[ SECRET POST #6327 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #6327 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


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[Unus Annus]



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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 08 secrets from Secret Submission Post #904.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

07. https://i.imgur.com/XCNvydH.png

[(Anonymous)]

It sounds like a very idealistic book, so maybe the author wrote the KKK with the same intent as the town's embracing the women's relationship: knowing it's not realistic, but wouldn't it be nice if it was?

[(Anonymous)]

I think that's closer to the truth. The whole book is a very romanticized view of small town culture in the South. But as you might guess, being comfortable with a portrayal of that culture being cool with a lesbian relationship is one thing, being comfortable with the portrayal of the KKK as good ol' boys who don't mean any harm really, they just like having parades, etc. etc. is a whole other kettle of fish.

[(Anonymous)]

But KKK members being super racist dickheads except for the "negroes" they knew and who they made double standard exceptions for is ENTIRELY realistic. In a lot of small town communities where black people were already present, there was this weird thing where the "outsider/insider us vs them" trumped the "my race your race us vs them" mentality.

Also, in quite a few small towns, something like being part of the KKK was weirdly play-acting for a lot of members. You're part of this small community inside your community, that's really neat, a place to belong, all your buddies are there as well and they share your values and hey, you don't actually have any reason to lynch any blacks because the ones in your community are okay! (Until it's not and then mob mentality takes over and people die but hey, that doesn't happen here!)

[(Anonymous)]

The movie portrayed the town's KKK in the way you're describing. The book portrayed them as being the kind of crazy violent motherfuckers that made the branch of the KKK that came after the protagonists practically shit themselves in their rush to get away from them. They just happened to like Ruth and Idgie. Which is actually a pretty realistic depiction of how small towns work.

And while Idgie may have been drinking buddies with some of them, it didn't stop her from serving all of them the "special" barbecue afterwards.

[feotakahari]

I don’t go here, but I recently saw a post on Tumblr from someone whose grandmother was acquainted with one of Mussolini’s friends. The friend was Jewish, but Mussolini arranged for him to be evacuated and spared from the Holocaust, because the Holocaust was for other Jews, not for this one Jew Mussolini cared about. There’s a lot of doublethink in bigotry.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm guessing it's been a while since you read the book, because the book does NOT portray them as"crazy violent motherfuckers":

Idgie lit her Camel and smiled. "Well, Grady, tell you what. The next time those 'some people' come in here, like Jack Butts and Wilbur Weems and Pete Tidwell, I'll ask 'em if they don't want anybody to know who they are when they go marching around in one of those stupid parades you boys have, why don't they have enough sense to change their shoes?"

"Now, wait a minute, Idgie—"

"Oh hell, Grady, y'all ain't fooling anybody. Why, I'd recognize those size-fourteen clodhoppers you got on anywhere."

Grady is one of Idgie's best buddies, likewise the other KKK members mentioned are portrayed as goofy good ol' boys and upstanding citizens. Even members of the Dill Pickle Club, along with Grady and Idgie. These same guys are shown frequenting the diner where the cook is black, the guy in charge of bbq is black, and black customers are regularly served at the back door, and they're fine with it. Grady in particular is portrayed as being a cop with a heart of gold, not just looking the other way but actually collaborating with Idgie when she steals food supplies off of trains and throws the stuff where poor people can find it. The book has this to say about Grady not being a racist even though he's a member of the KKK:

Idgie shook her head as she watched him go on down the street.

"Ruth, I wish you could have seen that big ox, down at the river for three days, drunk as a dog, crying like a baby, 'cause Joe, that old colored man that raised him, died. I swear, I don't know what people are using for brains anymore. Imagine those boys: They're terrified to sit next to a nigger and have a meal, but they'll eat eggs that came right out of a chicken's ass."

"Oh, Idgie!"

Idgie laughed. "I'm sorry, but it just makes me mad sometimes."

"I know, honey, but you shouldn't get yourself so upset. That's just the way people are and there's not a thing in the world you can do to change them. That's just how it is."

As for the Alabama KKK being so scary and violent that they frighten away the Georgia KKK members, this is what happens:

Grady went out and talked to a couple of the men. After a few minutes, one man nodded and said something to the others, and one by one, the men began to leave, as quietly as they had come.

