The Rise and Disguise of White Supremacy: 1865-1992 - Essay Example

The Rise and Disguise of White Supremacy: 1865-1992 Introduction For the Confederates, the post Civil War period in the South was marked by a distrust of the Federal Union government, the passing of the plantation culture, and a slave economy that was no longer functional. These forces conspired to create white organizations that were motivated by the need for self-preservation and a desire to restore a familiar order to the society. In fact, it was well-intentioned citizens that often joined groups such as the Constitutional Union Guards, the White Brotherhood, the Invisible Empire, and the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) as a means to fill the void where the government had become ineffective and futile. These well-intentioned ideals would evolve into hate groups, whose mission was to control elected offices through the intimidation of voters and election fraud.built on violence. Taking the law into their own hands, they pledged to protect their property, life, and well-being in the face of inadequate government institutions and a legal system that they viewed as hostile. Groups, such as the KKK, would soon succumb to a power hungry leadership that was driven by ethnic fanaticism and racial hatred. Their priority would soon shift from regulating the social order to white supremacy. Since the Civil War, white supremacists and their organizations have openly denied constitutional rights to minority citizens, instilled fear, and advocated extreme violence, and now occupy legitimate positions within the highest ranks of the American political and social system. White Supremacy: A Brief History The KKK emerged after the Civil War as the most powerful, and well organized, white supremacist group of that era. Confederate soldiers, returning home from the war, were driven into a prolonged period of forced inactivity. Lacking capital for agriculture, and denied participation in business or the professions, a group of young men formed the KKK in Pulaski Tennessee in June 1866 as a social group to share ideas and promote their local economy (Wilson & Lester, 1884, p399). The KKK spread quickly throughout the South with an escalating membership that was propelled by bitter feelings of swelling resentment towards the freed slaves that lingered after the war's end. Using intimidation and violence, the KKK's primary goal was to control political offices in the South by preventing African-Americans and their sympathizers from expressing their recently acquired constitutional right to vote. The KKK was infamous for its 'Midnight Rides', in which they would ride through the countryside, masked, and violently attack their opposition with beatings, arson, and lynchings. Their membership and ritual were highly secretive, which not only added to their mystique and fear, but also gave them an additional layer of protection from public scrutiny (Wilson & Lester, 1884, p.400). Though membership lists were not kept, and few official records were maintained, it is estimated that by the 1920s Klansmen and their sympathizers numbered in the millions (McClymer, 2001). The power of the KKK's membership fueled the racial discord of the 1920s and made it possible to elect KKK candidates to some of the highest political offices in the country. The peak membership of the 1920s would dissipate as the KKK, and other white power groups, experienced a steady decline in membership due to social pressures and public perceptions. The KKK suffered a series of financial setbacks, such as a federal tax judgement that prohibited them from forming a national chapter, and lawsuits that deprived the national KKK from the right to own property. Over time, the members migrated to approximately 300 different organizations, which have 25,000 hard-core ideological activists that support the white supremacist movement (Carlie, 2002).1 These organizations have tended to act less violently, though they have continued to preach an agenda that includes violent revolution. This accompanies a conflicting philosophy that includes biblical scripture and Christian beliefs. The KKK has always used religion as a justification for its racist position, and a 1884 article from The Century reported that the birthplace of the KKK, Pulaski TN, was home to a female seminary and was "a town of churches" (Wilson & Lester, 1884, p.399). White supremacist movements have their foundation in religion, but their racist agendas are usually involved with some form of lawlessness such as paramilitary militias, weapons smuggling, anarchy, counterfeiting, or terrorism (McClymer, 2002). While these organizations argue that they advocate for the equality of the white race, they are, in reality, hate groups that advocate violence against minorities and share some common attributes such as their willingness to use extreme forms of