NON ACADEMIC: A short history of the KKK would provide some insight on where the group began and how far they have come. Despite what some people may believe, the Ku Klux Klan didn’t take off as the menacing organization they are known as today. In fact, this secret society was started as a social club in late 1865 by six Confederate veterans in Pulaski, Tennessee. A Hundred Years of Terror, by the Southern Poverty Law Center in Alabama, explains how the KKK began as a group to help people. The KKK sought out to help widows and children in the aftermath of the Civil War in the 1860s.
The Klan’s hierarchy was to sound as ridiculous as possible mainly for the fun of it, but also to exclude themselves from any association with politics or the military. The Grand Cyclops was the head of the group, the Grand Magi would be his assistant, the Grand Turk welcomed hopefuls into the group, the Grand Scribe was the secretary, Night Hawks were messengers, and Lictors were guards. Members, who were like foot soldiers, would be called Ghouls. The name was randomly put together by the Greek word “Kuklos” which meant, “cycle” or “circle” in English, and the word “clam” which was later added. After a while of toying around with sounds, they agreed on Ku Klux Klan.
The Klan needed some sort of uniform. They veiled themselves under white sheets and large pointed hats. Members rode through the quiet streets of Pulaski on their horses as a sort of show boating technique.
Later, new members from nearby towns were being initiated into the group; this began to cause problems. The rides through the streets became a focal point of klan membership. Riders proceeded to visit the homes of blacks late at night, intimidating and threatening them, demanding that they behave like animals. It wasn’t long before the intimidations turned into acts of violence. The Ku Klux Klan had suddenly become something its founders hadn’t intended for the group to transform into.
ACADEMIC: Those acts of intimidation went on for a while and eventually turned the group into what it is today. Simply put, the KKK and anyone associated with the assembly is basically, well, just bad. This organization will stop at nothing to achieve their point. They are extremely prejudice against blacks, Hispanics and any kind of foreigner. This is interesting to think about because they claim to be so patriotic about keeping the land of the free clean of immigrants when it was immigrants who founded this country. Interesting point, but it will be discussed later.
Domestic terror is a common goal of the KKK. Consider the fact that on one Sunday morning in September of 1963, Robert “Dynamite Bob” Chambliss hid a charge of dynamite beneath the side entrance steps of an historic African American church. The blast killed four young girls getting ready for a special event in a nearby bathroom. Thirty-seven years later, two Klansmen were arrested in connection with the bombing of Alabama’s Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Thomas Blanton Jr. and Bobby Cherry were believed to be accomplices of Chambliss. The attack took place at the height of the Civil Rights Movement where the church took on the role of a headquarters for the civil disruptions in Kelly Ingram Park. This particular incident is extremely disturbing for many reasons. For one, it’s especially fascinating to see that “Dynamite Bob” (who was so well cut out for his duty taking into account his name), whether it was the planning done by himself or the orders of a higher member of the group, deliberately went to the church on a Sunday morning; when people usually gather to worship. This right here shows some form of premeditation. This leads to me wonder what the structure of the Ku Klux Klan is actually like.
Well I believe it’s very simple. It’s actually incredibly comparable to the many street gangs that plague the very cities we live in today, and also to terrorist networks like Al-Qaeda; a known terror organization targeted by our country’s anti-terror laws. Essentially, it’s one or a few men at the top who are very rich and powerful. Then, there are a couple more guys just underneath them who give orders to the very bottom of the chain, the foot soldiers. The soldiers do the dirty work, and get in all the trouble while the guys at the top sit on piles of profit. These soldiers are promised benefits for being members and putting in work. They are brainwashed into believing what they are doing is good. It is remarkable to think that these men of this group think that violence and hate are ultimately going to change the world for the better and make a difference. Don’t they understand that it is that abhorrence that only creates even more problems and in turn, turns hate on themselves?
