The Dallas Journal, Volume 51, 2006 Page: 44
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A Glimpse Into Dallas County Elections - 1922
7 April 1922
Mayor Asks Klan to Quit For the Good of DallasApril 6, 1922
To The News,
I believe that the hour has come when I, as
Mayor of the city of Dallas, should issue a
statement on the Ku Klux Klan. I am presenting
it with the profound hope that it will be given
calm, earnest consideration by the people of this
city, and that it will be of benefit in solving this
problem.
The Ku Klux Klan is a mistake, and should have
no place among us. I would not brand all those
who have enlisted in it as disloyal citizens or
unworthy men, for I do not believe this to be
true. I believe many good men joined it with no
hatred for the Jew, and no prejudice against the
Catholic, but Joined it thinking it would be an
influence for good in their community. They
were mistaken in their views, for the Ku Klux
Klan has brought discord into this, a peaceful
city; has set neighbor against neighbor, and has
fanned the flames of prejudice. An organization
which brings forth such fruit is wrong and
should not exist.
But I have unlimited faith in the citizenship of
Dallas, and I now appeal to the sane judgment,
the sober second thought, of both klan and anti-
klan. We have had enough discord and strife. I
believe the Ku Klux Klan in Dallas should
disband, and I now appeal to the leaders to
dissolve it. To those of you who are courageous
men, and are reluctant to quit under fire, I would
answer that our first interest, and your highestresponsibility, rests upon you as a citizen of
Dallas, and not a a klansman. Your desire to
bring peace and harmony once more into this
community should over come your reluctance to
disband under criticism. I send this call to your
community spirit --------your love for Dallas ---
------- and not to your personal pride. It is in
this way that I now request an employee of the
city of Dallas, in any department, who may be a
member of the Ku Klux Klan, to resign at once
from the klan.
To those citizens of Dallas who have
condemned the Ku Klux Klan, I would make the
same appeal - a call to their community spirit.
Be charitable enough to state that if the Ku Klux
Klan in Dallas will disband, or if the members
will resign, that those men will not be branded
as unworthy men, or as men who have violated
the law; but as men who have made a mistake,
even though that error has brought trouble and
discord to this community. If this be done, and
the Ku Klux Klan and the anti-klan dissolved,
then let this regrettable episode be remembered
but as a passing trouble - an aftermath of the
unrest of that great world conflict, in which
trying time we were undivided and indivisible.
Then let us once more join together, one for all,
and all for Dallas, to the end that we may build
for a better, greater city.
SAWNIE R. ALDREDGE, Mayor.44 Dallas Journal 2006
44
Dallas Journal 2006
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Dallas Genealogical Society. The Dallas Journal, Volume 51, 2006, periodical, October 2006; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth186865/m1/48/?rotate=90: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Genealogical Society.