then there the city leaders were told that the Klamas not hate group from a guy in a sheet who had a pointed hat on quote, ours is not an anti organization of any kind. We are not anti Japanese nor anti Jew nor anti black nor anti Catholic nor anti anything else. It is simply that the United States has not any American secret fraternal organization and we are going to supply that need. Excuse me. The fact we need a secret club question

in the back. Yes. Go. Yes. You love everything. Need a secret. Yeah. Love the sheets. Love the names. Love the popcorn. Thank you. Why do we need a secret organization if one has never existed because you guys don't intend anything bad. You can be a wild ogre. I have no more questions. I am so excited. I just am very excited for that. Thank you. So so they're gonna spy the need. The fact that we live at membership does not mean anything against the people we bar. They have their own organizations membership in which is barred us. So they're like well black people have their clubs. You know that club they have where they're what club off that the thing where they all work for other other people

for shit money. Well I just noticed a lot of time black people stick together and I don't understand why they got to be racist against us. Yeah that's their like they was just coming to us and was like hey what's up. You know I mean I kill him. Obviously get out of here because I do not like black. I hear that. But that's why we need this because other races for some reason have galvanized. You know and they're they're anti us for some reason and we need a group to stop them. That's right. By any means necessary one that we created way way before their group started. That's right. Thank you. Oh go out. The King Klegel would then explain that the Klan was a friend of law and order and that with with all the

crime and moral depravity in Portland the people were afraid to let their wives and daughters go out in the streets. Because they're racist. And the solution was quote a purification process. One reporter to King Klegel said there are some cases of course in which we will have to take everything into our hands. Right. So they brought reporters. So the reporters then reported on what some crimes are not punishable under existing laws but the criminals should be punished. Go ahead. Some crimes are not punishable under existing law under existing law. And then there's a but but the criminals should be punished. But they're not criminals. Well under existing laws. But we all know what the laws were talking about.

The B sides. The B side laws. Like don't fuck my wife. Yeah. Like don't do that. Don't look at me. Don't be here. Don't be alone. Don't fish. Don't be around. Don't look at me. Don't be here. Don't do anything. Don't come here. Don't be near my wife. Don't look at me. Don't eat our food. Don't be near us. These are the laws that are insinuated. OK. Don't breathe. Don't come here. Don't look them. Don't have eyes. Don't have eyes. Don't have hands. Don't use walking these don't come here and don't fish. Don't be walking Get around with hands. Be what, you idiot black man?

Okay, so Oregon had been left devastated after World War I as jobs that had been built up to support the war effort were now gone. Okay, Dave, you're just killing me. Around 50,000 people that left the state and those that remained were living in a rising state of lawlessness. So this punished the people who couldn't be punished

things sounded pretty good to a lot of people. Right, because why? Money? Because shit was falling apart. And then people, for some reason, when shit's falling apart, people start blaming other races and, mm-hmm. Shocking, first of all.

But is this, is the idea is based on, instead of there being like, like, because now, for instance, we incarcerate minorities in order to make money off them. So are they making, is this money or is this just reactionary? Just reactionary. Control, I mean, look, the clan is making money

because every recruit they get, they make money. But it's more controlled, it's more control-based over like any actual thinking. Yeah, to get the people to join in the membership, they're like, we can clean up, we can clean up, because you know, there's fucking people are devastated from the economic situation. You know, now that you're kind of stretching it out

a little for me, I do understand. And I, gosh, it just. It's good, right? It rings true. It, thank you. So the day after the meeting in a local paper appeared the story of the meeting and a photograph of the clan in their sheet costumes

along with the mayor, the police chief, the district attorney and other city notables. So there's a picture of two. Extra, extra, black people run. Right, the King Klegel and the Exalted Cyclops. And then all the people. And then all the other guys in their suits just hanging out.

Smile. It's almost like Batman and Robin if they were racist in sheets. Exactly. Right. So overnight, the clan had been normalized and affiliated with strength in town leaders. The first public appearance of the clan in Portland

was on December. The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Here we go. And it was a huge blowout. Six thousand people packed the auditorium to hear the lecture, the truth about the Ku Klux Klan. Like many authoritarian movements, the clan. Why not just call that an evening

with the true Ku Klux Klan? Oh, it would have been so better. That's why I won't work with them. I won't do punches for the KKK, I always said that. Like many authoritarian movements, the clans taking over of Portland was swift. Within months, tens of thousands of Oregonians had coughed up the 10 bucks to get a sheet

and matching hood and even more now saw the clan as a good thing for the state. Gifford, an adult who was named the Exalted Cyclops, oversaw non-political clan activities. Did his hood had just one eye hole? A God, oh my God, how can that not be a thing? It did better. I mean, how can that not be a thing?

