How many kkk members are there in 2010

The movie was one of the most controversial films ever made and was based on the novel The Clansman by Thomas Dixon, Jr. Simmons and a few friends burned a cross on Stone Mountain near Atlanta to signal the revival of the Klan as one of many fraternal groups, but it harkened to an earlier Ku Klux Klan that often fought violently against rights for freed African Americans in the post-Civil War Reconstruction South.

In a scene from the film Birth of a Nation , Klansmen capture Gus, played by a white actor in blackface. The film is considered one of the most controversial of all time and is credited with igniting the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan during the s and s. As KKK membership grew into the millions by the early s, the money poured in. It supported the recently enacted national prohibition on alcoholic beverages and opposed labor unions, immigration, and foreign entanglements such as the League of Nations.

Klan members and leadership disliked Wall Street and big business in general, and chain stores in particular. Unlike the early Klan or the Klan of the s , the s Klan, although founded in the South, was not exclusively southern. It boasted support nationwide, primarily in the Midwest. In , more than 40 percent of all Klan membership could be found in just three states Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois , but the Klan also secured significant support in Maine, Colorado, and Oregon where it helped ban Catholic schools.

It enjoyed a small-town base but also appealed to big-city Protestants, with large chapters in such cities as Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Dallas, and Indianapolis. In the South, most members were Democrats. In the North such as in Indiana , most were Republicans, though Milwaukee had a fairly large Socialist membership. Of course, the Klan was much more than a social group or a business network. It was especially hostile to blacks, Catholics, and Jews. The original Klan had been specifically formed to combat freedoms for freed slaves, and the new Klan continued that trend.

The Klan also opposed and disparaged Jews, painting them alternately as predatory capitalists and dangerous radicals. Catholic immigrants from Ireland, Italy, eastern Europe, French Canada, and southern Germany had poured into the country by the millions in the previous decades, competing with native-born American workers for jobs and driving down wages.

The Klan also associated immigrants with drunkenness and saloons in an era of Prohibition , as well as with being un-American because of their languages, foods, and customs. The great majority of Klan members were Protestants who feared Catholics because they were convinced the average Catholic was completely under the thumb of his or her parish priest or worse a foreign, authoritarian Church hierarchy led by the pope.

Senator J. Although not every Klansman was violent, far too many were. Members perpetrated lynchings, arson, beatings, and whippings. Ku Kluxism as conceived, incorporated, propagated, and practiced has become a menace to the peace and security of every section of the United States. Its evil and vicious possibilities are boundless. It is nothing more or less than a throwback to the centuries when terror, instead of law and justice, regulated the lives of men. At first the Klan grew slowly after its rebirth, but the early s witnessed spectacular growth.

On July 4, , an estimated , Klansmen, women, and children gathered in Kokomo, Indiana, to hold mass rallies. There are now However, as an observer of the Klan, I would argue that it is those very traditions, those icons, which make the order hit the headlines so often. The Klan hood is still one of the most widely recognisable symbols of hate. Yes, it is old fashioned, and certainly, it is impractical. That curious — absurd — pointed shape, with the sinister eye holes, immediately conjures up visions of lynchings, the fire-bombing of African-American churches and other acts of terrorism.

It is a far more recognisable symbol than other logos used by the alt-right and other white supremacists, with the obvious exception of the swastika. A quick trawl through some recent news stories seems to bear this out. In fact, the symbolism of the Klan is currently so powerful that it is difficult to think of a situation where using its instantly recognisable iconography would not bring near universal condemnation.

The Governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam, discovered this recently when pictures emerged of the yearbook for the Eastern Virginia Medical School which he attended. They frequently feel like victims of inequality and have had negative encounters with specific people that later color their impressions of groups at large.

Being bullied by immigrants or minorities is one example. Others are more extreme. Although Cacek has developed a working relationship with a number of Klansmen and photographed various groups in Kentucky and Virginia, he still faces challenges that limit the scope of his work. Members of the Klan like to maintain an aura of mystery—hence the white robes—and they insist that photos include their pointed hats and swastika tattoos.

Ty Cacek is a documentary photographer and currently studying at the University of Missouri. See more of his work here. Find him on Twitter at willyleeadams or on Facebook.

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