Second in a series

Re “Clarke Sees White Supremacy as a Threat”

After declaring that he sees white supremacy as a national threat, City Councilman Jim Clarke said he took a course in transcendental meditation “when I was much younger.”

Everybody seemed to be into it in the ‘60s, including the Beatles, he recalled.

“The Maharajah was our guru, and his philosophy was this:  If 3 percent of the world would practice transcendental meditation, you could create world peace,” Mr. Clarke said.

“Conversely, if you can get 3 percent of the world population to believe in white supremacy, or any ism you want, you can have a profound effect on the world, too.”

It is important, the Councilman said, “that we not just regard (the Klan and colleagues) as a minor fringe element. It does not take much to create trouble.”

Mr. Clarke drew a parallel to the rise of Nazism in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s.

“In those early days, how many people were actually sympathetic to the Nazi movement?” he asked. “It does not take many.”

(To be continued)