A recent story from KKCO 11 News in Grand Junction may have some feeling a little scared.

A Ku Klux Klan “Grand Wizard” said earlier this week that the group is recruiting new members in Grand Junction and western Colorado, and that their ranks are growing. However, he neglected to give any numbers to prove this, so the smoke is blowing. The Ku Klux Klan is a fringe group of nut jobs and they are going to die a slow, unnoticed death in Colorado just as they will in any other state.

Thanks to public institutions like CMU, western Colorado is becoming more diverse. Cultures and ethnic groups from all over the country are coming here and sharing their cultural pastimes and ideals with everyone, and it is positively benefiting our communities.

This is not the WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) filled half of the state it used to be. Having pride in ones own culture and skin color is pretty pointless once you start to enjoy other people’s cultures and traditions. When newcomers to the area share their cultures, we share back, and that is a whole lot more fun than hating theirs and keeping yours all to yourself.

This is a last-ditch effort by some fringe lunatics to get publicity. It won’t work. They are on their way out. Loving everyone is a whole lot easier than just loving yourself.

I can’t help but laugh when I think of a local Klan chapter meeting in Grand Junction. A bunch of fat old white guys spewing hate speech about Barack Obama and other prominent non-white figures. Having a pity party about how suppressed their race and religion is around a burning cross sounds pretty pathetic to me. Why don’t you go to Los Jilbertos and eat some super fries? You’ll be so busy stuffing your face that you’ll forget that white pride before you can grab a napkin.

Quit hiding behind those sheets and stop by a Polynesian Club luau at CMU. Unlike Klan meetings, all are welcome. Look at how much fun they’re having by dancing, showing all that skin, eating food and laughing. This is what cultural pride is about: sharing with others, not excluding them.

I am a proud Colorado citizen, and in Colorado we share everything including stories, food, smiles and our cultural history. Join the club, or maybe you’d like it better if I called it a clan. Whatever difference that makes.