violence, and their belief that the non-white races and ethnicities threaten the existence of the white race. They also hold a common set of core principles that promote biological determinism, and believe that race forms the basis for national identity (Gardiner, 2006, p.61). In addition to the KKK, white supremacy has manifested itself in other national hate groups such as the National Alliance, the Creativity Movement, the World Church of the Creator, the Skinheads, Neo-Nazis, Aryan Nation, and the Posse Comitatus. White Supremacy and Religion In a paradox of belief and vocabulary, white supremacist movements almost always attach themselves to a religion, and claim a biblical basis for their ideology. At the same time, they also profess their hatred of some of the world's largest religions such as the Jewish and Catholic faiths. During the post World War I period, the KKK had targeted the American-Jew and the American-Catholic as more pressing social threats than the African-American (Rice, 2008, p.368). By the early 1920s, white supremacy, by way of the KKK, had defined itself as pro-American and pro-religion, and published a series of newsletters that proclaimed the KKK was for "Protestant Christianity, first, last and all the time" (Rice, 2008, p.368). This served two purposes for the KKK. First, it legitimized the organization by proclaiming to support a popular religious group. Second, it allowed them to focus their hatred on what they perceived as the newly formed Jewish controlled motion picture industry. During the early 1920s, the KKK led several protests against motion pictures which they felt negatively portrayed the Protestant religion. In 1923, the KKK wrote a letter to Motion Picture Weekly and warned, "no man, no movie house, no actor and no corporation can insult the Christian religion and get away with it" (Rice, 2008, p.368). This garnered widespread public attention and was able to gain some additional support for the KKK's organization. The continued complaints against the motion picture industry gained the KKK considerable publicity, as well as ingraining its image on the minds of the public as a religious organization (Rice, 2008, p.368). This identification of white supremacy with the Christian religion would drive a deeper wedge between black and white America. In the latter half of the 20th century other white supremacist movements also picked up the religious mantle. Christian identity is a major dimension of the major white power movements, whether they are the Aryan Nation, neo-Nazis, or Skinheads (Dobratz & Waldner, 2006, p.2). African-Americans during this period were largely Christian and were active in the Baptist faith. Martin Luther King was a Baptist minister, and much of the Civil Rights organizing of the era had its beginnings in socially conscious Baptist churches. However, many Black leaders, such as Malcolm X, condemned the Christian religion as the white man's religion. Malcolm X's criticism argued that the image of "Christianity and American society as white was so persuasive that many blacks followed him into the religion of Islam, and others accepted his criticisms even though they did not become Muslims" (Cone, 2008, p.708). This splintered the major religions over the issue of race and left the white power movement squatting on what was previously 'common ground'. In recent decades, the 'religious right' has become synonymous with the 'white evangelicals' who have worked steadily since the Reagan era to build a white dominated nationalist theocracy. Religiously based groups such as the Family Research Council (FRC) routinely lobby to repeal key civil rights protections and advocate discrimination based on religious affiliation (The religious right and race, 2006). There is strong evidence that support for the religious right comes to a large degree from the white supremacy organizations, and that they actively seek it out. In the early 1990s, the FRC purchased a mailing list from KKK leader David Duke as part of a political campaign (The religious right and race, 2006). The white power movement and the religious right have become increasingly entwined socially, politically, and ideologically. Duriez (2004) reports that it is "generally accepted that, at least among White middle class Christians in the United States, religion is positively associated with prejudice and intolerance" (p.178). White supremacy justifies its racial bigotry on a spiritual foundation, and invoking the word of God helps to legitimize their discrimination and their violence and make it possible to recruit members from the mainstream religions. The Political Impact of White Supremacy Since the early days of the post Civil War period, white power movements and organizations have realized the importance of gaining and maintaining political power within the system. In the 19th century, white power groups approached politics