The Ku Klux Klan Is Back: How Black Lives Matter, Trump Candidacy Reinvigorated The Once-Irrelevant Hate Group

Jaimi Hajzus and her neighbors in Coudersport, Pennsylvania, woke up Saturday morning to a strange sight, according to the Washington Post. Someone had gone door-to-door through the neighborhood, leaving bags filled with rocks, lollipops, and, most strangely, Ku Klux Klan (KKK) recruitment flyers.

Like just about everyone else in the world, the Pennsylvania woman likely considered Klan propaganda the last thing she would see at her home that day. After all, the Klan was at its strongest 80 years ago but had largely been forgotten. What happened?

How The Klan Went Broke

As recently as 30 years ago — 1987, to be exact — the Klan was effectively broke. A series of lawsuits and judgments bankrupted the Klan, the final blow being a $7 million judgment against the group for the lynching of a black Alabama man in 1981.

Bankrupting the Klan, however, failed to make it go away. And though they lack the money, the power, and, most-importantly, the numbers, that they once had, the Klan is making a comeback.

So what happened?

Twenty Years Of Fodder For Extremist Movements

As just about anyone who has ever bought into extremism will tell you, the way you get followers is to make them feel marginalized, then offer them the chance to feel like they matter. It worked for the SS in Nazi Germany. It worked for Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. It worked for Dylann Roof.

And it works for the KKK.

Back on April 19, 1993, a mere six years after the last few pennies of the Klan’s money were seized by the courts, armed government agents stormed the Branch Davidian Compound in Waco, Texas. Although the Davidians had nothing to do with the Klan, the massacre was perceived as an action against white, Christian gun-owners. And white, Christian gun-owners pointed to the event as proof that they were being marginalized. At least one gun-owning, white “Christian” even felt the need to strike back.

Fast-forward 20 years: September 11 happened. Barack Obama got elected president. A Muslim U.S. Army psychiatrist killed 13 people at Fort Hood. A neighborhood watch volunteer was vilified for killing an unarmed black teenager.

And on August 9, 2014, the city of Ferguson, Missouri, erupted into riots following the shooting of unarmed black teenager Mike Brown.

Police Brutality Gives Rise To The Black Lives Matter Movement

Black Lives Matter existed as a movement before Ferguson, of course. The movement actually emerged in response to the killing of Trayvon Martin a year earlier, but it was Ferguson that brought the group to prominence. And just as the shooting of Michael Brown was merely the first in an ever-growing list of unarmed black men being killed by police, the Ferguson protests were merely the first in a series of protests at which Black Lives Matter has been at the forefront.

That hasn’t sat well with critics of the movement, some of whom accuse the group of being racist, at a minimum, or even accusing the group of being indirectly (or perhaps even directly) responsible for the deaths of police officers. One such person is Deroy Murdock, who wrote a 2015 guest column about BLM in the New York Post.

“The notion that America’s cops simply are gunning down innocent black people is one of today’s biggest and deadliest lies.”

Regardless of criticism of the Black Lives Matter movement, one thing is clear: They’re a voice for justice when it comes to blacks — exactly the opposite of what the Klan is about.

Enter Donald Trump

Donald Trump promises to be everything that Black Lives Matter is not. He’s white. He’s pro-cop. And, most importantly, as far as the Klan is concerned, Trump is a giant racist.

This post could detail all of the racist things Donald Trump has said, whether he came up with it originally or passed along something he heard elsewhere. Or I could catalog all of the things racists have done in his name. But doing so would make this post tens of thousands of words long, so I’ll just mention the fact that, as the New Yorker notes, former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke, as well as multiple other white supremacist groups, have endorsed Trump. And when pressed on whether or not he’ll repudiate that support, Trump changes the subject.

“Honestly, I’d have to read the story. A lot of people like me.”

A decade ago, Trump’s racism wouldn’t have been given a platform. But somehow, despite all reason and sanity, Republican voters gave him the nomination for the presidency, in the process making racism palatable, if not appealing.

Heil Trump: Supporter tells protesters “Go to Auschwitz” while making Nazi salute https://t.co/DBUa2PnfIp pic.twitter.com/yAtoeelqqU

— Skowtura Kreska (@Skowtura_Ini) March 15, 2016

That’s not to say that all — or even most — Trump supporters are racist. But if nothing else, Trump has at least made it acceptable to be racist in public.

The Resurgent KKK

The Anti-Defamation League estimates that the Klan has around 5,000 members, a shadow of its former self. Klansman Chris Barker, the imperial wizard of the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Eden, North Carolina, gives a considerably larger number to the Associated Press, though he admits that, as a whole, the Klan still has a long way to go before it reaches its former numbers.

“Most Klan groups I talk to could hold a meeting in the bathroom in McDonald’s. Right now, I’m close to 3,800 members in my group alone.”

Klan rallies, all but non-existent 20 years ago, are happening again. And while 80 years ago a Klan rally would have drawn hundreds, if not thousands, a Klan rally today is considered a success if it draws a few dozen supporters.

Numbers aside, one thing is clear: The Klan is growing. And in Pennsylvania — and other places — they’re recruiting.

Jaimi Hajzus, the Coudersport, Pennsylvania woman who found Klan propaganda on her lawn not long ago, describes what she found on the flyer included with her bag of rocks and lollipops.

“Are there troubles in your neighborhood? Contact the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan today! You can sleep tonight knowing the Klan is awake.”

Similar propaganda, says the Washington Post, has been found in Kansas, California, New Jersey, and elsewhere.

Making The Klan Irrelevant Again

At its heart, the Klan represents an idea. And the best way to defeat bad ideas is to present better ideas.

America works best when Americans recognize and accept each others’ differences; when we work together to find common solutions. We accomplish that by putting aside our baser instincts — instincts that the Trump candidacy appeals to.

Relegating Donald Trump to the dustbin of history is a starting point.

[Featured Image by Spencer Platt/Getty Images]