Essay On The Ku Klux Klan

The Ku Klux Klan

White was the color of their skin. White was the color of the robes they wore. White supremacy was all that they wanted. The Ku Klux Klan was started by ex-Confederate soldiers that held their beliefs very highly. Their beliefs must have been held from a different viewpoint than the majority of people because they were willing to kill for what they wanted.
Many people thought that the members, or Klansfolk, of the Ku Klux Klan eat, slept, and breathed terrorism, but the truth is, on a daily basis you would not be able to tell Klansfolk apart from anyone else you saw walking down the street. They held gatherings and went to church, but when they did terrorize, there was no stopping them. They were largely known for their hatred and terrorism of black people, but they also terrorized Catholics, Jews, foreigners, and people who promoted the industrialization of the United States. The KKK would burn crosses even though they were Christian. They staged rallies and burned homes, buildings, or schools. They would abuse anyone even if they were just simply associated with the people that they discriminated against. The KKK thrived on white supremacy. It’s what they knew, and they didn’t want anything to change that. Abraham Lincoln once said, “Where
slavery is, there liberty cannot be; and where liberty is, there slavery cannot be.” But when black people became free there was still no liberty because the KKK felt threatened. They would stop at nothing to keep things the way that they liked them. Nathan Bedford Forrest once said, “I am not an enemy of the Negro. We want him here among us; he is the only laboring class we have.” KKK members liked America as a rural agricultural society, not the industrial nation that it was becoming, so they gained support from people that felt the same way. Klansfolk were also anti-Catholic and anti-Semitic, hateful to Jews, so when immigrants starting coming over to work in factories, they were enraged. This is when they started terrorizing more than just blacks and Catholics. Their acts of terrorism did not go unnoticed by anyone. Their white robes meant fear, pain ,and violence. But, many people liked and supported what the KKK was doing. In the 1920s, the amount of Klansfolk there were peaked at around 4 million. The surprising thing is that not all of these people were from the South. There were Klansfolk in many states, including the Northern ones. Klansfolk were also required to recruit 10 people to vote for Klan candidates in elections, and this requirement made the KKK successful in engineering the elections for many officials, including mayors. In some states like Colorado, enough Klansfolk were in a powerful enough position that they effectively controlled the state government. Terrorizing someone just because you think you’re better than them is extremely wrong, in my opinion. Put up flyers, throw a plate at your wall, or complain to your mama, but people shouldn’t go around instilling fear in people just because they can. The KKK is supposed to be a Christian organization. How in the world do they think that terrorizing and killing is in the name of God? Even if the KKK lived in another corner of this world, I believe they would still be instilling fear the way that they do. They are against certain religions, and religion is like a sandwich. Each country has their bread, which is a very prominent religion, but there’s also stuff on the inside. There may be peanut butter, jelly, ham, or cheese. You never know what you’re going to get, so there’s a chance that each country may have some unexpected religion hidden in the mess of their sandwich. But maybe if the KKK was born into the 21st century, they would see that the majority of people accept things the way they are, all of our differences intertwined into one country. The Ku Klux Klan is very well known, making it an easy topic to write about. Black people would think about the KKK and all that came to mind was fear, pain, and worry, which was what was displayed in the book. If they saw the KKK, they knew they better get out of the way because something bad was about to happen. This is what happened in the book and in real life. Black people had to constantly worry whether or not walking out on the street would get them killed. Catholics and Jews had to worry about going into church because they didn’t know whether or not there was a bomb hidden in it. The KKK made no effort to hide their terrorist events, meaning anyone and everyone could have access to this information, making real-life and the horrible events that happened in the book alarmingly similar. The KKK was on a roller coaster in terms of being a group and disbanding, but they inevitably dispersed.
Even though the KKK is not near as active as they used to be, many people throughout the United States are still in the KKK. They may not be doing the same terrorist activities, but they still hold the same views on race and religion. Robert C. Byrd said, “The Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia. It is necessary that the order be promoted immediately and in every state in the Union. Will you please inform me as to the possibilities of rebuilding the Klan realm of W. V.A..” They are people who focus on white supremacy, and they want nothing
less.

Bibliography:

http://archive.adl.org/learn/ext_us/kkk/crime.html?LEARN_Cat=Extremism

http://www.christianpost.com/news/kkk-leader-were-a-christian-organization-claims-the-klan-is-not-a-hate-group-116614/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2446638/Under-hood-Astonishing-glimpse-secretive-rituals-mundane-home-life-Ku-Klux-Klan-members-21st-Century.html

http://www.history.com/topics/ku-klux-klan

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/flood-klan/?flavour=mobile

The Glory Field by Walter Dean Myers