This newspaper editor said the Ku Klux Klan 'needs to ride again' - and people are reacting accordingly

People are calling for the resignation of an Alabama newspaper editor after publishing an editorial calling for the Ku Klux Klan to "ride again".

The year is 2019.

The editorial, titled ‘The Klan Needs To Ride Again’ appeared in the Democrat-Reporter, based in Linden, Alabama.

It reads:

Time for the Ku Klux Klan to night ride again. Democrats in the Republican Party and Democrats are plotting to raise taxes in Alabama.

They do not understand how to eliminate expenses when money is needed in other areas. This socialist-communist ideology sounds good to the ignorant, the uneducated, and the simple-minded people.

Sutton added: "Seem like the Klan would be welcome to raid the gated communities up there.”

In some bizarre way, the piece seems to portray the KKK as social justice warriors defending the inalienable rights of Americans. Not, you know, racist thugs with a history of violence and murder against African-Americans and minorities.

Sutton told the Montgomery Advertiser that he wasn’t calling for the hanging of all Americans (lynching was another common occurrence in the KKK’s bloody history), just the "socialist-communists".

He added: "We'll get the hemp ropes out, loop them over a tall limb and hang all of them."

Sutton said that he didn’t think the KKK is a “racist and violent organisation” compared them to the NAACP.

A violent organization? Well, they didn't kill but a few people.

The Klan wasn't violent until they needed to be.

His comments have been widely criticised.

The University of Southern Mississippi removed the 79-year-old from their Communications Hall of Fame.