Anyone who has read this infernal rag since our beginning knows that laying out the county's sordid history is an obsession of ours, and has taken us from the local Black Panther chapter to lynchings, hippie mafias, exposing historian charlatans, and more. But nothing has been more fun than exposing the Confederate and Ku Klux Klan origins of many of this county's pioneers.
Oh, the local historians have gone on and on about the Confederates, coming from a Lost Cause perspective that conveniently ignores the Grey's racist ideology and treasonous cause. It's this blindness that keeps them from digging into their heroes' KKK ties, whether real (like Henry W. Head, the former state assemblymember who you can see to the right), or circumstantial (Victor Montgomery, the lawyer who drafted the bill that would eventually set OC free from Los Angeles County, served under KKK founder Nathan Bedford Forest and alongside head–if the guy didn't don a hood and robe at one point in his life, then Mike Carona is innocent).
Anyhoo, that was the topic I addressed in this past Monday's “Orange County Line” commentary for KCRW-FM 89.9
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As usual, you're going to have to go over to KCRW's website to listen to the segment–but do, come back here, and let's talk!
Email: ga*******@oc******.com. Twitter: @gustavoarellano.
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