Yeaaaah, that doesn't really sound like "practically shit themselves in their rush to get away". Are you remembering something else, maybe? And then there's this, which is the bit that comes to closest to maybe hinting at what you describe:

Grady came back into the cafe, unconcerned. "They didn't want nothing. They was just a bunch of old boys out to throw a little scare in you, that's all. One of them was over here the other day for something or another and saw you was selling to niggers out the back door and thought he'd try to shake you up a little bit. That's all.”

Idgie asked him what he had said to get them to leave so fast.

Grady got his hat off the hat rack, "Oh, I just told them that these are our niggers and we sure as hell don't need a bunch from Georgia coming over here telling us what we can and cain't do."

He looked Idgie right in the eye. "And I'll guaran-damn-tee you they won't be back," and he put his hat on and left.

Even though Grady was a charter member of the Dill Pickle Club and a confirmed liar, that day he had told the truth. What Idgie and Ruth didn't know was that although these Georgia boys were mean, they were not stupid enough to ever fool around with the Klan in Alabama and were smart enough to leave in a hurry and stay gone.

Now, the book doesn't say why the Georgia KKK were so reluctant to fool around with the Alabama KKK, but it could be because the Alabama KKK were hardcore and crazy violent, like you said. However, as I said above - NONE of the named KKK members are ever described that way. They're portrayed as the opposite, in fact. Though Grady does offer these vicious insults - that "Georgia boys" don't know what good bbq is, followed up later by a sly insult that implies "Georgia boys" (in that instance, law enforcement) are gay, because everyone concerned would consider that a slight.

As the men headed to the cafe, Grady bragged to the others. "That nigger makes the best goddamned barbecue in the state. You've gotta get yourselves some of that, then you'll know what good barbecue is. I don't think you Georgia boys know what good barbecue is."

...

""Naw, the truth is, boys, Eva would take one look at him and throw him back in the water."

They all laughed again.

Smoote said, "Well, I guess you know what you're talking about," and squinted his eyes at Idgie again.

"Yeah, well, that's just the facts of life!" Grady continued. He winked at Idgie and Smokey. "From what I hear, all you boys over in Georgia is a little light on your feet."

Smokey sat there giggling. "That's the way I heard it."

As for Idgie serving her KKK buddies the special barbecue, I'm not sure that's really clear she does that. It's not even clear she knows what makes the barbecue "special". The murder of Frank Bennett is described as being between Sipsey and Big George, with Sipsey committing the murder (to save Ruth's baby from getting kidnapped) and Big George and his son Artis doing body/evidence disposal with the barbecue.

At seven-thirty, Big George had already started slaughtering the hogs and started the water boiling in the big black iron pot—a little early in the year, but not too soon.

Later that afternoon, when Grady and the two detectives from Georgia were questioning his daddy about the missing white man, Artis had nearly fainted when one of them came over and looked right in the pot. He was sure the man had seen Frank Bennett's arm bobbing up and down among the boiling hogs. But evidently, he hadn't, because two days later, the fat Georgia man told Big George that it was the best barbecue he had ever eaten, and asked him what his secret was.

Big George smiled and said, "Thank you, suh, I'd hafto say the secret's in the sauce."

Idgie does serve the detectives from Georgia pie, which apparently was delicious. Re: the special barbecue, Idgie is not mentioned as being the one who serves the detectives, and serving it to her KKK buddies is not mentioned, either.

[(Anonymous)]

Sounds like you’re reading things the way you want to and AYRT is reading it the way they want to. Honestly, I like the way that doesn’t make Idgie a clueless idiot about what goes on in her own business better. But even if you’re right about her being too stupid to live, based just on the little snippets you’ve posted it doesn’t sound like Idgie thinks anyone is a poor misguided fool as much as she’s angry about their hypocrisy.

[meadowphoenix]

it's only unrealistic if you think the town is representative of most alabaman towns. if you think of it as a singular town, it's entirely realistic. people really love food, and it's not surprising that people would accept something unconventional in exchange for magical food lmao.

that said, considering that flagg likely based it on her aunt and the cafe she ran with her two friends in ironside, alabama...it may be downright biographical.