THE CONTAGION OF RACIAL VIOLENCE

    Yesterday, the body of Frank Ancona, a Missouri Ku Klux Klan chieftain, was found along a riverbank. Between the shameless celebrating on the Far Left and the conspiracy theories floating up from the Red Pills and the Far Right, the Internet has been abuzz over this story from those elements bent on inciting a race-war.

     'The personal is political' has gotten to the point in America where a man can't even die without making a political statement.

    Ancona died from a gunshot wound to the head, and only a few hours ago did the authorities rule out suicide. The case is now being investigated as a homicide, and that has only intensified the finger-pointing and accusations.

    As a policy here, we don't engage in speculations of this kind until facts are known. It's not unheard-of that people like Ancona have picked up hitch-hikers and been killed by them, for example. It's also not uncommon that people who cavort with extremist groups often come to violent ends. We don't know why Ancona was killed, so it's useless to offer theories at this point.

     What is important here though, is that those who are exploiting the Ancona Case are not doing so with good intentions. He was a controversial individual and a generally suspicious character during his life, but there is no doubt that some are using his death to foment even more civil unrest. The Washington County Sheriff's Office, which is handling the case, is taking the correct approach by saying that solving a homicide and bringing the killer to justice is their only job. 

    And that should be our attitude as well. Pope Francis has spoken at length recently about the tongue as a weapon. Often words are used purposely to trigger unstable social elements---and there is no shortage of these in America now. All it will take is somebody from among either Ancona's confederates or his enemies to feel either vengeful or threatened for violence to start and spiral out of control. And recently, Missouri has given us sufficient proof that that state is particularly prone to such events.

     The thing to do here is to respect the Rule of Law, no matter what the motives behind Ancona's death might have been.