Conclusion
Obviously, the KKK receded as the years passed. Did it leave any lasting stain on the community? Did the School Board's welcome imbue the Klan with legitimacy in the eyes of some parents or students, and reinforce their feelings of bigotry? One hopes not, but in hindsight it is concerning that no one in Hicksville seems to have publicly criticized the Board's action. Granted, other school districts also cooperated in such ceremonies - but in at least one of those towns, the ceremony spawned protests.
Some months before Hicksville hosted its ceremony, the board in Freeport was excoriated for having done the same thing. An association of teachers protested the acceptance of a flag and flagpole from the Klan; Jewish and Catholic groups in the community also protested. Curiously, news of these protests was published in the same newspaper that covered Hicksville news, more than three months before the Klan presentation at Hicksville High School , and Hicksville's Board of Education chose to proceed with the event anyway. Presumably, it did not expect, or at least was not very concerned about, similar repercussions.
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, November 6, 1924
I think that many of us would take even more pride in Hicksville if today we could look back, and know that not all its citizens welcomed the Ku Klux Klan as their Board of Education had.
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