Exam 4 - Hate Groups

Question 1

What are common hate group characteristics?

Answer 1

• Have bigoted viewpoints
• Are organized
• (Most but not all) white supremacist

Question 2

Why was the KKK founded?

Answer 2

White Southerners felt socially and economically threatened by Black men

Question 3

Who founded the KKK and where is there name derived from?

Answer 3

• 6 Officers in the Confederate Army
• Name came from Greek word for ‘circle’ - kuklos (inspired by Greek fraternities)

Question 4

How did the KKK develop before its initial disbandment?

Answer 4

• Became a terror org dedicated to white supremacy
• Claimed membership numbers as high as 500,000
• Disbanded in 1869 by Grand Wizard who claimed it was “injurious to public safety”
• Died out in 1872.

Question 5

What is the role of The Birth of a Nation?

Answer 5

• Released in 1915
• Romanticized the South and demonized blacks, showed KKK as heroes protecting the white race
• KKK was refunded that same year in Georgia with the first organized cross burning.

Question 6

What factors contributed to the KKK’s rebirth?

Answer 6

• WW1 Xenophobia and fervent patriotism
• Huge influx of Jewish immigrants
• New “science” of eugenics
• Emergence of religious fundamentalism

Question 7

What President was accused of being a part of the KKK?

Answer 7

Warren G Harding

Question 8

What are the characteristics of the KKK before its second disbandment?

Answer 8

• No longer confined to the South, strongest in the Midwest
• No longer primarily black hate, now includes Jews, immigrants, Catholics, commies, etc.
• Enjoyed popularity until 1925 where it crumbled under leader conflicts and financial difficulties

Question 9

What led to the third rebirth of the KKK?

Answer 9

Brown v. Board of Education
- Active throughout the 50s and 60s
- Faded again by end of the 60s as civil rights began to gain more acceptance

Question 10

What are the characteristics of the KKK today?

Answer 10

• Cell structure, groups not affiliated with each other
• Mostly abandoned anti-Catholic method, still opposed to non-whites and Jews
• Most strongly affiliated with fundamentalist Christianity (Identity Church)

Question 11

What are the common characteristics of most/all hate groups?

Answer 11

• Power
• Racial Separatism
• Religion
• Common antipathy for some groups
• Common antipathy for some beliefs and actions

Question 12

What is the importance of power?

Answer 12

• Hate groups are created and thrive when members of a group feel threatened
• White supremacists are scared of losing their traditional power
• Other groups are typically dedicated to gaining some power

Question 13

What is Racial Separatism?

Answer 13

Advocating for ethnic or religious separatism

• Aryans advocate aryan homeland
• Nation of Islam, advocates for a separate black nation
• etc.

Question 14

What is the role of religion?

Answer 14

Not central to all groups, even discouraged in some
- Forms core of some groups, especially Christian identity groups.

Question 15

What are common hated groups?

Answer 15

• Jewish People (World control theories)
• Non-whites (Genetically inferior, economic drain, criminals, sexual premises)
• Immigrants
• LGBT People

Question 16

Why do people join hate groups?

Answer 16

No clear hate group member profile
- Recruitment plays important role
- Usually join bc they know someone already a member
- Especially vulnerable individuals w/ feelings of frustration or alienation, economic stress, or conservative religious political views.

Question 17

What are common hate group activities?

Answer 17

• Meetings
• Rallies
• Propaganda
• Internet
• Political Activity
• Socializing