by intimidating the opposition and their supporters, as well as gaining control of elected offices. By 1870, the KKK had spread throughout the South and was actively targeting the Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln, as well as federal agencies, namely the Bureau of Internal Revenue (Stewart, 2003, p.454). The white power movements of this era would intimidate black voters by threatening their life while on their infamous 'midnight rides' throughout the countryside. Lynching became commonplace and voters, fearful for their life, either voted for KKK candidates or stayed away from the polls. The Asheville Pioneer published an article during this period that was typical of the Klan's activities. They reported, "They seized Mr. Brackens and dragged him out into the yard, stripped off his clothing, and beat him upon his naked back and over the head with pistols until he was covered with blood from head to foot", before returning to the house to injure his baby and rape his wife (qtd. in Stewart, 2003, p.457). The KKK erupted in a series of extra-legal brutalities across the South, as Republican governors took extreme action to stem the rising tide of violence in their states. Often, the crime punished by the KKK was merely that of being a Republican. Republican Governor Holden of North Carolina, concerned with the KKK's growing political influence and the inability to bring them to justice, declared a State of Insurrection and wrote, "their character was changed, and these secret Klans began to commit murder, to rob, whip, scourge and mutilate unoffending citizens" (Holden, 1911, p.138). These egregious acts of violence would lead to the federal outlawing of the Klan in 1871, but they would experience a reemergence into politics soon after the turn of the 20th century. The media, motion pictures, and social forces renewed the interest in the white power movement in the 1920s, and the Klan membership began to soar. These new members formed large voting blocs in states like Alabama and Indiana, where the KKK was able to elect Klansmen and Klan supported candidates to some of the highest offices in the states. Their anti-immigrant message resonated in states like Indiana that was a majority native born white population, or in states where the immigrant population was from the white European regions (Coben, 1994, p.160). In addition, prohibition had given the Klan a rallying religious issue, and they were able to link the sale of illegal alcohol to corruption in government. The Klan supported political platforms that disapproved of "prohibition violation, labor union membership, inflated retail prices, Sabbath breaking, political graft, immodest dress, bobbed hair, and all forms of unconventional sexuality" (Kyvig, 2001, p.142). In 1926, KKK member Hugo Black, who would later serve on the US Supreme court, was elected to the US Senate from Alabama and carried 80 percent of his home county (Webb, 2004, p.248). Two tears earlier, with Klan support, Indiana elected David C Stephenson, Grand Dragon of the Indiana KKK, to the governorship. However, within a year of his election, Stephenson "sexually assaulted a secretary on a train ride to Chicago and then, after the disconsolate young woman attempted suicide, kept her from obtaining medical attention so that she died painfully a month later from the aftereffects of poison and infected wounds" (Kyvig, 2001, p.144). D. C. Stephenson's hypocritical actions, and his public display of arrogance in the face of the murder charges, outraged the rank and file membership, and by the end of the decade they were only able to hold on to a fraction of their membership. White Power and the Social Structure By 1950, the white power movement had splintered into a large number of local factions with no national organization. The KKK had been wracked by internal squabbles, while the public, in the wake of charges of financial corruption among the leadership, began to more heavily scrutinize the organizations. However, the Civil Rights movement would bring about a resurgence of the Klan in the South as they organized to fight for continued segregation. The post World War II period of 1945-50 had generated numerous American Neo-Nazi organizations, who were now colluding with the extreme Christian Right to promote nationalistic racial hatred in places as geographically diverse as California, Chicago, and Atlanta (Weisenberger, 2003, p.822). The white power movement had successfully delayed the implementation of the Reconstruction Amendments, and by 1950 most of the nation was either legally or de facto segregated. The Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education would remove the legal foundation that had facilitated the white power movement for 100 years. The Civil Rights movement in the South would attract the attention of the KKK, as well as a new set of white supremacy organizations