Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-09-01
The KIon RidesA Again,
But on a Lower Level

Supreme Court, the Americans
for Democratic Action. all labor
unions. women who run around"
and mo account white men,"
After such a rally, telephoned
threats are received by local
NAACP officers. critical editors
and ministers who have sponsored
Brotherhood Sunday" in their
churches.
No Central KIon
Today's Khan, as In most re-
vivals since Gen. Forrest ordered
its disbanding five years after he
organized the first "klavern," is
beset By internal strife and bitter
divisions. About a dozen major
groups in the South Zone Of
which has chartered a klavern in
Great Britain. and another which
has invited Negroes to JOHN a
Jim Grow klavern) are kept as
busy assailing each other as they
are attacking indignation. Each
accuses the other of being an Ill
legal" splinter group.
The major klans are the Knights
Of the Khan, United States Ku
Klux Klans. the Carolinas Ku
Klux Klans, the Louisiana Knights
of the xxx. the United States
Klans. Knights of the xxx. the
Association of South Carolina
Klans, the Gulf Ku Klux Khan,
and one which calls itself simply
THE Ku Klux Klan."
Their leaders include a painter,
an upholsterer. a carpenter, gun
smith, a preacher and an unem-
ployed former cab driver.
Much Of the jealousy, which
has resulted in at least one incl
dent of gunplay, stems from the
holly contested drives for mem
bers. A man who has been a fail
ure in life can become rich il he's
a clever organizer. Besides the
initiation fee, which runs from IS
upward, he usually supplies the
initiate with robe and hood for
$3.50. 1t has been estimated that
$4,000 men-and women-have
joined one or another of the xxx
empires" in the past year.
Southerners who have witnessed
the several Khan revivals in the
past IS years maintain that with
each resurgence, the Khan be-
comes less and less an organiza-
ton of gentlemen" and increas-
ingly gang of "red-necks, pecker-
woods and white trash"
The Klans of the twenties, they
recall. included businessmen, pro-
fessional men and politicians. In
the forties. only the lowest level
politician. some skilled tradesmen,
a smatterine of policemen, and
unsuccessful small businessmen
joined the red-necks. In 1951-53.
it is said. the Klans were composed
almost entirely of frustrated, I'M
successful farm folk and unskilled
textile mill hands. Today, the
Khan membership is pictured as
made up entirely of the dregs of
the backwoods and milltowns.
The Low Crooks Down
In earlier years, the xxx was
allowed to go about its violent
business by law enforcement on
GERS who winked at floggings and
cross-burnings. Today, sheriffs
and police chiefs in the South
seem anxious to tackle the Khan
in their Jurisdictions.
Chief Frank Littlejohn of Char
lotte, N. c.. who fought the xxx
in the twenties and then broke it
again in Charlotte in 1850. says
fatty: I'VE just won't tolerate
cross-burnings and violence in
Charlotte"
The city council of Camden,
S. c., has required all policemen
and city employees to swear that
they are not members Of the xxx
OR the NAACP.
Chief @. J. Ruppenthal Of Mont
gomery. Ala, arrested several men
whom he charged with being
Klansmen after a spate of bomb
ings Of Negro homes.
The sheriff of Duval County,
Fla. unmasked a gathering Of
Klansmen at a rally.
When Mobile, Ala. was rocked
by a series of bombings, Police
Chief D. E. McFayden threatened
to cancel vacations and days of in
his department unless the bomb
ings and cross-burnings were
brought to halt by his men.
These determined police off,
Gals. and others of a like mind,
are believed to be the primary
reason why xxx leaders in the
Carolinas are so careful to avow
non-viole1t aims-however eager
they may be to take whip in hand.