# KKK **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 8, 1999, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk/16942 "1999-11-08T17:00:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk/16942/1 "1999-11-08T17:00:00Z")
Is there any **reliable** reporting for crimes committed by the KKK, _especially before the 1970’s,_. I haven’t had a lot of luck finding any, and I wonder about the reliablity if I do find any. Since law enforcement and elected folks were sometimes members, they might not have been reported as crimes. ---
**Author:** ![Keeves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f05b48/32.png) [@Keeves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeves)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk/16942/2 "1999-11-08T17:52:00Z")
or, duh, they were committed by individuals rather than an organization. Are there any records for crimes committed by the NRA? or maybe i don’t understand the question… ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk/16942/3 "1999-11-08T19:44:00Z")
There’s a group whose name I forget… . Southern something or another… They track all Klan activity an have been doing so for several decades. I would assume that this organization would have the data you are looking for. Oh, and if member of the NRA all went out together and shot a person, I would say this is a NRA activity, if we’re going to use th above analogy. The Klan did many things as a group of this nature, and still do many things as a group together. * * * Yer pal, Satan ---
**Author:** ![SterlingNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@SterlingNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SterlingNorth)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk/16942/4 "1999-11-08T19:52:00Z")
You might be thinking of the [[i"]Southern Poverty Law Center\*](http://www.splcenter.org) * * * It is by the fortune of God that, in this country, we have three benefits: freedom of speech, freedom of thought, and the wisdom never to use either. —_Mark Twain_ ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk/16942/5 "1999-11-08T19:52:00Z")
That would be the [Southern Poverty Law Center](http://www.splcenter.org). Their web site is less in the history business, however, than in the present and future businesses. I’m sure that if you gave them a ring, they’d be happy to help you find what you’re looking for. * * * Livin’ on Tums, Vitamin E and Rogaine ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk/16942/6 "1999-11-08T19:52:00Z")
That would be the Southern Poverty Law Center, who track the activities of all sorts of white-power groups. They are online at [http://www.splcenter.org/](http://www.splcenter.org/) . ---
**Author:** ![SterlingNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@SterlingNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SterlingNorth)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk/16942/7 "1999-11-08T19:55:00Z")
Let’s try that again: [_Southern Poverty Law Center_](http://www.splcenter.org) * * * It is by the fortune of God that, in this country, we have three benefits: freedom of speech, freedom of thought, and the wisdom never to use either. —_Mark Twain_ ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk/16942/8 "1999-11-08T19:55:00Z")
They have lots of fans, BTW. And we simulpost. ---
**Author:** ![SterlingNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@SterlingNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SterlingNorth)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk/16942/9 "1999-11-08T19:56:00Z")
And if **four** times isn’t enough for you: SPLC SPLC SPLC SPLC SPLC SPLC!!! ---
**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk/16942/10 "1999-11-08T21:01:00Z")
Who is this group again? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![GLWasteful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f05b48/32.png) [@GLWasteful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GLWasteful)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 1999, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk/16942/11 "1999-11-08T21:02:00Z")
Well, damn. I come in here looking for highlights from the Krusty Komedy Klassic, and all I see is SPLC, SPLC, SPLC. Live and learn. . . Waste Flick Lives! ---
**Author:** ![Phaedrus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@Phaedrus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phaedrus)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 1999, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk/16942/12 "1999-11-09T09:39:00Z")
It is doubtful that the KKK committed crimes during the era mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 1999, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk/16942/13 "1999-11-09T17:14:00Z")
What period would that be, Phaedrus? And what might be your cits for such a statement? * * * Yer pal, Satan ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 1999, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk/16942/14 "1999-11-09T17:16:00Z")
Sure they did some. But isn’t this a general question not a debate question? They were alive & well in the 70’s. Especially down near SD, Calif, where that Duke fella was running things I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Falcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/49beb7/32.png) [@Falcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falcon)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 1999, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk/16942/15 "1999-11-09T17:18:00Z")