from around the country. While the media had once been useful for gaining attention to, and building sympathy for, the white power movement, the images of the Civil Rights protestors being brutalized by Southern Law enforcement brought further disapproval for the movement in the eyes of the public. There was a widespread sense that local law enforcement, as well as the FBI, were either active in, or had sympathy for the supporters of Jim Crow laws, segregation, and the Ku Klux Klan (Cunningham, 2003, p.328). The white power movement would be manifested in subsequent decades by selective law enforcement and the unequal treatment of minorities in the judicial system. At the same time, a proliferation of groups sought to gain political legitimacy by advocating white nationalism, and minimizing their hatred of minorities. By 1990, the white power movement had taken on the image of leaders such as David Duke. Duke, a Neo-Nazi and former national leader of the KKK, was making his mark on national party politics. Duke was a Republican candidate who campaigned as a "next-generation Ronald Reagan type concerned only with tax cuts and welfare reform" (Hillyer, 2009, p.35). The modern white power movement targeted race by focusing on the issues of immigration, affirmative action, hate crimes, bilingual education, and faith-based initiatives. The white supremacists had agreed to "play by the rules of the American political game", and leaders such as David Duke had adopted a new "tactical orientation that favors ballots over bullets" (Gardiner, 2005, p.63). While the visible face of white supremacy as exemplified by the Midnight Riders had subsided, the movement had become more insidious as it has worked its way into our national dialog, political, and social structure. Conclusion The white supremacy movement and the KKK had once projected fear and hatred through their overt extremist positions. Today, they are less obvious as they have insidiously penetrated the society, politics, and minds of many Americans. Using religion as a justification for their racist views, they were able to garner the substantial support needed to attract the millions of members they produced in the 1920s. This alliance has continued, as the Religious Right has become a mouthpiece for the white nationalist movement, and has spawned hundreds of similar organizations. Throughout the years since the Civil War, their targets have grown to include minority races, specific religions, and issues that have significance to minorities. As the Klan waned in the 1950s and 1960s, numerous other groups moved in to fill the void and absorb the Klan membership. Public disapproval of the movement's violent activities have been mediated by the new face of the white supremacy movement, as demonstrated by national leaders such as David Duke. The white power movement would mask their racial bias as they targeted the issues of affirmative action and immigration policy. The Ku Klux Klan, whose main goal was to disrupt elections and deny African-Americans the right to vote, was one of the most brutal racist groups in US history. Though the overt violent activities have subsided on the American landscape, the white supremacist movement has become more deeply entrenched as it has legitimized itself through the invocation of religion, party politics, and the new face of white power. References Carlie, M. (2002). White supremacist groups/gangs. Retrieved February 15, 2009, from http://faculty.missouristate.edu/M/MichaelCarlie/Storage/white_supremacist_groups.htm Coben, S. (1994). Ordinary white Protestants: The KKK of the 1920s. Journal of Social History, 28(1), 155-165. Cone, J. H. (2008). God and black suffering: Calling the oppressors to account. Anglican Theological Review, 90(4), 701-712. Cunningham, D. (2003). 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The KKK in the 1920s. Retrieved February 14, 2009, from http://www.assumption.edu/ /Klan.html ahc/1920s/Eugenics Rice, Tom. "Protecting Protestantism: The Ku Klux Klan vs. the motion picture industry." Film History: An International Journal 20.3: 367-80. Stewart, B. E. (2003). When darkness reigns then is the hour to strike: Moonshining, federal liquor taxation, and Klan violence in Western North Carolina 1868-1872. The North Carolina Historical Review, 80(4), 453-474. The religious right and race: Skeletons in the 'family' closet [Editorial]. (2006). Church and State, 59(3), 14. Webb, S. L. (2004). Hugo Black, Bibb Graves, and the Ku Klux Klan: A revisionist view of the 1926 Alabama Democratic Primary. The Alabama Review, 243-273. Weisenberger, S. (2003). The Columbians Inc.: A chapter of racial hatred from the Post-World War II South. The Journal of Southern History, 69(4), 821-860. Wilson, D. L., & Lester, J. C. (1884). The Ku Klux Klan: Its origin, growth, and disbandment. 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