DISCLAIMER The KKK's beliefs are wrong and immoral. This is only our opinion. Our goal is to
inform the public what is going on, why the problem is there, and how we feel about it.
This is not meant to be offending to any one, members or non-members. We are only
practicing our First amendment Rights.We are not trying to prohibit the KKK from
exercising their freedom of assembly and freedom of speech rights. HISTORY OF THE KU KLUX KLAN The KKK started in Pulaski, Tennessee in 1865. It was a prankish joke played by the
confederate soldiers towards the newly freed blacks. They tried to reduce them back to
slaves. Did they know it would become this big? They adopted their name from the Greek
word "kuklos" meaning circle. It was not a prank anymore. It had become a
serious vengeance. The leader was Nathan Bedford, an ex-confederate soldier with strong
beliefs. The KKK wore robes with masks to protect their identities. In the beginning, the
robes were just sheets with holes. Now they are like uniforms. They have become
formal.This was the formation of the first major violence group in America based on racism
(Landau, page 27-28). Though it did calm down, the KKK would rise again. THE RISING (1915-1940) In 1915, the KKK's activity picked up. It was not just the blacks they were against.
It was Women, Jews, Chinese, and almost all other groups besides whites. They said they
were trying to fight for the land that rightfully belongs to them. This land does not only
belong to them. It rightfully belongs to all citizens of the U.S.A.. By 1920, there were
millions of members world-wide. They believed that they were doing what God wanted them to
do. INVISIBLE
EMPIRE, KNIGHTS OF THE KU KLUX KLAN The name, rituals, and some of the attitudes of the original klan were adopted by a
new fraternal organizations incorporated in Georgia in 1915. The real name of the new
society, which was organized by a former preacher, Colonel William Simmons, was Invisible
Empire, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. They were willing to have native-born, white,
Protestant males, 16 years of age or older. Blacks, Roman Catholics, and Jews were not
able to be in the Ku Klux Klan.They were targets of defamation and persecution by the Klan
because they were not considered Americans. Only the white race was. THE FIERY CROSS The Ku Klux Klan believed that it represented sacrifice, service, and the sign of
Christian religion. They have added the fire to signify that ''Christ is the light of the
world.'' The history of the fiery cross is of Scottish origin, it was utilized as a sign of opposition to
tyranny from big government and obedience to God. The Klan believes that they are fighting for Americans. But who are Americans? The
English came over to America and attacked the first inhabitants. They are the true
Americans. They were here first and they took us in. We paid them back by taking away 98%
of their land, which was rightfully theirs. The Klan is just a hypocritical society. They
are fighting against the blacks for "taking away the white's land." They really
stole this land from the Native Americans. Bibliography: Landau, Elaine. The White Power Movement. Connecticut: Millbrook Press, 1993 The Ku Klux Klan of America. The KKK Homepage [World Wide Web]. Available: http://www.k-k-k.com/ The Ku Klux Klan of America. [World Wide Web]. Available:
http://www.k-k-k.com/belief.html
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