**They say the klan was made up from white anglo saxon folk.Many of the founders and indeed members were ashamedly of Scottish/Irish presbyterian decent who are not anglo saxon but of Celtic/gaelic stock.
The burning cross was used by Highland Clans in the middle ages .These people were roman catholics so the burning cross is certainly a contradiction as catholics were barred from menbership–of course this direction of bigotry is typical of the presbyterian/calvinist mindset.
Furthermore the word Clan is both an Irish and Scottish Gaelic word and is proudly used to describe groups of Gaels (irish and Scots)and should not in any circumstances be associated with racism or bigotry.
It must be understood that the name Scotland derived from the name Scotia land .
Scotia was that name afforded by the Romans to the Celts/ Irish/gaels living on the island of Ireland who subsequently spread on into what was then Alba and is now known as Scotland–essentially we are the same peoples…
Not that i /we have any incling or desire to be associated with the KKK in any way but I fail to understand why we were barred from being members or how they continue to call themselves Anglo/Saxon
The failure to understand the differences and non-differences between our peoples is alarming but of course understandable .
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No biggie, you’ll know for next time.
I also need to say, I’m not exactly sure what your point is?
I think it is sort of a misunderstanding of how we Americans use the term Anglo-Saxon … as in the phrase White Anglo-Saxon Protestants typically meaning the caucasian noncatholic original settlers from England. Oddly enough, I do happen to be a WASP, as my family moved here originally in the early 1600s when they came over from Britain because they were protestant and not catholic.
The English (i.e. Anglo-Saxons) had a long history of despising the Scots and Irish. When the Irish began mass emigration to the U.S. during the potato famine, they were considered second-class citizens by many. Maybe not as bad as blacks (slaves), but certainly as despised as Chinamen. However, the Irish and Scots found it easier to blend in by appearance, and become integrated to the society such that in many northern communities they are a part of the backbone of the social fiber. Some of that was likely due to shared religion - christianity.
I’d imagine the average English person was too busy surviving to give a shit about the Scot’s or Irish, unless they were whipped into a frenzy by their local overlord.
The Scots-Irish of western Pennsylvania were already regarded as nearly subhuman by the period of the Revolution. But plain old Scots have always been respectable in the US, and by the turn of the 20th century, the Irish were respectable, too, so long as they were Protestant. In general, in both the US and the UK, racists regard Celts and Anglo-Saxons as nearly the same thing by “blood”. For example, the British Israelite loons (who are the true fathers of American Nazism) regard both groups as equally descendants of the 10 Lost Tribes, even though that makes even less sense than that either one should be.