Aryan Outfitters
Meet the KKK's seamstress of hate couture.
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Coming from five generations of Ku Klux Klan members, 58-year-old "Ms. Ruth" sews hoods and robes for Klan members seven days a week, blessing each one when it's done. A red satin outfit for an Exalted Cyclops, the head of a local chapter, costs about $140. She uses the earnings to help care for her 40-year-old quadriplegic daughter, "Lilbit," who was injured in a car accident 10 years ago.
The following is a photo essay about Ms. Ruth by New York photojournalist Anthony Karen, a former Marine who has spent several years photographing members of the Ku Klux Klan. The essay includes audio of interviews with Karen and Ms. Ruth.
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Comments
Title "Aryan outfitters"
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu Jun. 18, 2009 3:23 PM PDT.
Your use of the word Aryan to describe these hate mongers is offensive to the people of the Indian subcontinent. It is bad enough Hitler stole our swastika and cultural heritage but you should not be aiding and abetting in the biggest massive cultural theft in human history. Please pick up an Anthropology text book and read up on Aryan, Sanskrit and swastika and educate yourselves.
Poor Uneducated Whites, Give'em a Break
Submitted by Anon (not verified) on Sat Jul. 11, 2009 3:56 PM PDT.
welcome to america!
the land of stolen land, rape of culture, institutionalized racism, war on minorities and empoverished.
this is how caucasians have survived for centuries and can only continue to survive this way. let this poor woman have her small little world. if she's around for the day of reckoning she'll instantly realize how she's wasted her life with her fragile hand-me-down beliefs borne from the ultimate form of self-loathing and insecurity.
this attitude, this is how we minorities survive when we have to face our own countrymen and allow them to live and express their personal civil rights no matter how fantastic or bizarre. i don't dare credit the KKK as hatemongers or even offensive, but they are certainly lost their way in this great world we all ahem, share. a myopic to live some unrealistic caucasian eden fantasy? good luck with that.
Apparently some people live
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu Oct. 29, 2009 10:10 AM PDT.
Apparently some people live in a different America than I do. War on the empoverished? How about a war on spelling? It seems to me there is a war on success. "We'll just have the rich pay for it." "Well, we're going to raise taxes on the wealthy." "Only those making more than $250,000 wee see a raise in their taxes." We all know this is bull. They raise all of our taxes to pay for crap for the "empoverished" as you call them. War for the impoverished against the successful and even mildly successful. I see a lot more racism coming from Blacks towards Whites in America than the other way around. At least in my neck of the woods. I'm not about to say I agree with the Klan. To hell with the Klan.
"Hatred is a weakness. You become the victim." -Rise Inside, Killswitch Engage
It seems applicable so I put it in there.
This war on the impoverished crap needs to stop. If there were a war on the impoverished we would tax the crap out of the poor and once you reached a certain tax bracket you wouldn't owe taxes anymore. Actually, that sounds like a good plan. Give some people some motivation to get their asses out there and be productive! Get off the couch and do something. No wonder we aren't getting anywhere here in America. We have it backwards. The banks have it right. If you have no money, you owe us some money. Next thing you know you somehow get money into your account so you aren't overdrafting anymore. If you have money, well, obviously you know what to do with your money, so we owe you some money so you can go out and earn more money to put back into our bank so we can make money, too. Once again the private sector is FAR more efficient and economical than government.
The Lazy Myth
Submitted by Insomniac (not verified) on Mon Dec. 14, 2009 3:27 AM PST.
"Get off the couch and do something."
Once someone has a good chunk of money, it becomes vastly easier to make more money. This money is passed on through families allowing the best education and investment opportunity. This is not to say there is no opportunity in America, but statistically speaking (and logically), mobility to achieve wealth is greatly diminished for those born into poor or working class families. Do you seriously believe that this is all due to laziness? Or maybe these working class families are incapable of producing hard-working or intelligent offspring? Perhaps you should head down to the docks and tell the boys they are just plain lazy and that's why bankers make more money.
There is also a question of value in your typical punishment of success thesis. Are the people making the most money in our country or world really the most valuable to our society? The real question is if you are a social Darwinist; where life is a competition instead of a collective effort. A slave master makes money by exploiting others. He is good at making money but probably not so appreciated by his "lazy" slaves. A former martial arts instructor of mine made enough money to live, will never make more, is not lazy, and helps many people open up new potential in themselves and gain enjoyment.
So what America are you really trying to create?
Or maybe you should just get
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat Aug. 29, 2009 5:38 PM PDT.
Or maybe you should just get over it. These altered words and symbols mean a lot of terrible things now to a lot of people. Aryan itself is an anachronistic reference, and has little bearing on any subcontinental population anymore, except those who hold fanatically to Vedic/mythic fantasies.
