Introduction
The Ku Klux Klan (KKK, the Klan), founded in 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee, was established as a direct response to the South's defeat in the Civil War. As a secret vigilante group, the Klan targeted black freedmen and their allies; it sought to restore white supremacy by threats and violence, including beatings, lynchings, and murder. Blacks lived in fear of groups like the Klan who exerted reign of terror across the South where their crimes were rarely prosecuted.
In the 1870s, the U.S. Congress took action to curtail the violence and the organization by using Enforcement Acts to prosecute Klansmen. The Klan experienced a resurgence in 1915 with the release of the W.D. Griffith's film "Birth of a Nation" and the murder trial and subsequent lynching of Jewish-American factory owner Leo M. Frank. Revived near Atlanta, Georgia, the new KKK's rapid growth was based not only on the idea of white supremacy, but also on anti-immigration, anti-Catholicism, Prohibition, and anti-Semitism. The KKK reached its peak nationwide in the 1920s.
After WWII, the name Ku Klux Klan was used by numerous groups throughout the South who opposed the civil rights movement and desegregation. These groups used cross burnings, beatings, bombings, and murder to intimidate civil rights activists and local black communities. During this period, the groups often forged alliances with police departments and state offices to further their cause. The U.S. government revived the Force Acts in 1963, when Mississippi officials refused to prosecute KKK members for the murder of three civil rights workers, James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner.
During the late 1960s and 1970s, the KKK shifted its focus to one opposing affirmative action, immigration, and court-ordered school busing. In 1971, KKK members blew up school buses in Pontiac, Michigan in an attempt to stop a court-ordered school desegregation plan. Today, researchers estimate that there are as many as 150 Klan chapters active in the U.S. with between 5,000 and 8,000 members nationwide. That was just the beginning.
An April 6, 2017 report from the General Accountability Office stated that white supremacists, anti-government extremists, radical Islamist extremists, and other ideologically inspired domestic violent extremists have been active in the United States for decades. Examples of attacks include the 1993 World Trade Center bombing by radical Islamists, in which 6 persons were killed; and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building by anti-government far right individuals, in which 168 lives were lost. The September 11, 2001, attacks account for the largest number of fatalities in the United States in a single or closely-related attack resulting from violent extremism in recent decades. While the September 11, 2001, attacks were perpetrated by foreign violent extremists, from September 12, 2001 through December 31, 2016, attacks by domestic or “homegrown” violent extremists in the United States resulted in 225 fatalities, according to the ECDB. Of these, 106 were killed by far right violent extremists in 62 separate incidents, and 119 were victims of radical Islamist violent extremists in 23 separate incidents. Since then hundreds of people have been killed by domestic terrorist, crazy deranged evil white guys.
In 2018, there were 50 domestic extremist murders, all of which were committed by perpetrators with ties to right-wing extremists, and 78% of which were committed by white supremacists. Right-wing extremism is also responsible for 73% of extremist killings over the last decade, compared to 23% for Islamist extremism and 3% for left-wing extremism. The FBI also found a 17% increase in reported hate crimes in 2017 from the previous year and a 31% increase since 2014.
Under the Trump Administration, DHS appears to have significantly reduced resources and infrastructure that would address the increasing threat of white supremacist extremism. Reportedly, DHS recently disbanded a group of analysts focused on domestic terrorism in the Office of Intelligence and Analysis, reducing the number of analytic reports on white supremacists.
Violent White Supremacist Extremists (WSE) are defined as individuals who seek, wholly or in part, through unlawful acts of force or violence, to support their belief in the intellectual and moral superiority of the white race over other races. The mere advocacy of political or social positions, political activism, use of strong rhetoric, or generalized philosophic embrace of violent tactics may be constitutionally protected activities. A DHS reference aid discussed trends with WSE targeting and tactics, historical attack data and examples of lethal attacks in the United States since 2012, their geographic location, mobilization to violence as lone offenders or members of small cells, social media use, and common behavioral indicators during their radicalization to violence.
Key Points
• Targets and Tactics: WSE violence often targets racial, ethnic, and religious minorities, as well as government and law enforcement officials. Attacks are often against targets of opportunity rather than pre-meditated plots against previously identified targets. Since 2010, firearms were the most common weapon used in recent WSE attacks followed by knives and other edged weapons.
• Attack Numbers: Between 2000 and August 2016, there were 28 attacks in the United States committed by WSEs, which collectively resulted in 51 fatalities.
• Geographic Dispersal: Given social media’s ability to virtually connect WSEs and the decline in the membership and influence of historically prominent WSE groups, WSEs are increasingly geographically dispersed throughout the nation.
• Lone Offenders and Small Cells: Most recent attacks have been by male lone offenders or small cells, who are not acting under the formal direction of an organized group.
• Social Media: While typically constitutionally protected speech, there has been an exponential growth online over the past few years in WSE themes and messages. Many WSEs use social media, as well as websites promoting WSE narratives, to share their views and connect with like-minded individuals.
