Racism leads to burning houses

In the New York times, there was an article about houses being set on fire. Nine months ago, in charles county, MD., ten houses were set ablaze in the middle of the night. Since most of the families who had their homes destroyed were black, this became a racist issue. Since 1990, the black population in this area has increased from 18% to 33%. Along with that, there has been more hate crimes than ever before. There have been things like fliers telling you to kill blacks, and symbols such as swastikas and K.K.K. being spray painted on buildings and roads. Since the arson crime took place, five suspects have been arrested. None of them, however, have been charged with hate crimes.

Hearing this made me think of the Ku Klux Klan when it was in it's prime. The klan was first established in Pulaski, Tennessee, in May, 1866. The kkk was mainly run by former members of the confederate army. They not only targeted blacks, but whites who sympathized for the black americans as well. They would go in to the homes of these people at night, drag them outside, torture them, and then in most cases kill them.

The Ku Klux act became law on April 20, 1871, which was the idea of then president Ulysses S. Grant. This gave the president the right to intervene in places where racist klans were getting out of hand. The Ku Klux Klan split up shortly after, however, because their goal to have a white supremacy in the south had been achieved. When the Ku Klux Klan reassembled in 1915, they were going after more than just African Americans.