It has to be. He created a 100% directory, so clan members knew which businesses to support. He organized a boycott of the Mir and Frank Jewish department store. Well, do you need that in a pamphlet, you idiots? Wait a minute, that place, they're Jews? Well, I feel very betrayed.

I have them over for dinner. What? What? You think you know a fella? Holy what? Boy, I'm gonna give that soul a piece of my mind. Thank you. He also had the clan doing charity work,

like giving out food to the needy. No black needy, sorry. The clan community kit was created. The K, K. Community with the K. K? No. They spelled community with the K.

They've, they've, they're five year olds. Was the K like kind of cute and backwards and like red crayon? K. Community. And then they would also put on their sheets and pony hats and go make donations to local churches. Thank you so much.

Sure. Just so you know, this is Clark under here. So if you could tell God. God damn it. What? Clark, you're not supposed to say who we are. That's why we got, we got the hoods on. No, you said your name is Clark.

Well, maybe I'm not Clark. They, you just, but you. Maybe I'm doing that as a cover cause I'm not. Why even say your name then? Cause I'm Clark. Jesus Christ. Why even have a hood? Why, why have the hood?

Why have it on? Just saying. Who are you under there? Is that Jeff? God damn it. Can you tell me or no? Come on, no one's watching. Clark, shut the fuck up.

How'd you know it was Clark? Okay. You're the worst Klansman I've ever been with. Well, I thought it was a lovely night. I didn't know you were gonna cheapen it like that. The Klan dance. I let you in my back sheet hole. The Klan dance, the line of terrorism.

Staying edgy, but not freaking out the good white people of the state. Crosses were lit on fire on spots above Catholic, Jewish and black neighborhoods. The Klan began barging into Catholic churches during services in their white sheet. Give me some of that blood of Christ. Oh, hey, we like Jesus in a different way.

Yeah. Fuck you. Fuck you, dummy. Certainly. We do communion with the K. The police forces were doing absolutely nothing as the telegram newspaper reported, quote, the Portland police department was full to the brink

with Klansman and the exalted Cyclops pushed the Klan's political ambitions. The state and governor didn't take the Klan seriously until May 1922, when the Klan kidnapped six Medford residents, drove them out of town and did their patented necktie hangings. One was a black guy, one was an Hispanic Indian and won a white piano merchant.

I think there's been a mix up. I sell pianos. Yeah, and we told you, get rid of those black keys or you're gonna get tie hung. No, okay, they're just key. Yeah, and get them off there. They're impurified, the white ivory that's on there. I know, but without them, the sound is not.

With them, the sound ain't right. The sound will rise again. Okay, okay. Grandma is tough at 37. I hear you. So all these men were accused of a moral offensive. So after that happened, the Republican governor put out an anti-Klan statement to shine a light

on the group. Crazy statement. This put a political focus on the Klan who had been working the political machine, mostly in hiding, but it totally backfired. Now they were out in the open. The exalted cyclops just pushed his agenda openly. Local Klan groups quickly took over school boards,

city councils, and county commissions. They wanted school boards because they wanted to pass a law making every kid go to public schools. They wanted every kid to go to public schools. Why? Yeah, exactly. Because Catholic schools, Catholics had private schools and they wanted to get rid of all the Catholic private schools.

The Republican primary election in 1922 was a shit show if you weren't a Klan member. It was a total Klan wipeout. But somehow the governor managed to win. It didn't matter. The Klan just ran a guy against him as a Democrat in the general election and won. Jesus.

The Klan ran a campaign of cleaning up the state and spoke often against the corruption of politicians and the bad elements of society. Don't look at me. President Harding's Teapot Dome oil scandal had just been exposed so the anti-corruption message really hit home with people in Oregon. Sorry, I'm not familiar with the...

