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Kristallnacht essay

Ku Klux Klan

The Ku Klux Klan is a secret society based on hatred

and violence. The Klan claims that it stands for only

law-abiding rallies and activities, but the Klan has been

known for having hypocritical views throughout its

existence. No matter where the Klan is headed, violence is

sure to be the destination. The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan

claim that the Bible is on their side. They claim that the

Bible condones their activity. Nowhere in the Bible is

killing thy neighbor encouraged. They claim they are not

out to destroy America, but rather to save it. How is it

possible to save America with hate and violence? The Klan

exists only to hold onto the beliefs of the Confederacy, but

hanging on to the past only adds to the destruction of the

future. Holding on to the past is bad enough when the past

is full of pleasant memories, but the Klan is hanging on to

the hate and ignorance of the South in the 1800s. The Ku

Klux Klan has always attempted to reach their goal of

instilling fear and intimidation in the minds of everyone

they cross. The Klan has undergone four stages after its

establishment and the last stage is still on the rise. The

Klan has a distinct origin, a four stage revolution,

distinct symbols, recruiting requirements, and strong

political beliefs.

Formed in the 19th century, the Ku Klux Klan has

attempted to instill fear in the minds and the hearts of

black citizens in the United States. The Klan was first

organized on December 24th, 1865 in the Law Office of Judge

Thomas M. Jones. There were six people who organized the

Klan. They included Calvin E. Jones, John B. Kennedy, Frank

O. McCord, John C. Lester, Richard R. Reed, and James R.

Crow. This information is proclaimed on a wall in Pulaski,

Tennessee. It was unveiled on May 21, 1917 by the widow of

Captain Kennedy, who was the last of the six founders to

pass away. The origin of the Ku Klux Klan was described in

a thirty page pamphlet published by Mr. and Mrs. William B.

Romine of Pulaski. It read:

As the Klan stood primarily for purity and preservation

of the home and for the protection of the women and

children, especially the widows and orphans of

Confederate soldiers, white, the emblem of purity was

chosen for the robes. And to render them startling and

conspicuous, red, emblem of the blood which Klansmen

were ready to shed in defense of the helpless, was

chosen for the trimmings. Also, a sentimental thought

was present in adopting the color scheme, as white and

red were the Confederate colors. Be it said to the

credit of the women of the South who designed and made

with their own hands more than four hundred thousand of

these Klan robes for both horses and riders, not a word

was said by these women to anyone about them and not

one single secret concerning them was ever revealed.

-page 8 of Ku Klux Klan, A Century of Infamy by

William Pierce Randel

This account was published in 1924. The six founders

were unable to fill a complement of den officers. At first

there was no Grand Scribe. The original den leader, Frank

McCord was called Grand Cyclops; his chief lieutenant, known

as Grand Magi, was Captain Kennedy. James Crowe was chosen

Grand Turk, a kind of marshal or master of ceremonies.

Calvin Jones and Captain Lester were Night Hawks, or

couriers, and Richard Reed was the first Lictor or outer

guard. New titles were created for the next few members to

join. After these positions were filled, the new members

were to be called Ghouls.

The name of this secret organization was one of the

first things that was discussed. They wanted a name that

was original and one that would send a tingle down the spine

of their victims. The title came from a Greek word kuklos

which means a band or circle. James Crowe suggested that

the word be split in two and changing the last letter to an

x. This gave them the name Ku Klux. Then John Lester

remarked that all six founders were of Scottish descent,

therefore he proposed that clan be added to the end, but

spelled with a k for consistency yielding the Ku Klux

Klan. This name was much better than the proposed

Clocletz. Clocetz was the name of a phantom Indian chief

who the Negroes from Georgia had feared, but they decided

that it was too unoriginal.

After the name was established, the Ku Klux Klan needed

to have a set structure to maintain order. The structure

was founded by one of the most educated founders, John

Kennedy. Since he had briefly attended Centre College in

Kentucky, he had observed some details about how

fraternities were structured. Since the structure of

fraternities helped establish other organizations, it seemed

that this was a perfect model to follow in the establishment

of the Ku Klux Klan.

Now that the name and structure were established, the

Klan needed uniforms. The color white was chosen for the

reason that the KKK stood for purity. They decided to wear

robes and hoods to intimidate their much hated counterparts,

the Blacks.

