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Ku Klux Klan

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Anonymous

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I know nothing about the Ku Klux Klan except that they are white supremacists. So can any one tell me more about them, they have a much more Fortean air than our own homegrown racist scumbags.

Why do they wear robes which look like those worn by South American Catholic penitents? Is there any connection?

Why are they so called? And why all the K's?

Why do they burn crosses? Are they a Christian/anti-Christian group?

Were they formed before or after the abolition of slavery?

etc, etc
 
From memory (I'll check all this later) Klan history falls into two separate phases. The first was during the post Civil War era in response to the enfranchisement of blacks in the Southern states. After a brief decline the Klan was revived sometime during the first two decades of the Twentieth Century. The first phase was primarily anti-black, the second broadened its manifesto of hatreds to include Catholics, Jews and immigrants. The first phase occured primarily in the Confederate South the second phase found the Klan strongest in the Midwest. Rather predictably I think the original Klan, whose members were almost exclusively protestant, was founded by a clergyman.

I've heard two derivations of the name. One is that it represents the sound made by the cocking of a rifle. The second is that it comes from the Greek Kyklos, for a circle and clan.

The modern day Klan tries to present itself as some sort of social club. You know, all those lynchings are a thing of the past, now they just organise discos and sell home made jam.

My arse!
 
wintermute said:
[
Auntie - don't they have Google where you live?:miaow: :miaow:
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What's Google then (technically inept person here) Is it a search engine? If so, I didn't want to search on it for fear I'd have to wade though nasty racist stuff to get my answers. Also I was hoping for a Fortean take on their weirdness, I mean 'Grand Wizard' 'Dragon' - there's something going on there, isn't there?

Thanks for the links Wintermute and the info Spook, but I still don't know why those robes look so much like the catholic ones, I doubt if its accidental.
 
The modern day Klan tries to present itself as some sort of social club. You know, all those lynchings are a thing of the past, now they just organise discos and sell home made jam
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......and they make sure their children understand the situation -

http://www.kukluxklan.org/just_for_kids.htm

- all the details together with inspirational music!

Kent
 
kentigern said:
......and they make sure their children understand the situation -

http://www.kukluxklan.org/just_for_kids.htm

- all the details together with inspirational music!

Kent
Click to expand...

Who has the heart to tell them that the music is the old Russian national anthem?

I've had a look at the "What is" page. I never realised that the KKK were fans of Abraham Lincoln. I suspect a large number of them haven't, either.

It's an interesting look at what an organisation like that has to say in order to maintain an air of respectability. There is no mention of lynching, or burning crosses, or trying to kill black leaders. They're simply a bunch of guys who like to dress up like ghosts and scare bad guys into behaving right.

Oh, and they don't hate anyone either. I'm sure that puts all our minds at rest.
 
Auntie Peach said:
What's Google then (technically inept person here) Is it a search engine? If so, I didn't want to search on it for fear I'd have to wade though nasty racist stuff to get my answers.
Click to expand...
You don't need to wade through a lot of nasty stuff with Google - it comes up with a list of sites that match, together with a brief snatch of the text surrounding the words that you put into the search box. This, together with the site's title, gives you some idea of what the site is going to be like. You can also winnow out a lot of the nasty stuff by using the right search keywords - for example: "Ku Klux Klan origins history". That will give you the more academic-type sites. Try it - [url]www.google.com[/URL]
 
The only thing I know about the Klan is that there are two versions of the name, as Spook said they have existed in two phases and I think this is how the name became spelt differently on the second phase.
They started as the Klu Klux Klan then after the first or second world war for some reason, maybe the members had trouble spelling it that way, they changed it to the Ku Klux Klan.
 
I used to watch a late Friday night Channel 4 show called 'Manhattan Cable' which was all about, yes, US cable TV.

It was fascinating. The best clip was the 'Ku Klux Klan Phone-In' which featured a Klansman sitting in a studio wearing all the kit except the pointy hood. On the desk was a telephone, which viewers were invited to to ring in order to ask questions about the new, approachable, up-to-the-minute Klan.

The phone rang. A question was asked. But before the Klansman could respond, he got a torrent of abuse and the phone was banged down. This happened time after time for the whole session, we learned, and by the end the Klansman was visibly shaken by the anti-Klan hate he'd been subjected to.

That was the very best TV I've ever seen and fully justified American pride in their freedom of speech.
I said aloud, 'God Bless America'!
 
I grew up in a small town that is rumored to have one of the largest Klan HQs in the States; however, growing up, no one seemed to know about it. I only heard that once I left for college. The town was about 35% Catholic and only had a couple black families and one Jewish family, and no one ever bothered any of them. Catholicism was no big deal, since virtually everyone had Catholic relatives.

I think the masks began so as not to give away participants' identities, plus to "spook" the blacks (no pun intended) with it's ghostly look, as someone else suggested.

The only people that respect the Klan are Klan members. Everyone else thinks they are inbred rednecks. Personally, I just think they should be ashamed of themselves and quit stirring up trouble. The less you stir, the less it stinks.
 
Godammit! What the hell is wrong with NASCAR and marrying your 11 year old cousin. Nothin'! That 's right Nothin', and there is nothin wrong with joining the Klan either - apart from having eyeholes on the sheets in your bed.
 
The Fireclown said:
Godammit! What the hell is wrong with NASCAR and marrying your 11 year old cousin. Nothin'! That 's right Nothin', and there is nothin wrong with joining the Klan either - apart from having eyeholes on the sheets in your bed.
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Eyeholes!??

Sheehit Bubba. No-one tells me nothin'. No wonder I kept bumpin' into trees last cross-burnin'.
 
In his book "Them: Adventures With Extremists", Jon Ronson gets to know two main Klan factions - one of the 'traditionalist' variety, the other of the 'caring sharing' 'modern Klan' variety. It makes for quite entertaining reading actually... (it was also on TV, but I missed it)

Alan Axelrod's "International Encyclopedia of Secret Societies and Fraternal Orders" has quite a bit of general info on the Klan, which I'll key in if anyone it interested.
 
XGUY

Blacks have taken me to hell, and so have whites! Its not races i despise, but individuals. There is good and bad in evrey race. X
 
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