Teapot Dome scandal? Yeah. It was one of the biggest scandals in White House administration history. It was just fucking given out. It was just straight up fucking corruption, like given out. They were just handing out... It was just like taking fucking money

and giving out land to different guys and oil dudes. We can do that one-on-one time. Sure, there's no way I'll remember it in two weeks. So that had just happened. So there was a huge anti-corruption movement happening and the Klan... And the Klan capitalizes on that. Yeah, it's weird when someone combines racism

and anti-corruption to... I mean... The general election was also a Klan blowout. The Klan now ran the state of Oregon and Gifford was made the grand dragon or goblin. I think that grand dragon's running. I think he's the grand goblin. Outlook magazine, quote,

there is something new under the sun. Oregon, politically the most conservative and temperamentally the least romantic state west of the Rocky Mountains is now under the control of the Ku Klux Klan. Wow. Most papers got into line quickly. The morning Oregonian mostly avoided criticizing the Klan,

rarely writing a word against them. This became common, this became common for most papers. The non-political activities like donating to churches, lectures and initiation ceremonies were often covered glowingly by many papers. It helped to build a positive image of the Klan as a community organization. But at the same time, the morning Oregonian

would publish articles about violence being committed by the Klan in other areas of the country. Essentially, it was like they were painting the local Klan as different and better than Klan's around the country. And when a politician would speak out against the Klan, the paper would allow the Klan to write a counterpoint as if both sides were equal. Does that sound like any media you know?

Yeah. Ha ha ha. Yeah. It hasn't changed. No, and I mean, we'll talk about it at the end. So now the Klan's on top of the world, feeling like they were the shit. And they went to work creating a state in the Klan world view.

A state in the Klan world view? Yeah, they're not going to turn Oregon into the state. Oh, they're turning Oregon into KKK state. Yeah. The people of Oregon thought they had voted in anti-corruption government. The Klan thought they were there to purge corruption, Catholics and people of color.

And the Klan got right at it. They passed an ordinance against religious outfits in public schools. And they can wear sheets? Which meant nuns could no longer wear their habits. And they can wear sheets, yeah. And they can wear sheets. But nuns can't wear their.

What can nuns wear? I don't know, they had to wear bikinis. Yeah, just regularly. Nun-kinis. Nun stuff. And they got to run everywhere. When? Huh?

I don't know. Come on. You're not making sense. Look, you see that thing poking out from the bottom of my sheet? Yeah. Hey! What? Then they passed a law forcing all Oregon school children

to go to public schools, like we said, as most private schools were Catholic. Then they went to work on Japanese-Americans. Japanese-Americans owned about 0.008% of land in Oregon. Well, it's time to get rid of that. They were a whopping 0.006% of the population. And still. One Klan member took that information

and told people that the Japanese would be 50% of the population by 1950. Hey, just cuz. Just cuz. Klan math. So they passed the alien land bill, which banned Japanese-Americans from owning land. Only one member of the legislature voted against it, one.

Next, they passed a bill saying foreigners couldn't own hotels or boarding houses. They assumed that would make it harder for them to find a place to stay, so they just leave. But it works. Yeah. And then they passed a law forcing anyone who wanted to vote to take a literacy test.

Oh, right, OK. Right, which is always the best. Yeah. What do you mean you haven't learned nothing? You've provided me with zero help. Well, I can't vote if you don't know nothing. You should have done something about that, I guess. You should have figured out how to read.

There's books on it. You could. I learned how to read. I mean, I had a teacher, but I did it on my own in a school. And I can't read, but I'm white. So cool. Hey, howdy. Hey, yeah.

It started to dawn on people, the people of Oregon. How did you spell KKK? Yeah, it started to dawn on the people of Oregon that maybe the Klan wasn't as focused on political corruption as it was on other stuff. Then the Klan fucked themselves in 1924 when their candidates for the Multanama County Board were caught grafting on a construction job.

The total amount that they were taking was a half a million, which would be about $7 million today. Oh, man. It was a completely shameless scam job. By the way, it wouldn't bother us today. No. So the Klan's run was over and swiftly. Within months, the board was out on its ass.

A year later, the ex-editor to the Klan newspaper published an article blowing open how corrupt and bullshit the Klan was. And that was it for the Klan. The next election, just a couple of months after the article, the Klan was totally blown out. Those who did survive the election disavowed the Klan. So all these Klan guys lost.

And the guys who were in the Klan but did lose their elections would be like, I don't like the Klan. Nope. Thank God they're gone. So the law to force kids to go to public school was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. There also weren't enough minorities to keep the hate alive.

