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I'm old enough to remember the huge billboard on Route 17 just as you crossed the state line from North Carolina to South Carolina that read, "Welcome to South Carolina: Home of the Ku Klux Klan." That sign was there for years and years. I live in an area where few white people my age don't know of family members or relatives who were members of the Klan. A cousin told me he'd seen my grandfather's robe in his closet. On any given day, I can drive around local neighborhoods and count more Confederate flags than U.S. flags. I realize the phrase is only meant to conjure playful images of magic and make-believe and I appreciate that. I can only describe what my life-experience has taught me to associate with the phrase, and it's anything but playful.
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