Former KKK member Elwin Wilson wants forgiveness

[The Straight Story]

Former KKK member Elwin Wilson wants forgiveness

Former Ku Klux Klan member, Elwin Hope Wilson is asking for forgiveness. He wants people to know that he wants to atone for his sins. Some have called him a hero. Some are a little skeptical. His reasons are really simple; he wants to go to heaven, not hell. Is that really what atonement is about? I'm old now so I'll be nice now so I can get into heaven!

I am a Christian and I do believe that people can change and people can be forgiven. Somehow though, Elwin Wilson bothers me. If Charles Manson came out and said, "hey I want to apologize for what I did and atone before I meet my maker so I can get into heaven," how would we feel? Would we embrace him? Some would I guess. Good Christians would and while I'd like to think of myself as a good Christian on this Palm Sunday, I find it hard to believe Wilson is sincere.

The Rock Hill, South Carolina man admits to cross burnings and hanging a black doll on a noose at the end of his driveway. He has hurled tire jacks at black children. He beat Congressman John Lewis of Georgia in the face. Wilson's son Chris admits his father used the "N" word often and liked to yell at African Americans in restaurants and on the street. Something Chris finds embarrassing. Elwin Wilson says back when he was a bigot, "It was sport."

In 1961, Wilson picked on Freedom Riders at Greyhound bus terminals. In the 1980's, apparently not ready to atone, he protested his local cemetery when he found they would bury blacks next to whites. When an African American bought a house in his neighborhood, good old Elwin beat up the real estate agent and demanded the sale be stopped. His grandson, also named Chris, heard the "N" word and racial outbursts too often as a kid. Elwin Wilson enjoyed threatening his neighbor with his AK-47 when they complained about the black doll he had hanging in his driveway. In 1999, when Wilson's Baptist minister wanted more African Americans at the church, Elwin quit the church.

Elwin Wilson is 72 years old now and suffers from diabetes. When his "I want to go to heaven philosophy" came along is unsure but it is pretty recent. He did ask his friends to pray for and with him when he had the revelation. He proudly said, "It's not like I stopped cussing or anything, I just don't feel the same hate."

http://www.examiner.com/x-5265-Albuquerque-Green-Business-Examiner~y2009m4d5-Former-KKK-member-Elwin-Wilson-wants-forgiveness