Masaryk university in brno faculty of education

4.2 The Ku Klux Klan presented by Civil Rights Organizations

Contrary to the official sources of the Ku Klux Klan, the organizations defending equality among races and nationalities and civil rights organizations present the Klan in a slightly different way. The Klan is pictured as a racist group of people, who spread hate in the whole society and hide themselves behind the mask of protectors of white heritage and Christianity. As the president of SPLC (Southern Poverty Law Center), Richard Cohen, says about the Klan members: “They promote violence and intimidation and call for the death of racial and ethnic minorities, homosexuals and so called “race traitors”.⁶⁰

According to a website that associates the most of the civil rights organizations, hate crimes and crimes of racial violence are “intended not only to injure individuals but to intimidate the entire group of people.”⁶¹ Especially “hate crimes against African- Americans impact upon the entire society not only for the hurt they cause but for the history they recall, and perpetuate.”⁶²

This source as well as Anti Defamation Jewish League emphasize that Klan is still attacking Black churches, which are the most important places of Black community and for most of African- Americans it is the centre of cultural and political events. There are published many cases of burning and destroying churches:
“In 1983, while Sunday services were underway, a group of whites shot out the church's windows.⁶³ Coming back later in the day, they scrawled "KKK" on the door, destroyed the piano, smashed the crucifix, tore up the Bibles, scattered beer cans on the pews, and even defecated on the sacrament cloth. Over the next 12 years more than 200 people were arrested for acts of vandalism against the church. Then, on August 15, 1995, the church was burned down. And, in May, 1996, three white teenagers were arrested and charged with burning down the church. St. John Baptist Church was one of at least 73 African-American churches that suffered suspicious fires or acts of desecration since January 1, 1995. …For instance, in January, 1994, two members of the Fourth Reich Skinheads were sentenced to prison terms for plotting an attack on the historic First African Methodist Episcopal Church in South-Central Los Angeles. The racist skinheads had hoped that the attack, which was averted by their arrest, would trigger a race war.”⁶⁴
“In a July 1998 court judgment, the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, its South Carolina state leader Horace King, and several other Klansmen were held responsible for their roles in a conspiracy to burn down a Black church”⁶⁵
As announced before, the Ku Klux Klan presents itself as a Christian organization. But on the other hand, the Anti Defamation League proclaims that the Klan is not following the right beliefs and it changes it to suit their needs. It says that:
“Also common to many Klan Web sites is advocacy of "Identity," a pseudo-theology that claims to be a form of Christianity but is in reality a hateful mixture of anti-Semitism, racism, and homophobia. Identity holds that Jews are the offspring of Satan; that Blacks and other racial minorities are inferior; and that white Anglo-Saxons are the "true Israelites."⁶⁶
Klan usually picks up a quote from the text of Bible and explains it in a different way than it is its real meaning in the context.

It is also emphasized the influence and the significance of the internet. Because of the rise of various websites and other online sources of information about the white supremacist organizations, the Klan gets more members:

“Up until last month, the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Realm of Florida were very small," writes Brian K. Bass of his Klan group. "But now we have a website up, and our numbers are growing dramatically. We picked up 6 new members in just the last two weeks, and have other applications under consideration. I feel that this is due to the website."⁶⁷
The League warns that media is a dangerous instrument of influencing people, especially internet that is not controlled.

As some sources show, the Klan is loosing its power and influence now. ⁶⁸ But on the contrary, it is also said that as the civilization is getting into the economic crisis, it is very probable that it will rise again and will be powerful. It is also a very significant event in the history of the United States that the first African- American, Barack Obama, became the president. It is believed that the Klan can not leave this without some kind of protest.⁶⁹

As established above, ordinary Klan member was an uneducated man from working class, who tried to find some way of expressing his opinion. Now, it did not change very much. As Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama says: “They are a fairly low-rent bunch of people, many of whom use their local organizations as a way of raising money for themselves,”⁷⁰ The Klan is still joined by people from middle and working class, who are losing their jobs and homes to foreclosure and find themselves in the poverty. As they feel it is not their mistake; they are looking for the scapegoat and for revenge. They choose mostly immigrants from Central and South America as their target and blame them for taking jobs and opportunities to work from them. But they fight also against Blacks, Jews and homosexuals. As experts observe, the Klan is definitely not losing its power. It seems, it is not active nowbut the world political and social situation is developing in a way that gives the Klan the opportunity to express itself again. As Mark Potok predicts: “Things are certain to get worse,”… The ingredients are all there: a dire economy that is certain to get worse; high levels of immigration; the white majority that is soon to turn into a minority and a Black man in the White House.”⁷¹ But there are some theories that the Klan is drawing the support from the history. It still reminds the public the powerful Invisible Empire; it used to be before and in fact is not such a menace in these days. It is not that threatening as it used to be.

The original Ku Klux Klan and other groups founded on its beliefs might be not such a danger but it is true that the Klan is connected and cooperates with neo- nazi organizations, which are very active now. It is also common that former Klan members found their nazi groups as it is known in the case of Tom Metzger in California and Bill Riccio in Alabama. They both turned into neo- nazi leaders and cooperate with other racist groups and the Klan too. ⁷²

To sum up, media and civil rights organizations describe the Klan as a racist and terrorist organization. It is the common picture dominating among public in out society. When the Klan members commit a crime, there is always emphasized the suffering of the victim in media and the cruelty of the crime. The Klan is considered criminal and terrorist organization in present days.