It was basically just a total, as we said, a huge white state. And the perceived threat of minorities just couldn't hold up because there were just hardly any there. People stopped paying their dues. And the Klan fell into a financial crisis. By 1926, the Klan in Oregon barely existed.

But this was still white land, so discrimination didn't end with the Klan. White restaurants still refused to serve black people in Portland. Black people weren't allowed in the city swimming pools. And the local skating rink had a separate day for black people. Oh, God. Black skate.

That's crazy. This continued until the early 1960s. Oh, fuck. One man recalled, quote, I do remember the signs downtown. They said, we don't serve Negroes, Jews, or dogs. But these restriction problems cause. All right, we'll feed a dog. But these restrictions cause problems

when soldiers came to town during the World Wars. Often, soldiers were far more tolerant than the overt racism that they found in Portland. During World War I, black soldiers from California saw a sign in a Portland restaurant that read, quote, we employ white help and cater to white trade only. The soldiers ran into the restaurant and destroyed the sign.

During World War II, black people who came looking for work from outside the state were shocked to discover the Jim Crowish rules of Portland. Quote, Portland was called the most segregated city north of the Mason-Dixon line. And so the question became, where would these newly arrived black workers go? Suddenly, I have tens of thousands of black folks pouring

in into Portland when there was only one tiny neighborhood called Albina that was already over full with about 2,500 black folks. So a huge housing development was built outside of Portland. Halfway between the city and Vancouver, Washington, it was named VanPort. Get it? VanCouver Portland, right in the middle, VanPort.

Still not. It's clever. Still not. It's halfway. So halfway between Vancouver, Washington, it's a van. And then Portland is Portland. So VanPort, because it's right halfway in between. Now, who is VanPort?

OK. So these workers would commute to Portland to work. At its peak, 100,000 people lived in VanPort. 40% of them black. It was also hastily built and shittily built. In 1948, floods hit VanPort. The flood started slowly, and people had plenty of time to leave.

But Portland authorities insisted there would be no problems. The Portland Housing Authority told everyone in VanPort that the dykes were safe and they would be warned if there was a problem with plenty of time to escape. Then the dykes collapsed. 15 people died. The poorly constructed houses were just

washed off the foundations. 18,000 people now were homeless. Today, if you drive through the Northwest, you can see Confederate flags still flying proudly. 13% of Americans are black. In Oregon, the black population is 2%. Wow. Oregon finally ratified the 14th Amendment in 1973.

Wow. Wow. That's crazy. That's craisist. That's crazy. So craisist. God damn, man. That really, like, yeah, I guess when you, like, it's not,

it's just, I think white people, I mean, and this has been obviously reported, white people, very alarmed, non-racist white people, very alarmed by the swastikas, by the fact that, you know, like Mexican kids in school are being told that their parents are going to go, that just in general, like, you know, racism is more overt than it's been in recent memory.

In ages, in ages. But when you think about it, if in 1973, that is when this, quote unquote, changed, and that's really just the passage of law. I mean, how long does it take to change someone's total perception? But you know, kids of these people are obviously, you know, you're just, you can't, yeah.

I mean, what we need to do is we do need a cleansing of racists. Yeah, we can. If we could finally just have a genocide. Yeah. Against racists. Yeah, well, they're very emboldened. Like, can you be bigoted towards bigots? Yeah, you can double bigot.

I want to double bigot. We'll double bigot it. I want to double bigot it. Make it happen. That's crazy, man. That is just crazy. It's good times. And I know you didn't intend this,

but it is reminiscent of what's happening today. What? Yeah, there are, listen, do me a favor. When you put this up, listen back. Huh. Listen back. Because I think there are a couple, and I'm not saying a lot, but a couple of parallels.

Really? I think that they are their app comparisons for today. I really do. That's interesting. Yeah, listen back, listen back. You read it. I listened. Now you listen back.

So you're like, so you're saying that maybe people are trying to make money off racism right now? What I'm saying to you is listen back. OK. Because you'll hear a lot of the stuff that you were saying and that is very similar to the transition of our new president of, oh god, I almost said President-elect Trump.

I almost said President-elect Trump. I just threw up all over the microphone. I am so sorry. We sign cars. Oh, I don't feel good. And sheets.