The Next Level of Racism: The Ku Klux Klan

The Next Level of Racism: The Ku Klux Klan

Abraham Joshua Heschel, a Jewish philosopher, once said, “Racism is man's gravest threat to man - the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason.’’ Racism has been an issue throughout the world since the beginning of time and can be defined as hatred or intolerance of race, ethnicity, religion, and culture. A group formed in the South during the 1860’s, known as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), had a deep hatred for African Americans and were the first major, violence prone group organized because of racism. The Klan would organize at three different times throughout our history gaining new targets each time. The racism of the Klan was extreme and their actions were tremendous as well. The KKK had maximum hatred with minimum reasoning, but they managed to take the word racism to a new level.

In 1865, with the ending of the Civil war, the battle of the North and South that was fought to abolish slavery, the first prospect of the Ku Klux Klan was formed. When the Union won the war, a small group of six defeated Confederate soldiers came together under a leader of racism, Nathan Bedford Forrest. The goal of this small group was to encourage the ways of the Old South and continue the mistreatment of African Americans even though the civil war had freed them. At the beginning of the Ku Klux Klan, the small group participated in practically harmless pranks more than the intense violence this group would eventually be known for. Not before long though, the small group would attract more members who were interested in the supremacy of whites and the cruelty towards the freed black race would become astronomical. (Landau 27)

United by their shared hatred and the desire to preserve the Old South, the Klansman began actively engaging in brutal actions toward African Americans. By the late 1860’s, the KKK were beating, threatening, mutilating, and hanging Blacks