MOTHER JONES: Aryan Outfitters - Meet the KKK's seamstress of hate couture. Photo Essay

[kpete]

Aryan Outfitters

Meet the KKK's seamstress of hate couture.

Photo Essay by Anthony Karen

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.






Ms. Ruth personally sews one robe a day. She works 10 to 12 hours a day, seven days a week. She has 1 to 3 helpers at times. The person to be fitted measures themselves, fills out the tailoring chart, and mails in the order. It takes 4 to 6 weeks for delivery. Here she puts the final touches on a red Klan hood.


more to make you puke:
http://motherjones.com/photoessays/2008/03/aryan-outfitters

[Grand Taurean]

1. Bookmarked!

[supernova]

2. Nauseating.

:puke:

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Sultana]

4. Really?

:puke: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

SICK!!!

[TheCowsCameHome]

5. Hard to believe, but I guess it's true.

How sick.

[Lilyeye]

6. If the pictures weren't sick enough, the comments defending these people were even worse!

:puke:

[derby378]

7. I do like this response, though

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.

[derby378]

9. This part gets to me somehow

"They said she wouldn't live for more than three months. I refused to leave her in the hospital, so I took her home." Caring for her daughter Lilbit is a full time job. Ms. Ruth rarely leaves the house; she spends most of her time sewing and taking care of her daughter and her animals.

Her work as a Klan seamstress is the only way that Lilbit can get the round-the-clock care that she needs. How sad.

[tammywammy]

11. I found it striking that someone so full of hate is at the same time full of love to her own family.

Sad.

[derby378]

13. I hear the Dorians of ancient Greece could be the same way

Surprisingly tender to their own kind, but brutal when dealing with any outsiders. And I'm certain the Dorians were not the only ones in antiquity who were like this.

[spoony]

16. An interesting study in the dissonance of the human heart.

And, as you said, sad.

[kitkat65]

8. If there really is a God, she just might reap what she sews.

Pun intended.

[Beer Snob-50]

10. the pic of the smiling boy

is the saddest of them all.

[dashrif]

12. Bad

Business model "She works 10 to 12 hours a day, seven days a week." And It still takes 4 to 6 weeks for delivery. can't they apply for stimulus funds to hire more help that will boost the economy and put hundreds to work with the klan robe boom and all

[tabbycat31]

14. the one with the child bothers me the most

[sinkingfeeling]

15. I have great pity for Ms. Ruth and her daughter. This woman has had a hard,

miserable life. Look at her face. Look at her work shop/home. She has been fully raised and indoctrinated in the 'white pride' world.

[Mari333]

17. god she is my age and looks 20 yrs older

sort of a sad story, really.

[Contrary1]

18. She "blesses" each robe?

I'm betting her God ain't too pleased with that one. :eyes:

[Echo In Light]

19. Guess I didn't realize the klan was still active. Sad

[mitchum]

20. Master race my ass

[Bonhomme Richard]

21. If only someone could get a copy of her customer list. n/t

[msanthrope]

22. The Banality of evil--what sad, pathetic people, yet I pity them not. n/t

[Bitwit1234]

23. Ought to make some tea bags to go with them

after all I think the tea bags are a new version of the KKK. And I am posting it all over every where. Course CNN has a time they won't post anything about the tea bags that's "negativetory".