VivirLatino

The KKK is back, and targeting Latinos

17:35 H | Topics: Immigration - Race

As a kid in the South, the Ku Klux Klan was a source of constant fear for me. They looked scary, they acted scary, and my imagination made me believe they were everywhere. Over the years the Klan have pretty much slipped off my own personal radar, and in recent years had become more the stuff of jokes for the media rather than a serious threat. The Klan, it seemed, had pretty much dried up.

A recent report from the Anti-Defamation League is showing a surge in KKK activity and cites that the organization has a new target: Latinos.

"Extremist groups are good at seizing on whatever the hot button is of the day and twisting the message to get new members," Deborah M. Lauter, ADL Civil Rights director, said Monday. "This one seems to be taking hold with more of mainstream America than we'd like to see."

"Klan groups have witnessed a surprising and troubling resurgence by exploiting fears of an immigration explosion, and the debate over immigration has, in turn, helped to fuel an increase in Klan activity, with new groups sprouting in parts of the country that have not seen much activity," Lauter said.

CNN reports that moribund chapters in the South have re-launched and that new groups are cropping up in areas previously without Klan activity, such as Michigan, Iowa and New Jersey. And, overall growth is bounding:

Last May in Alabama, an anti-immigration rally included slogans such as, "Let's get rid of the Mexicans!" according to the document, titled "Ku Klux Klan Rebounds."

"The Klan is increasingly cooperating with other extremist groups and Neo-Nazi groups," Lauter said. "That's a new phenomenon."

Between 2000 and 2005, hate groups mushroomed 33 percent and Klan chapters by 63 percent, according to Mark Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate crimes.

Whether the Klan's message of outright hatred will resonate with non-fringe immigration opponents is anybody's guess, but the fact that recent Klan events focused on targeting Latino immigrants have been "well-attended" is certainly not a good sign.

Via / CNN

Related

• Bank of America Pitching to Only One Part of America (Friday, Nov 02 2007)
• Austrailian Big Brother Dissing el Tricolor? (Friday, Jun 22 2007)