Breaking Racism’s Curse

In the ’70s Richard Harris made history by becoming the
youngest Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon state leader in history. Now a
pastor, professor and author, Harris decries his former life and
confronts the issue of racism head-on. 

Harris says his change of heart happened at age 20, after
four years in the Klan. His superiors assigned him to a chaplain
position and required him to study the Bible.

“As I read the Bible, I found too many
places that the Klan had twisted the Scriptures,” he says. 

That’s when Harris left the KKK, gave his
life to Christ and became active in civil rights organizations. Today
he speaks at colleges and churches about his past and how to reverse
what he calls the curse of racism. “This is the one thing that the Klan
got right from the Scriptures-they actually called racism a generational
curse.”

In his book, One
Nation Under Curse, Harris says racism is still present, even in
the church. “The church pats itself on the back for small strides, but
this is not a post-racial society,” he says, adding that racial accord
is not a group assignment but an individual one. 

“Each person must purposefully and
intentionally reach out to people of other cultures to develop
friendships where they are not casual acquaintances but close enough to
visit each other’s homes.