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Ku Klux Klan
( KKK ) is the name adopted by several extreme right groups that promote white supremacy, racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and homophobia in the United States. This organization of 130 groups has approximately 8,000 members and has a presence in 22 states in the southeast of the country, including Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Florida.
The first KKK incarnation was founded in Tennessee in 1865 by a group of Confederate Veterans , led by General Nathan Bedford Forrest , who adopted the title of Grand Wizard .
Its aim was to have political and social control of the African-American community liberated from slavery after the Civil War . Hundreds were intimidated by men with their faces covered and white robes, who even committed murders until the KKK was dissolved in 1871 through the Civil Rights Act .
In 1915 , the Ku Klux Klan resurfaced to its most influential era, taking advantage of the fear of massive immigration to the United States. Catholics, Jews, and immigrants were added to their targets. KKK adopted the burning cross as a symbol and their influence penetrated the Republican and Democratic parties .
The collapse of the second incarnation was due to the scandals of its members, such as David Stephenson , Republican politician convicted of raping and murdering Madge Oberholtzer .
After the Great Depression and World War II , hundreds of groups began operating under the name of the Ku Klux Klan.
In the following decades, the KKK operated among shadows and anonymity due to the rejection of a great part of the society in the United States; however, the Ku Klux Klan has appeared again publicly in an increasingly divided American society.
The demonstration of hatred in Charlottesville , Virginia , is only one example of the evolution of America's far right in recent years, where there has been an increase in the creation of new ultra-nationalist white supremacist groups.
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