Ku Klux Klan
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The Ku Klux Klan is a hate group, which was started in the southern United States in 3rd March 1865, the first disbanded, but others have been created.
Early years
The Ku Klux Klan (acronym KKK) is an organization which was first founded (started) in the South of the United States after the American Civil War to protest against the new government. This was in 1865. During this time, there were troops based in the ex-Confederacy states. The Klan was scared that the population in the South could lose their democratic rights. Also the Klan members believed that African Americans were inferior to (less than) white people. The Klan acted against black people, but Republicans were also targets of attacks by the clan. The methods of acting against people were often the same: the Klan members tried to frighten the people that the Klan wanted to go out of town. The KKK tried to deny their human rights by burning crosses or threatening them. If people did not react, the Klan killed them. The growing violence which was celebrated by the KKK led to many lynchings (killing a person by hanging them from a rope around their neck.) The Klan was a large problem. The KKK was prohibited (made against the law) in 1871. After 1871 many KKK members were imprisoned (put in jail) However, the Klan had achieved many of its original goals, for example the troops were moved out of the southern states.
The second Ku Klux Klan
In 1915 the Klan was founded (started) for a second time. The most of the rituals and traditions of the “old” Ku Klux Klan were kept. All men that were white and Protestant could join the KKK. Targets of attacks were again black people, but also Jews and Catholics. In 1920 growing economic problems caused the Klan to get much bigger. The KKK proclaimed (said strongly) the “white supremacy” again and again. “White supremacy” says that people who are white (from European origins) are better than other racial groups. The Klan killed many blacks. These were not legal executions. There was no law trial. An African American (black) person who the Klan did not like was murdered. This is a kind of terrorism. The KKK used fear to control African Americans and take away their human rights. In the middle of the 20’s the Klan got smaller because bad leaders and so much violence. After the Second World War the Klan closed again because of high debts. In 1954 the United States Supreme Court (the highest court in the US) made an important decision. The case was Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. The court ruled (decided) that it was not legal to have different schools for black and white children. When the Supreme Court ruled that the separation of blacks and whites on schools is against the United States Constitution the Klan became bigger and stronger. The KKK began again to attack and threaten black people. In the latest years the Klan still burns down churches where black people go. There are currently about 7,000 members in the Klan.
Current events
In the summer of 1964 Edgar Killen killed three African Americans that participated in the civil rights movement. Killen was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. There was an early trial in 1967, but in this trial there was an all-white jury and so Kellen was set free. In 1988 a movie called Mississippi Burning was made which talked about the events of this case. In 2005 there was another trial. Killen (now 80 years old) was sentenced to prison for 60 years.