The Ku Klux Klan has gone through an evolution over the

course of time and it has endured four phases;

Reconstruction, the Civil Rights movements, revival after

World War II, and present day activity. The first evidence

of the Ku Klux Klan was during Reconstruction. The Klan

began as a prankish organization that targeted Blacks and

Republicans.

The first Klan was a secret society established in the

Southern states during the Reconstruction period following

the Civil War. It was founded at Pulaski, Tennessee in the

fall of 1865 as a social club. The sudden attempt at

enfranchisement of blacks, by passage of the Reconstruction

acts of March 1867, and also of the Fourteenth Amendment to

the Federal Constitution, created serious problems of

political and social readjustments. Local politicians and

their white supporters, known as scalawags, and Northerners,

known as carpetbaggers, who went south hoping to profit in

one way or another by the manipulation of the black vote,

added to the confusion and uncertainty. Many Blacks were

exploited by their new found friends and turned to them for

help. The Ku Klux Klan was formed to intimidate Blacks.

They used bizarre rituals and wore pointed hoods and draping

gowns to help intimidate Blacks. From 1868 to 1871, the

Klan reached the height of its power. The movement was

really a revolution against many of the aspects of

Reconstruction, and was also a revolt to overthrow local and

state governments.

At the first meeting for the KKK in Nashville,

Tennessee, General Nathan B. Forrest, a famous Confederate

cavalry leader, was chosen as Grand Cyclops, or president.

The Klan was separated into local dens and they adopted a

set of principles. They are as follows: 1) to protect the

weakened and to relieve the injured and oppressed, 2) to

protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and

laws passed in conformity thereto and to protect the states

and the people from invasion of any source, and 3) to aid in

the execution of the laws and to protect the people from

unlawful seizure and trial except by their peers. The Klan

spread from Tennessee to the Carolinas and especially

Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. In Louisiana, white

radicals formed a group that was different than the KKK only

in name. They referred to themselves as the Knights of the

White Camellia. Other similar organizations were referred

to as the White League and the Invisible Circle. The Klan

had a large group of members, but the members were not as

evident as hoped. Local groups were soon were branded as

outlaws; therefore, were condemned. In 1871 and 1872, the

government introduced the Force Laws to break up these

local groups and to control local elections. The Ku Klux

Klan continued to participate in their activities until they

had accomplished all of their goals. They vowed to continue

protecting the white people, reducing the black vote,

expelling undesirable carpetbaggers and scalawags, and

nullifying those laws of Congress that in a sense would put

white Southerners under control of a party largely supported

by black voters. By 1877, when Rutherford B. Hayes became

president and the federal troops had been withdrawn as

support of local governments, the original Klan had been

disbanded.

The second, or the modern 20th-century, Klan was formed

by William J. Simmons on Stone Mountain, near Atlanta, Ga.,

in 1915 as a fraternal organization devoted to the

principles of white supremacy. It was a new organization,

linked only by name and tradition to the original Klan. By

1919, Edward Clark Young and Elizabeth Tyler, publicity

agent and fund raisers, had joined with Simmons. Klan

activities were now not only directed against blacks, but

also against Roman Catholics, Jews, and the foreign-born.

This Klan became dedicated to protecting the purity of the

native-born, white, Anglo-Saxon Americans and claimed a

higher morality and dedication to religious fundamentalism.

Because the Klan was not sectional in its appeal, its

influence spread to other parts of the country outside of

the South. Mysterious meetings around fiery crosses, with

members masked, hooded, and robed in sheets, became symbolic

of the Klan. The tactics they used were to instill fear

upon their counterparts. They used whippings, tarring and

feathering, branding, mutilating, and lynching as tactics to

present intimidation and fear.

Following investigations into the Klan finances and

disclosures of money making in 1921, Young and Tyler

resigned and Simmons was replaced as head of the Klan by

Hiram W. Evans. The Klan reached the height of its power in

the early 1920s, when it probably had between 4, 000, 000 and

6, 000, 000 members. As a political force the Klan was

effective and promoted the election of many officials on the

local level. In 1924, the Klan helped split the Democratic

presidential convention. Thereafter their influence began

to wane, and public sentiment of the Klan grew, especially

after the conviction for murder of the head of the Indiana

Klan. There was a rise of Klan activity during the 1928

presidential campaign, when Al Smith ran on the Democratic

ticket. The ranks of the Klan, however, continued to

deteriorate. During the 1930s, the Klan was reduced to a

regional, ineffective organization in the South. In the

late 1930s, it had some association with the German-American

Bund. When the U. S. government tried to collect back taxes

in 1944, the remnants of the Klan again disbanded.