I'm subcontinental too, btw. I have no patience for people who get offended by history, or think our symbolism is above misuse, when we ourselves have abused and continue to abuse it.
Re: Aryan outfitters
Submitted by Anand (not verified) on Sat Jan. 23, 2010 12:03 AM PST.
With respect, the Aryans came from northern Europe (hence Indo-European) and arrived in India where they overcame the Dravidian population. They created the caste system to keep their bloodlines pure...so they have been racists from way back. I write this as a high-caste brahmin (Iyer) so I know of what I speak. Of course, those KKK and neo-nazis who claim pure Aryan blood are as deluded as any Indian who makes that claim, perhaps even more so.
The final photo!
Submitted by CrakeWasRight on Thu Jul. 9, 2009 6:10 AM PDT.
The last picture is awfully sad.
chilling
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun Jul. 12, 2009 1:54 AM PDT.
Wow. The whole sequence of photos nearly makes you think this woman is just any other person going about her sewing. She seems so....dedicated to it. If it were ANYthing else...I might think she was a decent and caring human being. But I guess this is what five generations of Klan membership does to a family......and the child at the end is likely sixth or seventh generation.
The look in the child's eyes? Absolutely chilling.
Culture of Hate
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat Jul. 11, 2009 1:30 PM PDT.
Sometimes authors use a novel or screenplay to support political or social beliefs; or to cry out for morality and ethical prinicples. This is no more clearly evident than with Holocaust books and films. Whenever we stand up to those who deny or minimize the Holocaust, or to those who support genocide we send a critical message to the world.
We live in an age of vulnerability. Holocaust deniers ply their mendacious poison everywhere, especially with young people on the Internet. We know from captured German war records that millions of innocent Jews (and others) were systematically exterminated by Nazi Germany - most in gas chambers. Holocaust books and films help to tell the true story of the Shoah, combating anti-Semitic historical revision. And, they protect future generations from making the same mistakes.
I wrote "Jacob's Courage" to promote Holocaust education. This coming of age love story presents accurate scenes and situations of Jews in ghettos and concentration camps, with particular attention to Theresienstadt and Auschwitz. It examines a constellation of emotions during a time of incomprehensible brutality. A world that continues to allow genocide requires such ethical reminders and remediation.
Many authors feel compelled to use their talent to promote moral causes. Holocaust books and movies carry that message globally, in an age when the world needs to learn that genocide is unacceptable. Such authors attempt to show the world that religious, racial, ethnic and gender persecution is wrong; and that tolerance is our progeny's only hope.
Charles Weinblatt
Author, "Jacob's Courage"
http://jacobscourage.wordpress.com/
“The banality of evil”
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun Jul. 12, 2009 2:15 PM PDT.
“The banality of evil” comes to mind as one looks through the photos.
The price of free speech?
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu Aug. 13, 2009 5:55 AM PDT.
Sad, our free citizens choose to hate.
All I can say is atleast they are free to express their points of view.
Did not know that KKK was into Bespoke outfits :)
Submitted by A Dravidian... (not verified) on Fri Aug. 14, 2009 11:14 PM PDT.
If you knew where Aryan came from - you'd know what a dravidian is.
Kudos to the Photographer for documenting this and thanks to MoJo for publishing it.
I would like to "THANK YOU"
Submitted by WHITEKROSSMAN (not verified) on Sat Aug. 22, 2009 11:18 AM PDT.
I would like to "THANK YOU" for what you are doing. The Ku Klux Klan has a long and patriotic history in this country. "The KKK is here to stay, like it or not." Just 'cause we have, (for lack of a more preferable word), a BLACK president in office doesn't mean we're gonna run back to our cow pastures dragging our sheets behind us!! NO, WHAT THIS LADY IS DOING, IS A great service!! And she makes SURE we look GOOD doing it!! God Bless you dear...God Bless AmeriKKKa!!!
The Ku Klux Klan isn't
Submitted by Hannah87 (not verified) on Tue Aug. 25, 2009 5:48 AM PDT.
The Ku Klux Klan isn't patriotic. It actually goes against everything this country stands for: freedom, liberty, and justice for all, no matter what your skin color is. I cannot even comprehend how you could possibly think that an organization that is based in completely unnecessary hatred of others is patriotic at all. You ought to be ashamed of yourself for being a member of this organization!
You spelled "America" wrong.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu Sep. 10, 2009 7:16 PM PDT.
You spelled "America" wrong. Maybe you should think twice before disrespecting our fine nation, pal.
The south needs to rise again!!
Submitted by White Woman (not verified) on Mon Sep. 14, 2009 7:40 PM PDT.