People hate the Ku Klux Klan because of what they believe; what they believe is ethically wrong. Just to get a point across, and go to the very extreme…what if they just got rid of everybody they hated? Unexpectedly, other, untargeted people would hate them for what they represent. The KKK would then feel tension and get rid of these outsiders who hate them. So, by then eliminating these “haters of the KKK” they have basically gotten rid of everyone, except for those who are too afraid to speak their mind. Those who are too afraid to speak their mind eventually feel threatened and believe “Well if you cant beat ‘em, join ‘em.” . See, this is one huge chain reaction caused by genocide. THEN we have a bigger problem on our hands. The KKK angers me and at the same time instills fear in me. This is an understandable feeling to think about coming from others because we outsiders are so small in numbers compared to this group. It’s amazing yet frustrating to know that these members could possibly be brainwashed into thinking what they are doing is ethically right. Genocide isn’t ethically right. Under no circumstance is it acceptable. If we don’t do anything to stop this group who’s ideals are based on genocide, it will continue to occur and this world that was meant to be created for individuals will have turned into a world ruled by one group of people dictating what people should think in addition to hate and violence.
PRIMARY: I had the opportunity to interview a family member who lives in Lincolnwood, Illinois. The thing about Lincolnwood is that it borders a town called Skokie right outside of Chicago. Skokie happens have one of the biggest Jewish-American populations in the United States. It’s a quiet town where one can forget that he or she is so close to the city. Both Skokie and Lincolnwood are virtually crime free and populated with good schools, libraries, community centers, and most important of all, good people.
My aunt prides herself on how well she raises her kids. Taking pride in the fact that all of her kids, at such young age, are active in sports, get good grades in class, have a lot of friends, and are basically well rounded. “I live in a nice area, a nice quiet town where there is hardly ever any crime you know? It’s a great place for my kids, the school is right across the street…etcetera etcetera. All of the stuff I explained before, if my kids were exposed to something like that, I wouldn’t like it at all. My kids could see that, and with their young minds, just soak it all up not knowing what it is truly all about” (Paloma).
It was in 1997 and again around 2001 that the KKK requested permission to March through Skokie and a city a little farther southwest, Cicero. The KKK’s interest in Skokie didn’t start in the 90s however. They had already marched through one time before a few decades earlier. Maria expressed fear and worry when the idea of such a group like the KKK marching through her town was brought up. It’s understandable. Young peoples’ minds are like sponges; they soak everything up. The KKK, now well known for their beliefs of hate and genocide, of course wouldn’t be welcomed into such a well structured community. The children would be poisoned with these thoughts and the community would feel raped of their privilege to live in such a good place.
There is always the argument of “Well, the KKK is bad. Nobody likes them. They just create all this havoc and chaos. They kill people. They’re rednecks,” blah blah blah, the usual stuff. But there is another way to look at this situation. Perhaps, this whole thing is just a vicious cycle of irony. It is possible that both sides are dealing with a phenomenon called intolerance. Of course it’s from two very different points of view, but still both sides are not happy with one another and are not willing to tolerate the other. The Klan is dealing with the dilemma of difference. This organization wants the country to be, well, just one. One type of person. One religion. One set of beliefs and morals. One color. In fact they DON’T want difference, they would rather deal with sameness.
On the other side of the fence is the general population. We DON’T want sameness. We, the people of this country want everyone to have his or her own little flavor. This possible point of view from the Klan is especially interesting because when this country was discovered, it was done so by immigrants. They were from another country seeking to make a new home. Several years later slavery became an issue. When honest Abe came into the picture and frowned upon slavery and abolished it, he gave many new freedoms to blacks living in the country. He was going by the constitution; all men were supposed to be created equal. It was at this time when people started getting jealous of blacks’ new found privileges and rights. The whites didn’t believe in black equality; they were jealous. They wanted to be the only ones with freedom. This is the point when the KKK took a turn for the worse.
ACADEMIC: Lawyers won a trial against several members of the KKK in 1998. Three years earlier in June of 1995, Horace King, a Grand Dragon, along with four other Klansmen took part in the torching of a predominantly African-American church in Clarendon County in rural South Carolina. The group believed that the church was a place where blacks conspired against whites. The Klan proceeded to “demonize” the house of worship in the months leading up to the burning. When it was all said and done, the total amount ordered by the jury for the defendants to pay came up to more than thirty seven million dollars, exceptionally larger than the twelve million dollar bill the church was asking for. Horace King was ordered to pay fifteen million of those greenbacks out of his own pocket while the other four members were set to serve federal prison sentences ranging from twelve to twenty-one years.
