More dumbasses I have not had the pleasure of kicking in the balls

I just watched Ku Klux Klan: A Secret History on A&E.
I was so ignorant. Sure I knew there have been crazy hooded racists for a long time. Yes, I knew they targeted black people, and had a reign of terror. I've never understood the mindset of these people.

Did you know that the founders did not set out to be violent dumbasses? Nope, it was six college age dudes (not in college) that decided to form a club or a fraternity. They made up silly names for the officers and initiates. They further decided on weird costumes and secret identities. They would ride through the little Tennessee town in these costumes, and, of course, all kinds of men wanted to be part of this new club. After they had been riding through the night, claiming to be ghosts, trying to frighten newly freed slaves, they thought they could get away with a bit more.

Did you know the Klan was wiped out? Yep, Federal government kept cracking down on these SOBs until no one wanted to be a member.

Of course there was a revival. Sixteen guys got together and decided to get it going again. By then, however, they discovered hatred for black people wasn't enough to bolster membership. They added Catholics and Jews. They spun it to seem a patriotic thing to join. Since there was a lot of dissatisfaction in America in the 1920's, people were eager to sign up.

Every time the Klan was revived, violent acts increased. I know, duh. What was amazing to me was that it took until 1977 (see Edit) for anyone to get convicted, and then it was a 15 year old crime. This creep finally got convicted for bombing a church in Birmingham which killed four girls.

The trials for all Klan crimes (that actually made it to a jury) had all white male juries.

I've decided Bill Baxley is one of my heroes. He was a law student when the girls were killed, and he vowed to someday do something about it. When he became Attorney General, he reopened the case. That's not what elevated him to hero status though. He received a threatening letter from the Klan, and his reply was,
"My response to your letter of February 19, 1976 is - kiss my ass.
Sincerely,
Bill Baxley
Attorney General"

How cool is that? A politician formally responding like that is fantastic. Not only is he swearing, and speaking like you or I would, but he's in effect saying, "yeah, whatever, you puny dumbasses". Gotta love the balls of that man.

By this time, the Klan had lost a great deal of it's numbers. They searched for new issues to have hissy fits about. They found affirmative action, reverse discrimination, and forced busing. It didn't do them much good. They would hold their little protests, but they were met with angry and violent citizens. They no longer held the public sway. They needed to do something.

Enter David Duke. He didn't wear robes or slur the black people. He talked to the press, and boy could he spin. "We're not anti-black, just pro-white." He also mentioned that there were thousands of organizations working for the interests of blacks and other minorities, and they were just working for the interests and culture and ideals of the white people. He almost made the Klan seem warm and fuzzy. That would explain the surge of new members... again.

Luckily, The Southern Poverty Law Center created Klan Watch. It doesn't seem like much, but there was a fantastic result... after a tragedy.

In March 1981, several klansmen wigged the fuck out when a trial of a black man accused of killing a white cop resulted in a mistrial. One of the higher ups (A&E described him as a titan) said that if a black man could get away with murdering a white man, then we should be able to kill a black man. (I had to blink at this. Hadn't they already killed a whole bunch of black people over the years? One white cop gets killed, and this means hunting season is open??? Whatever.) Two klansmen, 17 and 26, decided to go hunting that night. They found, kidnapped, killed, and hung a man up in Mobile for everyone to see. A good ol' fashioned lynching.

These two crackheads went to trial. I totally expected them to be set free. It had happened so many times before, right? Well, not this time!!! One of them confessed, and they were both convicted of murder. Not manslaughter or some other pussy charge, but murder. It didn't end there. The mother of the lynched man filed a civil lawsuit against the United Klans of America. The trial only lasted four days, and the jury only deliberated for four hours. The verdict? Seven million dollars against the UKA. It destroyed them. All they really had was a 7000 sq ft. national headquarters building, and 10 acres of land. The mother of the murdered black man now had the deed handed to her by a southern jury. Yee haw!! That's fantastic!
(See, I told you Klan Watch was a good thing.)

Klansman finally realized that pursuing terror might cause them to lose their money, home, or life. The violent acts became sporadic.

In 1997 , one of the killers of the black man mentioned above was executed. He was the first klansman to be killed for a klan act. Raise your glasses and toast!

Their members at one time exceeded 3 million, but have dwindled to around 5,000 in the present day.

I know I may seem overly excited when the scales are still unbalanced, but I welcome change - especially change for the better. I feel like we sane people have been at war with the crazies forever, and we are finally gaining ground, morale is lifted, and hope is restored. I can only imagine what it was like in the 1950's when the Klan had free reign. My heart literally seizes up in fear imagining life back then. I am so proud of the people that took a stand - even when it meant their life was in danger.

I think it is our responsibility as the sane ones to teach our children to be sane. The Klan members fill their little ones' heads full of worthless crap, and we need to fight back by filling our children's' heads with the truth. What is the truth? Racism is some crazy ass idea that has no business remaining in our modern day. Also, we should teach our children not to enable racists. If you see one, call him out, and don't associate with him anymore. Period.

How's that for a soapbox history lesson?
*stepping down*

***Edit: Sorry. The first klansmen to go to jail was in 1965. Three of them were sentenced to 10 years each for violating the civil rights of others. In '67, 18 klansmen went to trial, and their Imperial Wizard along with 6 others, were found guilty. Wizard dude got the maximum sentence of 10 years. Go FBI!!!
In 1967, a report was released saying The Klan was un-American, which was a previous selling point.

~Do not expand~