Thank you for what you are doing,its greatly apperciated.The KKK is here to stay.The south will rise again,but when is the question.
i liked this post. She is
Submitted by redlace (not verified) on Thu Aug. 27, 2009 11:25 PM PDT.
i liked this post. She is keeping her culture alive.
wow
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue Sep. 1, 2009 4:55 PM PDT.
This is a great set of photos with interesting and informative captions. I felt for a few minutes as if i had spent "a day in the life of". It made me think.
We all have our own feelings on the subject matter of course, but let's not let that distract us from the quality of work shown here.
All I am seeing on here are
Submitted by BaylahMay (not verified) on Tue Oct. 27, 2009 12:22 PM PDT.
All I am seeing on here are comments of hate. I was brought up in a small southern town, and let me tell you there is alot of racism there, but you cant blame those people that is how they were raised, that is how i was raised. I moved up north and got quite a culture shock, i was used to saying 'nigger' all the time, and i dont say it in any offensive term, its just a word im used to. why cant everyone just let each other be. this poor woman is trying to support her invalid daughter. leave her and the rest of us be.
Leave her and the rest of you be?
Submitted by BlueEyedVideot (not verified) on Mon Nov. 2, 2009 10:24 PM PST.
How can we leave them be? Their kind are hate-filled pustules on the backside of humanity. This "Poor woman" is receiving your and my tax dollars so she can blow 6-dollar a pack cigarette smoke at her unmoving daughter. That second-hand smoke must be doing wonders for her daughter's lungs. How much do you want to bet that $50,000-worth of "religious robes" income isn't reported? Those robes are a symbol of blind hatred, preserving a dark heritage of one man owning another and when truth and justice were found hanging at the end of a hemp rope. These people are dinosaurs, multi-culturalism will be the asteroid that drives them into extinction. We can try educating them, but brainwashed early in their lives, like the little girl in the last picture, they prefer to revel in their own brand of ignorance and fear. Like a doctor reviewing the X-rays and finding the cancer is inoperable, there is no future for the patient or for this way of life. But, like a carrier of an easily-transmitted disease, they must be kept in isolation, to prevent the spread of another deadly disease: the plague of hatred.
It would be possibly more
Submitted by JD (not verified) on Tue Nov. 3, 2009 12:07 PM PST.
It would be possibly more appropriate to put Aryan in quotations or say so-called 'Aryan' outfitters. The Aryans were an archaic people whose languages have been passed down through conquest and assimilation from the Caucasus (the Ossentians, who speak an Iranic language live in southern Russia) to Bangladesh. Their ancestry has been of-course greatly exaggerated as all we really know about them is they originated in an area from southern Russia/Ukraine to Central Asia (probably before the coming of Turkic-Mongols) and moved south. In the 19th century some European academics discovered that the languages of Iran, northern India, Armenia etc. were related to those of most of Europe and hypothesized (and then retracted) a theory that the original 'Europeans' were the Aryans, the oldest known Indo-European speakers credited with laying the foundations of some early civilizations (though they were doubtless influenced by their non-Aryan predecessors). Racists began then to use the term Aryan as an appellation for the now infamous Nordic superman myth that Hitler and the Nazis also seized upon, along with the Swaztika, a symbol of Indian origin. Today, the very name Iran is a cognate of 'Aryan' for example. The 'Aryans' or their linguistic forebears DID end up also in Europe as the Sarmatians (some of whom were stationed in Roman Britain), the Alans (who accompanied their Germanic Vandal allies during their conquests of Spain and North Africa) and the Scythians who were assimilated by the Slavs in Russia and Turkic tribes in Central Asia. Combating the use of Aryan is useful in that it is another chink in the armor of racists who never seem to get history right. I mean why not just say 'Nordic Outfitters' or European Supremacist Outfitters etc.?
Although I agree with you
Submitted by La.Phoenix (not verified) on Mon Nov. 16, 2009 5:52 PM PST.
Although I agree with you and admire your detailed evidence, the ignorance has already been embedded into their 'culture'. You can't reverse it.
looks like she finally got
Submitted by UMD (not verified) on Sun Nov. 22, 2009 1:00 PM PST.
looks like she finally got what was coming to her (what with her daughter being an inbred quadripelegic). I hope she has fun.
THE TRUTH
Submitted by Carl Weems Imperial Kladd (not verified) on Thu Nov. 26, 2009 11:54 PM PST.
The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan stand for many good things, but most of all unity
among us. These are dark days, and the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan are one of the
last lines of defense for the WHITE RACE. Our country is in danger. Our Consitiution
is in danger. Our rights, our families, our way of life, our very freedom.