The third stage came after World War II. The Klan was

again revived in Georgia in 1946 and similar organizations

arose throughout the South as the movement for increased

civil rights for blacks developed after World War II. Klan

activity increased after the 1954 Supreme Court

desegregation decision and became more intensive following

the passage and enforcement of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

and the decision by the vast majority of Southern political

leaders to comply with the law. Many bombings and murders

were attributed to the Klan, including the 1965 killing of

Mrs. Viola Liuzzo, a civil rights worker, for which three

Klansmen were convicted. President Lyndon B. Johnson called

for a congressional investigation of the Klan by the House

Committee on Un-American Activities. In 1966 seven leading

Klansmen were indicted for contempt of Congress for refusing

to produce Klan records. In 1973, convictions were handed

down against five men who, as Klansmen, bombed school busses

in Pontiac, Michigan. Klan strength is variously estimated

at 15, 000 to 30, 000 members active in 15 states.

The Ku Klux Klan seemed to have all of the odds against

them, but they seemed to again reestablish itself in the

present day. The Klan was again revived for the fourth

stage. Every time the Klan reappeared, they came with more

anger and weaker beliefs than the last. This is the main

reason the Klan has lost meaning every time it has

reappeared. The new Klan differs from the original

dramatically. All current members are ignorant radicals out

to save the world. The present-day Klan has been

convicted recently of burning Black churches. This proves

that the Klan is not just ignorant, but yet hypocrites of

their beliefs. No where in the Bible does it say burn thy

neighbors church down. The Klan is portrayed on television

by uneducated, drunk, and violent men who portray themselves

as protecting their ancestors. Their ancestors had to form

a secret society because they lost the Civil War, but were

too scared to give up their old lives. Again they were

grasping on to the past instead of solving problems by

looking ahead to the future. Instead those great ancestors

have passed on their beliefs to these Neo-Nazis on

television. The present-day Klan is the most confused. All

of the other phases of the Klan have been true to their

beliefs, but this recent Klan has incorporated the beliefs

of the Ku Klux Klan with those of Hitlers Nazis. The

Klan/Neo-Nazis stand for mainly the hate and jealousy of

African-Americans. Most of the other beliefs have

diminished, but the hatred towards Blacks has expanded to

fill the empty hole left open by all of the other missing

beliefs. The new Klan is known for their extreme beliefs

and actions. They preach with violence. Even though they

are short on members, they use extreme tactics that would

have never been considered in the past. The present-day

Klan stands for only shallow beliefs including hate,

jealousy, and anger that is expressed through violence.

The Ku Klux Klan is known for their trademark symbols.

Almost all Klan groups use the Blood Drop symbol that was

made popular in the 1920s. It represents the blood of Jesus

Christ that was shed for the white Aryan Race. Another

symbol is the crosswheel that was made popular during the

1970s, the 4th Era. It is a cross in a circle. In the

crosswheel, it is evident that the Christian cross, the

wheel of creativity, the circle of unity, motion, and also

the ancient Aryan symbol for the sun are all present. The

cross that is set ablaze is another signature symbol

acquired by the Ku Klux Klan. The reason that the cross is

lit has been described.

From the sacred pages of the Holy Bible comes the sad

sweet story of the Holy Cross of Calvary. This Holy

Cross is our symbol of sacrifice and service, and a

sign of the Christian religion. It was sanctified and

made Holy almost 2000 years ago by the suffering and

blood over 50 million martyrs who died in the most Holy

Faith. The Cross stands in every Klan Den as a

constant reminder that Jesus Christ is our Criterion of

character and His teachings our life blood, bought

Holy, sanctified and sublime.

This old Cross was bathed in the Blood of our

Lord Jesus Christ and became transformed into the

symbol of faith, hope, and love. Today it is used to

rally the forces of Christianity against the ever

increasing hordes of an anti-Christ and the enemies of

America and the White Race.

We light the Cross with fire to signify to the

world that Jesus Christ is the light of the world.