Examples of Lethal Attacks
• Charleston, SC: Dylan Roof on 17 June 2015 shot and killed nine individuals at a historic black church. He published his manifesto online ahead of time in which he chronicled his disdain for minorities, especially African-Americans. Police arrested Roof the following day, and he was sentenced to death in January 2017 in a federal court after a jury convicted him of murder and hate crime charges.
• Overland Park, KS: Fraizer Glenn Miller, who hated and desired to kill Jews, on 13 April 2014 shot and killed three people who were outside two Jewish centers. He was sentenced to death in November 2015 after being found guilty of capital murder, aggravated assault, and discharging a firearm into an occupied building.
• Oak Creek, WI: Wade Michael Page—who was a member of the racist skinhead group Hammerskins—on 5 August 2012 shot and killed six individuals and wounded four others at a Sikh temple. Page also wounded a police officer who arrived at the scene. After he was shot in the stomach by another officer, Page committed suicide.
Behavioral Indicators of Possible Radicalization to Violence
A US Government review of recently mobilized violent extremists produced the below list of common, observable activities many of the individuals engaged in during their radicalization to violence. Some of the observed activities include constitutionally protected activity, which by itself may not be indicative of criminal activity associated with terrorism. Posting on the internet or social media sites one’s desire to pursue acts of violence in the United States on behalf of WSE goals; |
Communicating with known or suspected US or overseas-based violent extremists in person or on websites promoting WSE narratives or social media sites; |
Attempting to recruit or radicalize others to pursue acts of violence in the United States on behalf of WSE goals; |
Seeking religious or political justification for engaging in or supporting violence in the United States; |
Performing internet research for target selection and/or acquisition of technical capabilities, without a reasonable explanation, could be indicative of planning for attacks in the United States; |
Newly engaging in firearms or physical training while expressing a desire to pursue plotting in the United States on behalf of WSE goals; |
Conducting suspicious financial transactions to obtain the funds to acquire weapons, explosives, or precursors to build improvised explosive devices; |
Destroying electronic media and deactivating social media accounts that individuals previously used to post their support for WSE goals; |
Using cover stories to mask nefarious activities, such as plans to engage in or support violence; and |
Giving away or selling possessions such as cars and electronics, maxing out credit cards, taking out money from student loan accounts, or borrowing money from friends and relatives, in conjunction with an expressed desire to pursue acts of violence in the United States on behalf of WSE goals. |
In May of 2012 an FBI press release reported that it was a gruesome and hateful crime—three men with white supremacist tattoos punching and kicking the face and body of an African-American man at a bus stop in Houston last summer simply because of the color of his skin. All three were recently convicted of the attack, following an investigation by the FBI and its partners.
It’s not an isolated case. It seems like a throwback to a different era, but white supremacy—which sees whites as inherently superior to those of other races—still exists in America today. Having those kinds of beliefs is not against the law…as a matter of fact, it’s protected by the First Amendment. But white supremacy becomes a crime—and for the FBI, a form of what we call extremism—when it is furthered through threatened or actual use of force or violence or other illegal activity.
The Bureau has been investigating the criminal activities of white supremacy extremists like Ku Klux Klan members since as early as 1918. Today’s extremists are more challenging than ever. They’re affiliated with a variety of white supremacy groups, and they can be motivated by any number of religious or political ideologies. There are also more lone offenders and small, violent factions of larger groups at work, which makes detection of these crimes tougher.
White supremacy extremists specifically target racial, ethnic, and religious minorities; the federal government; and in some instances, even each other. Their tactics include assault, murder, threats and intimidation, and bombings. They also commit other kinds of crimes—like drug trafficking, bank and armored car robberies, and counterfeiting—to fund their hate-filled activities.
Over the years, the federal government has successfully charged white supremacy extremists using a number of federal statutes, including civil rights violations, racketeering, solicitation to commit crimes of violence, firearms violations, explosives violations, counterfeiting and forgery, and witness tampering.
The FBI has led or participated in several significant investigations involving violence or attempted violence by self-admitted white supremacists. A few examples:
In February 2012, an Arizona man was sentenced to federal prison after pleading guilty to possessing and transporting improvised explosive devices near the U.S.-Mexico border. Details
In January 2012, the last of four Arkansas defendants charged with firebombing the home of an interracial couple was sentenced to federal prison. Details
In December 2011, a Washington man was sentenced to 32 years in prison for attempting to bomb a Martin Luther King, Jr. Unity Day march in Spokane. Details
In May 2010, an Oregon man pled guilty to mailing a hangman’s noose to the home of the president of a local NAACP chapter in Ohio. Details
Moving forward, there are three keys to turning back the ongoing scourge of white supremacy extremism:
An increased emphasis on the lawful gathering, analyzing, and sharing of intelligence on current and emerging trends, tactics, and threats.
Continued collaboration with our local, state, tribal, and federal partners, especially on our Joint Terrorism Task Forces around the nation.
And most importantly, the support of Americans who find these types of crimes abhorrent and antithetical to our way of life.