Re: Fine. The Klan had little influence in the South and was mainly an extremist group.
Why don't you just point to the fact that the KKK was merely the tip of the iceberg --the iceberg of racism and anti-negro hatred in the South?? Racism, segregation and negro-bashing was widespread and taken for granted throughout the Bible belt --it was indeed the South's way of life, not some theoretical, political agenda...
Now, what does the KKK membership inform us about? Simply, it gives us a measure of hardcore, extreme racism in the South and beyond: any given constituency, population or social group can always be broken down into moderates and radicals. In the case of the South and the KKK, although racism and anti-black prejudice were dominant, not every Southerner was racist to the point of enrolling himself in a terrorist underground organization --everyday segregation and institutional racism enforced in schools, transport, workplace were enough for the majority (of whites). Yet, the appaling fact is that even Jim Crow laws were not enough for a sizable minority: the KKK longed for even more racist and fascist rules.... |
