‘Our membership grows by the day’: Ku Klux Klan emboldened by Donald Trump’s election
Proponents of white supremacy feel Trump’s election has given them “a political space to present their views as legitimate”
In the wake of Donald Trump’s victory and the recent rise of the white nationalist “alt-right”, a 150-year-old racist group has been spreading its wings: the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), which on Saturday is planning its first post-election rally.
“Our membership grows by the day,” said Gary Munker, who identifies himself as a spokesman for the group.
The Klan, since its creation in 1866, has called for a white and Christian America; historically, it has resorted to lynchings and racial violence as the means to its end.
Like the former KKK leader David Duke, who supported Trump’s candidacy – and was eventually disavowed by the New York billionaire – Munker says he was drawn by the Republican candidate’s language, particularly his attacks against immigrants and his talk of deporting millions.
Our membership grows by the day
The movement was born in the devastated states of the South in the immediate aftermath of the American civil war, just three years after President Abraham Lincoln ordered all slaves in the South to be freed.