The Ku Klux Klan's effects on global society and culture

KKK

Continued research into the role of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in America is becoming more, not less, relevant. With an African-American president at the helm, racism has reared its ugly head in the public sector. The KKK may represent an extreme of racist sentiment, but the group has continued to exist within the American underground since the Reconstruction Era. Formed by a group of disappointed Southerners after the Civil War, the KKK has become one of the most notorious terrorist groups in the United States.

The KKK is not the only hate group in the United States that uses violence. However, it is one of the most famous and historical. "Of all the types of right-wing hate groups that exist in the United States, the Klan remains the one with the greatest number of national and local organizations around the country."

The views and methods practiced by the KKK have doubtlessly influenced the culture of racism and hatred that perpetuates throughout the United States. "Every year, murder, arsons, bombings and assaults are committed by people who have no ties to an organized group, but who share their extreme hatred."

In the aftermath of the Civil War, the KKK prevented the Reconstruction of Southern and American society. Contrary to what the Klan itself claims, Reconstruction was a failure because racist groups like it perpetuated a culture of violence. Instead of accepting the equality of all Americans as outlined in the Constitution, KKK and individual racists drawing on similar philosophies demanded a culture of white supremacy.

The KKK expanded its base after the First World War, becoming "the most spectacular of all the social movements in American society."

Although "Klannishness is basically Southern, the KKK has influenced racist and anti-Semitic discourse throughout American society and outside of the Southern stronghold.

Because of the extent of the group's influence and the range of its hatred, the whole country has cause to fear and understand what the KKK actually is.