The foundation of ku klux klan and the harm it brought to society

Ku Klux Klan since it began has brought more harm than good, it has led to the destruction of property, loss of lives, infringement of peoples’ rights and created division along with the ethnic groups. This paper is therefore set to explore how Ku Klux Klan was founded and why it was created. It goes ahead to provide an opinion as to why this social group is not doing any good in society.

Ku Klux Klan was founded in the year 1865 after the civil war. At this moment the slavery had been made illegal in the south and the blacks were given the right to vote, where the Republicans could collect their batches and escort them to polls. At this moment in time, the ex-confederate soldiers and other southerners who were opposed to the reconstruction after the civil war, while drinking at a club in Tennessee, in the small town of Pulaski, near Memphis founded a Ku Klux Klan which was considered a social club. They then went ahead to recruit more members into the circle.

This social group was created with the aim of keeping the blacks down and white supremacy intact. It resisted the policies of the Republican party which focused on establishing political and economic equality for the blacks (Newton, 2014). The social group is still in operation, they have moved a step into the digital age and now runs a website named “ Loyal White Knights”. Recently a man in Mississippi was arrested and convicted for burning a cross to frighten the blacks (Feuerherd, 2019). However, Ku Klux Klan followers have declined over time.

Ku Klux Klan is a collectively bad group since it infringes blacks of their rights to vote. They demanded blacks to either vote for Democrats or fail to exercise their voting rights at all. This from the general strain theory of terrorism creates the perception of biased infliction of unfavorable circumstances by a more powerful entity civilian population (Agnew, 2010). “ Dressed up in scary costumes with hoods and masks, members rode about at night threatening and frightening blacks”, (Parsons, 2005). They could beat up or whip the blacks and even kill them if they resisted following their instructions. They burned blacks houses down and drove them away from their farms (Parsons, 2005), this social group thus contributed to the loss of lives and destruction of property which thus justifies the fact that they mean harm than good in the society. The social group went to the extent of bombing the blacks’ schools and their churches as well.

Drawing from the general strain theory of terrorism, it is evident that terrorism is a result of fear. Ku Klux Klan achieved its success by constructing fear. They tortured and created economic coercion to everyone who challenged the white power. They terrorize the black population and continuously accused the blacks of their male sexual aggression towards white women. The repeatedly conveyed the allegations which then drew white women into a fearfulness that then further legitimated white terrorism (Jackson, 1992). Consequently, terrorism does not benefit any society but instead lowers economic growth and good relations as people fear to visit or have alliances with people who are associated with terrorism thus making the group a very bad group.

The theory also emphasizes that terrorism is caused by strains experienced by a collective group (Agnew, 2010), specifically, strains that are frequent, of long duration, have a reasonable expectation to remain, and apply to a large religious, ethnic, or political majority contribute to terrorism. This is evident during the time when the Ku Klux Klan had gained following in the north and continued to torture blacks, this strain caused them to respond through emotional reactions acting in the abnormal state, they intended to rape the white women in an attempt to avenge the social group.

This social club created division amongst the citizens along the racial lines and class. They view racial mixing as a bad idea and did not support desegregation. They ensured that there was no mixing of the blacks and whites at any level of education and even in places of worship (MacLean, 1995). To bring down the black community, they killed their leaders and took away their heads, this in many ways explains why Ku Klux Klan is a very bad group of people as the law and also the Christian doctrines do not allow any human being to take away the lives of others. The Knights party website displays this fact that the Klan still holds that race-mixing is a bad thing and all non-whites who reside in America should know that race mixing is wrong and out of question. They also dictated how they need to conduct themselves religiously while living in America. At some point, this group shifted their hate to the Jewish community who according to the Klan community was setting movies that destroyed the morals of the white women. The elite universities exclude the Jews, and through Ku Klux Klan eugenics, which divided humans into inferior and superior categories, was accepted as good science and health policy by many academic experts and taught in biology (Jackson, 1992). Its leaders accused Jews of promoting socialism and polluting the nation’s morals with “ Jew Movies urging sex vice.”

Moreover, Ku Klux Klan has for a long-time propagated hatred. Its leaders blamed the immigrants for the major problems that faced America at the time. They believed that political standoffs, corruption, and urban crime were caused by immigrants (Wade, 1998). The strain caused by their fight for prohibition, which prohibited catholic immigrants with the belief that they came with the drinking culture to America led to terrorism with the group now claiming to be the prohibition enforcement. However, they are burning down of houses belonging to immigrants and terrorizing blacks and their drinking clubs was not justified as prohibition enforcement since Klan could sometimes seize alcohol only to drink it themselves. This group portrayed itself as mean and did not reflect their true mission.

In conclusion, it is evident that the Ku Klux Klan has done more harm than good in society. This group advocates for division along the ethnic, religious, and political lines instead of fighting for co-existence amongst the American citizens. It has also gone ahead to infringe citizens of their rights because of color and their religious affiliation since they fight against integration in all sectors demanding that the white supremacy has to remain intact and all the non-whites must remain the subjects of the whites. The group is mean and proves to be the enemy of progress in the united states because of its backwoodsmen who still hold to it that blacks should not mix with the whites and should hold no leadership position but find it a privilege to live under the authority of a White government. It is, therefore, a bad group which the government should disband in totality and advise people to keep off from such kind of social clubs.

References

• Agnew, R. (2010). A general strain theory of terrorism. Theoretical Criminology, 14(2), 131-153.
• Cavendish, R. (2015). The Ku Klux Klan founded | History Today. Retrieved 3 December 2019, from https://www. historytoday. com/archive/ku-klux-klan-founded
• Feuerherd, B. (2019). Mississippi man sentenced to 3 years for cross burning. Retrieved 3 December 2019, from https://nypost. com/2019/11/05/mississippi-man-sentenced-to-3-years-for-cross-burning/
• Jackson, K. T. (1992). The Ku Klux Klan in the City, 1915-1930 (Vol. 123). Rowman & Littlefield.
• MacLean, N. (1995). Behind the mask of chivalry: The making of the second Ku Klux Klan. Oxford University Press, USA.
• Newton, M. (2014). White Robes and Burning Crosses: A History of the Ku Klux Klan from 1866. McFarland.
• Parsons, E. F. (2005). Midnight rangers: Costume and performance in the reconstruction-era Ku Klux Klan. The Journal of American History, 92(3), 811-836.
• Wade, W. C. (1998). The Fiery Cross: The Ku Klux Klan in America. Oxford University Press, USA.