Chilling pics reveal how kids are indoctrinated with the vile teachings of the Ku Klux Klan… as racist group celebrates its 150th birthday
Modern members of hate-group are split into small factions but hope to unite to halt immigration to the US
DISTURBING pictures show how the Ku Klux Klan polluted young minds with hate as the racist group celebrates its 150th birthday.
The chilling images show little children making Nazi salutes and hundreds of hooded men gathering round burning crosses in the dark.
While the hate-group’s numbers dwindled following the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s – the size of the group in the first half of the 20th century was astonishing.
At its peak in the 1920s, the Klan boasted up to five million members across the southern states of the US.
Born in the ashes of the American Civil War, the group’s murderous reputation was cemented in the public consciousness, following numerous attacks and lynchings against black people and immigrants.
And now current members are looking reunify the group and believe the current the landscape of American politics can help them.
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In a series of interviews with The Associated Press, Klan leaders said that membership has gone up since President Obama won his second term in office.
KKK leader Brent Waller, imperial wizard of the United Dixie White Knights in Mississippi, said stopping immigration not blocking minority rights is the Klan's number one issue today.
And Arkansas-based Klan leader Thomas Robb said the immigration policies of Republican Presidential candidate’s Donald Trump resonate with the modern Klan.
He said: "You know, we began 40 years ago saying we need to build a wall."
But Klan leaders also said that today's groups remain small and operate independently because of disagreements over issues such as whether to associate with neo-Nazis, hold public rallies or wear the traditional white robes rather than coloured fabrics.
While it is impossible to know how many Klan members there are, because the group does not release that information, leaders claim there are thousands among scores of local groups called Klaverns.
Chris Barker, imperial wizard of the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Eden, North Carolina, said: "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."
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the Jewish protection group that monitors Klan activity, describes Barker's Loyal White Knights as the most active group today, but estimates it has no more than 200 members.
The ADL puts total Klan membership nationwide at around 3,000.
The Alabama-based SPLC estimates the Klan has about 190 chapters nationally with no more than 6,000 members total.
Mark Potok, of the Southern Poverty Law Center, an advocacy group that tracks activity by groups it considers extremist, said: "The idea of unifying the Klan like it was in the '20s is a persistent dream of the Klan, but it's not happening.
"While today's Klan has still been involved in atrocities, there is no way it is as violent as the Klan of the '60s.
"That does not mean it is some benign group that does not engage in political violence.”
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