The fact that it took three years to win a case against these scumbags is a little appalling. It is also quite unnerving that something like this could happen in such a small quiet town; just one more piece of evidence that this organization can be everywhere around us. When I first read this article by Julie Brienza from the Expanded Academic ASAP database, I couldn’t help but think “That’s kiddy shit man.” Its childish and unnecessary to burn a church; a place of worship. I mean, what compels someone to do something like this? There is really no ethical or logical reason to burn down a church, and I don’t believe that there is really any justification for it. So people worship a god and believe in good and trust in a savior, so what. I’m not taking any sides on religion here, but it is not right to intervene on someone’s or a group’s beliefs, so long as those beliefs don’t interfere with our moral code as human beings, like the beliefs of the KKK (genocide, violence, hate, etc) and the beliefs of suicide bombers.
I realize that yes; some action was taken on these guys. Large bills were handed out to care of the damages and long prison sentences were awarded for their wrongdoing, but that’s just it. That’s all it was. In twenty or thirty years those guys could walk free or that money could just be paid off easily allowing members to just let history repeat itself and go do what they do again; hate. I think that Horace King, being the KING and the leader that he is, should take more responsibility, man up and serve a longer sentence than the other Klansmen. I believe that we are taking some action against the KKK, but it is far from sufficient. The Klan is growing and growing as we speak. One day they will be too powerful to stop. I say it is better to stop them sooner than later. After digesting that article would I consider them a terror threat? With the previous church bombing incident in mind also? I think I would.
PRIMARY: I realize that I have only provided a small number of references of incidents that prove the KKK has committed acts of domestic terrorism. There are a few last bits of information that must be shared in order to demonstrate the potential size of this organization and how large it could actually become. The Klan is comprised of more than forty different groups, which then have multiple chapters. There are over one hundred different chapters varying on the groups they belong to and where they are located. On an overall scale, there are estimated to be at least five thousand members and affiliates of the KKK. The group is projected to be the most powerful and influential in the South and the Midwest; funny in the Midwest seeing as Chicago has a very high population of African Americans. Reports say that the Klan is on the rise and will stop at nothing to get as large as possible.
After researching so many different sources and reading back-to-back bashes on the KKK, I would say that if I hadn’t known anything of the Ku Klux Klan before my research I would be convinced that the KKK is well, as I said before, plain ol’ bad news. I think that the general public would believe that the KKK is evil as well. What I’m getting at is that after digesting so many articles, books, statistics, responses and videos one would consider that the KKK is nothing but a group of bad people that do bad things. They are associated with terror, hate and genocide. All the usual facts, right? However, I came across something so obvious that refused to portray the KKK as anything but negative; their very own website.
It would seem as if this white supremacism is only happening in our country. Think again. The KKK has an Internet website which allows them to reach millions upon millions of people with their views of white superiority. They reached a girl in Australia, 17 years old, who wrote in a blog about African-American students and how her high school is being overrun by “primates.” The website is also a portal for people to join the Klan and become members. Applicants are asked questions about their hair and eye color, and if whether or not they would consent to a polygraph test.
After so many hate crimes in the US, the Klan was beginning to be cracked down on in the form of lawsuits. The future of the KKK wasn’t looking so bright. The group was now on a steady decline. However, now with our modern age of technology they can rely on the Internet. The Klan is now able to reach astronomical potential members, not only in the US, but also in many other countries across the world. Thus, spreading their views internationally and ultimately creating a global problem. The fact that the KKK now has the ability to reach a considerably larger amount of people on a world wide scale with their beliefs of hate is extremely scary. “’The Imperial Klans of America's February newsletter published an article entitled ‘God's Chosen People’. It says that ‘basically a Jew is a mongrel’ and that Jews are ‘evil and wicked’. Jews are ‘chosen to be burned, consumed by fire’ and ‘God condones the genocide of the Jewish race’” (Roberts). More reason to be considered a threat to human kind.