You know…I’m actually speechless at Phaedrus’s statement. Go to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, buddy, and THEN try and tell me that the KKK never committed any crimes before 1970. SHEESH! I’d try and make a rebuttal, but as Tom said in another thread…why bang my head against a brick wall! ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 1999, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk/16942/16 "1999-11-09T17:33:00Z")
This probably should be for GQ. I stuck in here because I’ve always been curious about what _really_ went on with the KKK for it’s history, and I think there might be some debate over just how active a role in Southern life they had. Now, I have no doubts that the KKK has committed great evils. However, despite having all my life in the South, and most of it in the rural South–I have **never** seen a Klan rally, and I’ve never seen anyone dressed up in a Klan outfit other than on TV. And speaking of TV/movies, you sorta get the idea that in the South there’s a Klan rally every weekend, and all the rubes come by to toast marshmallows on burning crosses. Maybe it happens, but I’ve never seen anything like it. (Granted, it is supposedly done in secret.) What little I’ve heard about the Klan is that it formed after the Civil War, that it largely died out some years later, and it was “re-invigorated” (if you can say that) partly as a result of the Leo Frank/Mary Phagan case in Atlanta. I’m reasonably sure it arose as a result of the Civil War–the other stuff I’m not so sure of. I’ve just been curious to know exactly how “active” a presence the Klan had in those pre-Civil Rights days. I sorta get the idea watching old movies that the Klan routinely just went hunting for Blacks for sport. I just don’t know much about the Klan, and I wonder how much of their activities involved “‘coon huntin’” and how much involved star chamber/vigilante “justice.” ---
**Author:** ![Phaedrus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@Phaedrus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phaedrus)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 1999, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk/16942/17 "1999-11-10T06:12:00Z")
Satan: I was teasing, funnin’, you know? ---
**Author:** ![Gaudere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 1999, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk/16942/18 "1999-11-10T06:41:00Z")
Dare I hope this explanation can be applied to _all_ Phaedy’s posts? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 1999, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk/16942/19 "1999-11-09T19:59:00Z")
**Mjollnir** : > [@](#): > > I just don’t know much about the Klan, and I wonder how much of their activities involved “‘coon huntin’” and how much involved star chamber/vigilante “justice.” I think the SPLC and the National Civil Rights Museum [http://www.civilrightsmuseum.org](http://www.civilrightsmuseum.org) are probably good sources for your original question, although they probably don’t have actual figures on their sites. The following site of the University of North Florida has a brief history on the Klan (it ends around 1950 and does not detail specific crimes, but does describe the growth of the organization). [http://www.unf.edu/dept/equalop/](http://www.unf.edu/dept/equalop/) The KKK history page is linked on the bottom. One of the aspects that the site doesn’t dwell on is that the Klan was the single most important political force in Indiana during much of the 1920s with similar inroads (if not quite the power) in Illinois and Michigan. Lynchings were rather rare in the northern states, but intimidation was part and parcel of their approach to life in these United States. The following site gives sporadic statistics for lynchings for a number of years (along with the information that it was a method of terrorism that was not limited to black victims–although they were always the _primary_ victims). It does not specifically link the crimes to the Klan, but a comparison of the dates on this site with the Klan history, above, will provide some correlations. (In the atmosphere of hatred and terror that existed in the South and in Northern areas where migrating blacks were feared, the Klan did not have to be involved in every lynching. The fear and hatred of white society fed recruits to the Klan and the public proclamations of the Klan emboldened the general citizenry in the open expression of hatred.) [http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1979/2/79.02.04.x.html](http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1979/2/79.02.04.x.html) * * * Tom~ ---
**Author:** ![Surgoshan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Surgoshan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surgoshan)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 1999, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk/16942/20 "1999-11-09T22:25:00Z")
I’ll tell you why you should bang your head against a brick wall. Because if you do it and enough other people do it for long enough then, according to the workings of physics and chemistry and the strength of structures, the wall will eventually fall down, or at least crack a little. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kkk/16942.md?page=2)