Why I Quit The Klan By Claiborne Ellis

1209 Words3 Pages

Conflicted Often, people go through changes in their lives based on experiences. Former KKK member, Claiborne Ellis would be one of those people whose experiences changed his mentality. Certainly, having conflicted ideas about other races, is a challenge in itself. So, after reading Why I quit the Klan, I could not imagine a racist honestly changing his view on his personal feelings on other races. For what it is worth, a perception can change but can a personal feeling change after so long? Although, it is good to see that a former Klansman did not agree with all the ideologies that the Klan. But I question is even possible. The short memoir explains he was raised to hate African Americans, Jews, and Liberals. The continuous blaming others …show more content…

Although, that could be true, racism is not a trait that is a part of a person’s DNA, it is something that is learned. For example, most people learn that there are only two genders while growing up. We understand this simple binary because it is reinforced by religion, girl and boy. Now in current times some people don’t understand the extended categories to what others identify as. It’s important to look at why this is the way that it is, most would agree that you should change but people resist change all the time. In further research, the self-perception theory focuses on situations similar to Why I quit the Klan by C.P. …show more content…

We are trained to think and perceive things the way they are presented to us as we grow up. Naturally, the ideologies we are taught at a young age generally stay with us until we are adults. As proof, C.P Ellis was taught at a young age that African Americans and Jewish people were to blame for his problem, or the problems of the poor whites in America. Psychologist Daryl Bem theory of self-perception delivered the attitude and emotional connections Ellis had to his behavior when being a Klans’ man. Also, Connors approach to acceptance, when moving past negative events in our lives. Altogether, it was not easily resolvable to note that C.P Ellis had quit being a Klans’ man but had not completely dissolved himself from the Klan’s feeling towards ‘certain’ African

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