The History of the Ku Klux Klan and their Modern Day Actions

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The Ku Klux Klan is one of our Nations most well known feared groups. It is motivated in a culture with only one race through their eyes. The KKK has used violence and actions above the law to support their cause. It has been around for more than 130 years while it continues to thrive in America’s society today. The Ku Klux Klan began after the civil war in the Southern United States. These southern people suffered much from the effects of this war. Many lost their homes, plantations, friends and loved ones to the war.

In 1865, a club was started to help relieve the stress of the times. The men were all poor, bored and yet upset about the out come of the war. In the beginning, the men only wanted to play pranks on people. However the people were more frightened than they were cheered up. They soon figured out what they could do with these fearful pranks and saw the chance to get the South back to the way it used to be. The KKK soon began to ride through political rallies while people often fled because of their presence. So accidentally, began what has grown to be the largest and most feared "hate group" in the United States.

The KKK used violence against Republicans to keep them from voting when social and economic pressures were ineffective in keeping them from the polls. The first state governments in the former Confederacy sided with the freed blacks, so this struggle by the

KKK involved attacks on government officials. Eventually, Reconstruction was ended, in part because of compromises made in the disputed presidential election of 1876. (Lutz & Lutz, 2005)

From 1967 and 1968 to the beginning of the 1990s, terrorism in the world was characterized by the appearance of large numbers of groups of leftist...

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...l organization for ex-confederates in Pulaski, Tennessee. They spread very rapidly through the south and even got such nicknames as the "Invisible Empire". The Klan has been involved in countless incidents of human rights violations, although blacks have typically been the Klan's main target, it also has assaulted Jews, immigrants, homosexuals and Catholics over the years.

It is true that racism still exists in the United States, but there will always be men and women of every color fighting against groups like the KKK. As long as there are differences between people in this world, there will always be hate, and the KKK will be there to feed on this hate and exploit it in every way possible. They may be silent for many years, but you can count on the fact that they are there. They are “the Invisible Empire” and will always be the dark side to American History.

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