We do not hate you. Take a moment to let that sink in. Our goal and mission is to
protect, educate, and bring back basic Christian values in our lives and to this great
nation. You remind me of savages throwing rocks at a over flying airplane. Attacking
it out of fear, violent, ignorant people. Destroy what you do not understand or agree
with. Yet you call us inbred white thash. Hypercrits! Mis Routh does not have hate
of any kind for any one within her. How dare you cowards who do not leave your
names or email address. I am not afraid and will never apologize for my white
skin. I will never lose a verbal battle when I am called a races.
I am Carl Weems, Imperial Kladd, national office with the Dixie Rangers, Knights
of the Ku Klux Klan. 225-665-3372. email gotodixierangers@aol.com
web-site www.dixierangerskkk.com
You are the danger to the constitution
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu Dec. 3, 2009 9:48 AM PST.
You're a coward and a pansy. Without the gun you cling so desperately to you'd be a slithering, slinking, cur; shunning the light of the better people around you. Others here don't leave contact information because you are a coward. You'd never meet them face to face, but cowardly attack them behind their back or at night just like your cowardly organization has always done.
You couldn't win a "verbal" battle or battle of the wits because you would be going unarmed. The word you were looking for at the end of your post was "racist".
You are the danger to the constitution and if you could read and understand it, you wouldn't be in the KKK. The same with the Bible, if you could understand it, you'd reject everything you now stand for. There is still understanding and forgiveness there if you would seek it.
The south won't ever "rise again" because you could never muster that much stupidity and ignorance ever again. You'd never be able to get enough of your people off of government assistance, or away from NASCAR, Walmart, and watching high school football long enough to make it work.
TAKE NOTE America, this is what "southern charm" really is; a thin veneer of smiles, waves, and "howdy" over vile ignorance, racism, and greed.
"Just want to bring back "Chrisitian ..."
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri Dec. 18, 2009 3:43 PM PST.
But, this is NOT is Christian nation. Our founding fathers said so. our Constituiton says so. Our Bill of Rights says so. So, you cannot and will not make this a "Christian country." That would truly be the end of our United States of America.
Southren Racial Profile?
Submitted by Carl Weems on Wed Dec. 9, 2009 10:13 PM PST.
Looks like you've got southren people figured out. But
you left out the part where we wipe our asses with moss.
Thank you for proving a point to another Klan member. I
won a dollar. You did not mention the odd sentence
mistakes or that I spelled Miss Ruth (Routh) wrong. You
zoomed in on the word racist. And.....by the way I don't
own a gun, hunt or fish. I'm a vegetarian. I believe the
life of man and beast to be sacred. I don't care much for
sports, but I do watch the Super Bowl game. I do shop at
Wal-mart because we in the south spend our money
wisely. This is why were not hurting like the north is
because of a bad administration. Now back to the Klan. A
Klansman makes an oath to protect and defend women
and children of any RACE or RELIGION. But there are a
few bad in any group. You are so quick to call a white
person a racist who stands up for theirself. You think
that will end a debate. That's where the Klan comes in
to play. We don't back down. The most racist people
today are blacks. They have B.E.T., M.L. King day, Black
College Fund, Black History Month, Black Beauty Pageant,
and as we know much, much more. Let us have an all
white school, fire department, police department, T.V.
station or any other thing white. Remember the past?
Violent, hypercrits are the words that fit you best. I know
you and why your so afraid. The thing you fear most is
WHITE PEOPLE uniting and seeing the real power we
have. Our goal and mission is to protect, educate, and
bring back basic Christian values in our lives and to
this great nation. Did you know that since Obama has
been in office our membership has grown greatly. He
has become our best recruitment tool ever. The Dixie
Rangers at this time are in six states and soon to be
seven. I can't even say how many cities and towns.
There are just to many for me to keep up with, thats why
we divide them up. You bring up the HOLY Bible, but
know little about it. Look in the Old Testament, there's
a story of how God separated all people into many races
and tongues and drove them apart. Look for it and learn
while looking. Its been real.
Carl Weems Imperial Kladd National Office,
Dixie Rangers Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
www.dixierangerskkk.com
Forgot one other thing nitwit
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu Dec. 10, 2009 1:10 PM PST.
Carl,
Before you brag about your expanding membership, you should think about this:
With Obama in charge, how many of your new members are actually informants or federal agents?
Have fun finding out.
This is wrong, sad, and
Submitted by Aubrey (not verified) on Sat Dec. 19, 2009 5:00 PM PST.
This is wrong, sad, and terrible.
Christians are a bunch of
Submitted by Dustin (not verified) on Thu Dec. 24, 2009 12:24 PM PST.
Christians are a bunch of ignorant fools. Anything based off of faith is a joke. Learn something real, stop fighting over what your imaginary friend didn't actually say.
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