Where the Holy Cross shall shine, there will be

dispelled evil, darkness, gloom, and despair. The

Light of Truth dispels ignorance and superstition as

fire purifies gold and silver, but destroys wood and

stubble. So by the fire of the Cross of Calvary, we

cleanse and purify our virtues by burning out our vices

with the fire of His Word.

Who can look upon this sublime symbol, or sit in

its sacred Holy Light without being inspired with

a holy desire and determination to be a better person?

By this Holy Light of the Cross, we will perservere.

– KKK. com quoted by a Klansman on why they light

the cross.

Recruiting for the Klan was never thought about when it

was established. One of the first decisions that was to be

followed by the Klan everywhere was new members were not to

be sought out. Joining the Klan was each individual

decision. The den officers do not push people to join the

Klan.

Although the Klan does not recruit, people interested

in joining have to meet certain qualifications. They are as

follows:

No person is allowed in our ranks who can not declare

an unqualified allegiance to the Constitution of the

United States.

No person is allowed in this Movement who can not pledge

themselves to the protection, preservation, and

advancement of the White Race.

No one is allowed in this movement who can not practice

real Brotherhood.

Only pure White Christian people of non-Jewish,

non-Negro, non-Asian descent who are at least eighteen

years old and who pledge to dedicate their lives to this

cause can enter the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Those

under the age of eighteen can join the Klan Youth Corp.

with parental consent, and then become a full member of

the Knights when they turn eighteen.

The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan is strictly a law-abiding

organization. Every member is sworn to uphold the law

and the principles of justice, and he will not conspire

with others to commit any unlawful or violent crimes.

The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan cocedes the right of

every Christian citizen the right to worship God as he

sees fit, and will not tolerate denominational

dissentation of any nature. All White Christians must

unite, at this juncture in history.

The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Movement is not an

open membership organization. Only those who meet 100% of

the qualifications are allowed to join the Klan.

Although the Ku Klux Klan is extremely influential in

politics, members claim that the KKK is not a political

affiliation. They add that if it was a political

affiliation, the beliefs that would be introduced are as

follows:

Reassert Americans White Christian Heritage.

Return prayer to school.

Stop all non-white organizations.

Drug testing on all welfare recipitants.

Quarantine all Aids carriers.

Make the purchase of US Industry and property illegal to

foreigners.

Do away with free trade that harms the American worker

and employ a policy of protectionism.

Workfare not welfare. People work for their checks, so

should they.

Troops on our South border to stop illegal immigration.

Stop reverse discrimination by doing away with

Affirmative Action.

Declare all laws attempting to enforce gun control as

unconstitutional.

The Klans political beliefs are clearly out to benefit

only the white conformist who rejects what society has

undergone. Society today offers equality for every American

citizen. The Klan is against this because they do not like

that they will have to work for their jobs just as hard as

immigrants do. Klan members want society to hand them what

ever they want even though they are the under qualified

applicant. Equality should not bother anyone who is not

afraid of working hard for what they want. Nothing will be

handed out on a silver platter in todays society,

regardless of what the Ku Klux Klan has to say.

Complaining, criticizing, and envying will not produce

anything except for hatred for the working man, or in

todays society, the working woman.

The Ku Klux Klan has endured and overcame many

obstacles to stay around and distort childrens minds. The

Klan has been around for a long time, and unless they are

stopped, will be around for a long time. The Ku Klux Klan

is a secret organization that helps segregate the United

States by color or beliefs. The Klan helped to preserve

racism and because members are ignorant, they will not

mingle and learn to understand other cultures. Hating the

unknown is just an easy and safe way to live. If the Klan

attempted to understand other cultures, maybe they could

begin to realize that everyone is alike in one way or

another. The most effective technique in destroying the

Klan is education. Education is the tool for prevention.

If children are not educated that the Ku Klux Klan stands

for evil purposes, these children may fall into the Klans

evil empire. Educating the youth along with the society is

the only effective way to disband the Ku Klux Klan and

secret groups of this nature. The key is to never forget

what happened with the Klan so this world will never have to

endure the hardships that the Ku Klux Klan has provided.

The Ku Klux Klan has undergone a revolution of four stages

after their origin in Tennessee and can be identified by

their distinct symbols. The Klan has their own set of

requirements that are to be followed when recruiting a new

member and have a one sided view on politics that they want

to see occur in the future

Thank's for Your Vote!
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