I guess now is the time to bring my findings full circle and conclude all my thoughts. We live in an age now where far too many people are offended by simple unintentional things. Some things are intentional but aren’t meant to offend any one particular group of people. People complain about lyrics on songs, suggestive themes in cartoons, or violence in video games. The eighty twenty rule states that eighty percent of us are missing the bigger picture. We are paying attention to things that shouldn’t necessarily be paid attention to. If you don’t like a certain artist’s lyrics, don’t listen to them. Don’t let your kids listen to them either. If you think a video game is too violent for your twelve year old, you should’ve read the ESRB rating of M for Mature before you bought it for him. Rather, we should be paying attention to things that threaten our livelyhood and our well being. There are bigger and worse problems out in the world that threaten us each day.
There are certain people who are taking advantage of the second amendment; to the extreme. The Ku Klux Klan is a known organization of white supremacists who believe in the “ethnic cleansing” of the United States. Their beliefs are centered on ideals of hate and violence. The KKK despises anyone who is different and will go to great lengths to moderate our national identity by regulating the citizenry through intolerance. Domestic terror is a common thing for the Klan. They take part in hate crimes and attack any group of people who are different and non-white. Why is this so?
It all boils down to the psychology of everything. People hate for no good reason. People don’t want to tolerate another kind for no good reason. There is no justification for any of the actions taken by the KKK. Everything is just very blurred and blown out of proportion. Why is it that we as residents of the world cannot accept each and every one another? Why do there have to be prejudices? At the end of the day, we are all here for the same reason. We all share the same air; we all share the same sun, moon, and stars. The Ku Klux Klan is an organization that contributes greatly to the large amount of racism in the U.S. They are on the rise and will stop at nothing. Soon they will be too big to stop.
With advances in technology they are able to reach millions of potential members. Something must be done in order to preserve the quality of life for everyone on Earth. So with that said, I leave you with a quote. “Hate is just baggage. Life’s too short to be pissed off all the time. It’s just not worth it. ‘We are not enemies, we are friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained we must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched as surely they will be by the better angels of our nature’(Lincoln)”(American History X).
Works Cited
American History X. Dir. Tony Kaye. Perf. Edward Norton, Edward Furlong. DVD. New Line Entertainment, 2001.
Bagby, Milton. "Two Arrested for 1963 Church Bombing." American History 35.4 (Oct 2000): 6. Expanded Academic ASAP. Gale. Columbia College Library (Chicago). 27 Mar. 2008
Brienza, Julie. "Klan group found liable in church burning case." Trial 34.n10 (Oct 1998): 100(1). Expanded Academic ASAP. Gale. Columbia College Library (Chicago). 27 Mar. 2008
Curiel, Carlos. Personal interview. 01 Mar. 2008.
Douthat, Strat. "Courts curb the Ku Klux Klan's clout." The Advertiser 1 (1987): 1. Lexis Nexis Academic. Columbia College Library. 27 Mar. 2008.Keyword: KKK
Kidder, Rushworth. “TOUGH CHOICES Why It’s Getting Harder to be Ethical.” The Futurist (1995): 1-5.
Ku Klux Klan- a Secret History. Dir. The History Channel. Perf. KKK. YouTube. 27 Mar. 2008
"Ku Klux Klan: Extremism in America." Anti Defamation League. 2008. 29 Mar. 2008
Liberator, Mark. "Interview with the Ku Klux Klan: Jeff Berry." Liberator.Net. 30 July 2005. 27 Mar. 2008
Moreno, Jaime. Personal interview. 28 Feb. 2008.
Paloma, Maria. Personal interview. 10 Mar. 2008.
Roberts, Greg. "Net Spreads KKK Hate in Australia." The Age 0 (1999): 10. Lexis Nexis Academic. Columbia College Library. 27 Mar. 2008.Keyword: KKK
Salama-Scheer, Yaniv. "ADL: KKK on the Rise in the U.S." The Jerusalem Post 8 Feb. 2007: 6. LexisNexis Academic. Columbia College Library, Chicago. 29 Mar. 2008. Keyword: KKK.
Southern Poverty, Law Center. "A Hundred Years of Terror." Iupui.Edu. 2000. Indiana University. 27 Mar. 2008
