The Reconstruction after the end of the Civil War brought with it much turmoil for white natives who felt outraged by the changes in society supporting the abolition of slavery. Groups like the Ku Klux Klan whose religious beliefs are embedded in Christianity have disliked members of the African American race, as well as those of different ethnic and religious backgrounds. As immigrants continued to enter the United States and slavery became illegal, the nativists blamed these “alien”ideas and people as being a threat to the American way of life (“Klanwatch Project of SPLC”, 2016). The major social, economic, and political upheavals that took place further enraged the racist attitudes of groups like the Ku Klux Klan and white religious extremists who began to terrorize those they deemed a threat (Klanwatch Project of SPLC”, 2016).
Southern states continued to support the unethical racist practices of slavery that white citizens were unwilling to accept. Decades after the Civil War, most Southerners continued to support segregation of the two races. The bulk of the KKK and such groups were found in the Southern states that continued to practice illegal atrocities against black people in America. One could concur that the motivation for this hatred came from the selfish and ignorant desire of continuing white supremacy. These groups did not like the idea of these “others” holding any type of equal position of power and shared liberties with the white men of the United States who they felt were the rightful and chosen rulers of this colonized land. Ultimately, the threat to the comfortable lifestyle they had become used to was the trigger for creating these terrorist groups that began in early American civilization.
References
“Klanwatch Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center.” 2011. Ku Klux Klan: A History of Racism and Violence. 6th Ed. Montgomery, Alabama: Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved from https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/Ku-Klux-Klan-A-History-of- Racism.pdf
