Introduction
The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is a United States terrorist organization that emerged right after the end of the Civil War. It implemented such measures as intimidation, violence, and murder in order to maintain white supremacy in the Southern government and social life in general. While organizations such as ISIS, Al-Qa’ida, Hamas, or Hizballah are foreign terrorist organizations that have the characteristics of international terrorism, the KKK is a domestic terrorist group, the purpose of which is to ‘take back the country’ (National Geographic, 2023). Even though its activity has been steadily declining and has predominantly reduced to the spreading of online propaganda, the KKK represents an example of how a hate group can gain traction through the perpetuation of a toxic and discriminatory agenda.
Background
The organization was created by Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate cavalry general from Mississippi. As defined by Alvarez and Bachman (2020), the KKK is a right-wing terrorist conservative organization seeking to preserve an oppressive political system or return society to “some past mythic time of greatness” (p. 300). The group’s name comes from the Greek word for circle, kilos (Alvarez & Bachman, 2020). The organization was founded in order to resist the Reconstruction of the United States and protect the White population of the South from the perceived transgressions that would result from the freeing of enslaved people. An intimidating move on the part of the group was wearing robes with pointed hoods to present to African Americans as the ghosts of Confederate soldiers.
The KKK used violence and intimidation, which was explicitly targeted at the Black population of the country. Specifically, the lynching and threats focused on the citizens who attempted to exercise their newfound civil rights. In the 1920s, the organization developed quickly in light of the criminal chaos that captured the country (FBI, n.d.). The membership of the KKK expanded to six figures when it was led by “Colonel” William Simmons and Edward Young Clarke, an advertising executive.
Notably, by the mid-1920s, the group encompassed several million members who committed crimes in the name of the bigoted ideology. These crimes were horrific and included kidnappings, hangings, mutilations, acid brandings, and cross-burnings. Consequently, concerns were rising regarding the KKK representing a severe threat to public safety.
Ideology
The fundamental ideology of the KKK went beyond white supremacy and, on the one hand, showed many mainstream positions, such as anti-communism. On the other hand, with the racialization of popular ideas like anti-communism, the Klan sought to further its ideology beyond politics by forming its own unique set of narratives on race, religion, and national affairs (Heikkilä, 2021). Specifically, the doctrine of the organization became popular in the 1920s, particularly when anti-Catholicism and anti-Semitism were gaining traction. Further in the timeline, a crisis mood was formed when the Civil Rights Movement was forming to put an end to segregation, and those who joined the clan saw the upcoming change as a threat to “their way of life” (Heikkilä, 2021, p. 23). Almost a hundred years of the movement’s history provided the tradition to follow and imitate, with the successes of the Civil Rights Movement highlighting the urgency for action among KKK members and supporters.
The ideology of the KKK was rooted in Southern issues, with anti-Catholicism being present but not as prominent. However, anti-Semitism was consistently evoked in addition to racism because of the connections to anti-communism and theories of conspiracy that suggested that there was a Jewish influence in the Civil Rights Movement (Heikkilä, 2021). Thus, the established myths and traditions took prominent places in the ideological narratives of the KKK and their depictions of perceived enemies. The white supremacist movement was a reaction to upcoming societal changes characterized by the granting of more rights to members of racial minorities. The political myths and ideologies overlapped in many aspects, specifically in terms of the objective of maintaining and imposing hierarchical domination of one racial group over others.
Racial myths evoked by the leadership and members of the Klan were made to appear as if they were essential, even though detached from history. Nevertheless, racial signification should always be considered a part of the social and historical process. The definition of white supremacy by Fredrickson (2016) allows for a better understanding of the KKK’s racial bias in the Civil Rights Era – beyond beliefs and attitudes, racism “expresses itself in the practices, institutions, and structures that a sense of deep difference justifies or validates” (p. 6).
Within the basis of white supremacy, the KKK created further myths, including the use of selective Bible passages. The rallies of the members appeared religious and ceremonial, while the Christian cross was changed to fit the symbol of white supremacy, the fiery cross. The members perpetuated such racist myths as “God drew the color line” or “God was the author of segregation,” which illustrated their perceived superiority of white Anglo-Saxon men over the Black population (Heikkilä, 2021, p. 27). Overall, the ideas that the KKK perpetuated to push the racist and discriminatory agenda were associated with the purposefully selected myths and symbols to which new meanings were attached.
The advancement of the ideology of white supremacy and other myths perpetuated by the KKK was implemented not only through propaganda dissemination across the country but also through committing violent crimes. For instance, in 1921, the KKK members killed between twenty-one and two hundred Black people after the Tulsa Race Riots caused by the alleged raping of a White woman by a Black man (Davis, 2020). In 1955, Emmett Till was violently beaten and fatally shot by two white men, as the two claimed to see that he had flirted with a white woman. In 1963, the KKK members claimed to be responsible for planting explosives underneath a Black church during Sunday school; the explosion killed four Black schoolgirls aged between eleven and fourteen (Davis, 2020).
In 1965, four KKK members killed Viola Luizzo, a white civil rights activist, for being seen in a car with a Black man (Davis, 2020). The list of crimes committed by the KKK is extensive, with many of the crimes possibly not even being reported or investigated in the first place. During its peak and a high rate of KKK crimes, severe racial discrimination persisted in American society, even outside the organization, which made the activities of the group possible and widespread.
Identifying the positive outcomes of the KKK’s ideology and behaviors mentioned above is only possible through the lens of efforts targeted at addressing the risks associated with the organization’s activity. The FBI’s designation of the KKK as a domestic terrorist organization allowed for the gathering of evidence and focusing on the crimes involving the prolific members of the group. Even though the KKK perceived itself as an organization that could help bring the benefits of a powerful state, the agenda of white supremacy and the violent crimes accompanying it did not allow for the lenient treatment of the organization by law enforcement.
For example, in 1997, the FBI tracked a group of KKK members who were planning to build a homemade bomb in the hope that the explosion would lead to hydrogen sulfide release, which is a gas capable of killing hundreds of people (FBI, n.d.). The agency’s “Operation Sour Gas” allowed tracking down the perpetrators and arresting them before the plot was carried out. Since the time the FBI started paying more attention to the KKK and investigating the crimes it committed and planned, the Klan began to change and dissipate. Even though the threats from the organization remain, the KKK today cannot be compared to the organization it was in the 1950s and 1960s.
Conclusion
To conclude, foreign terrorist organizations have been the primary concern for international law enforcement. However, the categorization of such organizations suggests that there are also domestic groups that can engage in violence, genocide, and propaganda. The example of the KKK shows that the ideology of a terrorist organization can be drawn from multiple sources and does not necessarily have to be based on truth. The KKK created its own myths and manipulated religious ideologies to appear righteous to the general public. In reality, the motives for the group’s actions were rooted in bigotry, violence, and the inability to progress together with society.
References
Alvarez, A. C., & Bachman, R. D. (2020). Violence: The enduring problem (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Davis, R. (2020). 12 horrific crimes committed by the KKK between 1921 and 2016. Essence. Web.
FBI. (n.d.). KKK series. Web.
Fredrickson, G. M. (2016). Racism: A Short History. Princeton University Press.
Heikkilä, N. (2021). Racial myths and the Civil Rights-era Ku Klux Klan. American Studies in Scandinavia, 53(1), 21-41. Web.
National Geographic. (2023). The Ku Klux Klan. Web.