What kind of moral decay leads students to treat wearing Ku Klux Klan (KKK) robes—a symbol of terror, lynching, and white supremacy—as a joke? This isn’t a case of youthful foolishness; it’s a disturbing minimization of the violence that has fueled racism throughout history. It’s the same mindset that has enabled apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and genocide.
The fact that such a “prank” occurred at UiTM, a university that claims to support marginalized communities, highlights just how deeply racism is ingrained—even among those who should know better.
The KKK was more than just a hate group; it was a domestic terrorist organization in the U.S. responsible for murdering thousands of Black Americans without consequence. Their ideology of racial superiority echoes that of some of the most extreme factions of Zionism, who view Palestinians as less than human.
The same dehumanization that allowed the KKK to hang Black men from trees is the same mindset that enables Israeli snipers to kill Palestinian children in the streets. The racism that justified segregation under Jim Crow now fuels Israel’s apartheid walls, checkpoints, and mass graves in Gaza.
Apartheid is a system of institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination meant to maintain the power of one group over another. It was most infamously practiced in South Africa, where the white minority enforced laws that denied Black people basic human rights, including the right to participate politically and access economic opportunities.
Under international law, apartheid is classified as a crime against humanity (Rome Statute of the ICC, Article 7). It violates basic human rights principles, including those outlined in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), which prohibits racial discrimination in public institutions (Article 5).
When students laugh off the KKK, they send a message that racism is harmless—that white supremacy is just a costume and not a harmful system of oppression. This is precisely how Israel gets away with its actions. The world sees Palestinian suffering as inevitable and deserved, just as the KKK once viewed the suffering of Black Americans. People dismiss the violence as “complicated” or “defensive,” just as some excuse the KKK by calling it a product of its time.
This “prank” isn’t just offensive—it’s dangerous. It shows how easily we forget history and how quickly the victims of racism are mocked. The same indifference that allows students to wear Klan robes for fun is what lets Western governments arm Israel while Gaza’s children are starved and bombed.
Racism is not a joke. Genocide is not a meme. It’s time to wake up—or risk becoming complicit.
