“DOMESTIC TERRORISM” – THE KU KLUX KLAN
R. A. Schultz
Terrorism in the United States was with us long before 1950. Shortly after the end of the American Civil War, the Ku Klux Klan was founded in Pulaski, Tennessee by a group of Confederate veterans. The Klan, as well as other resistance groups, notably the Knights of the White Camellia and the Southern Cross, spread rapidly throughout the former Confederacy as well as into many Northern states, advocating white Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) supremacy and resistance to the federal government, which was, and indeed still is, seen by many in the Confederate States and others as an invading and occupying force.
Terrorism, in the form of lynchings, shootings, arson, and other means, was used to intimidate not only Negroes but also large segments of the white population, particularly Republicans, because of their affiliation with the political party of Abraham Lincoln, whose Emancipation Proclamation formally ended slavery in the secessionist states, and in what was to become the forcible reunion of the Confederate States with the United States. The Klan and similar organizations began to decline in popularity once the populace realized that their continued resistance activities gave the national government an excuse for continuing to maintain a federal troop presence in the former Confederacy.
A resurgence of Klan activity occurred in the 1930’s with the growth of civil unrest in response to a rapidly declining economy, and again in the 1960’s as an expression of opposition to the modern civil rights movement. Nationwide, Klan influence today is insignificant with a total estimated membership of about 6,000, divided into roughly 180 local organizations. Concentrated pockets of Klan membership have been noted in some areas, particularly in some counties in northeastern North Carolina, inland central Florida, and northwestern Georgia.
Relatively tepid recent Klan activity, mainly consisting of peaceful demonstrations, has served only to enrage those of the rabid American Left so much so that they are inspired to rioting, assaulting, and destroying, the very things they accuse the Klan of doing. But then, that’s just the Left following the Alinsky playbook.
