{"id":1578733,"date":"2022-07-29T12:31:24","date_gmt":"2022-07-29T16:31:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1578733"},"modified":"2022-07-29T12:32:23","modified_gmt":"2022-07-29T16:32:23","slug":"faux-fact-checkers-cover-for-democrat-partys-sordid-history-with-the-ku-klux-klan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/faux-fact-checkers-cover-for-democrat-partys-sordid-history-with-the-ku-klux-klan\/","title":{"rendered":"Faux-Fact Checkers Cover for Democrat Party\u2019s Sordid History With the Ku Klux Klan"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffaux-fact-checkers-cover-for-democrat-partys-sordid-history-with-the-ku-klux-klan%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1578733&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p><span>By Anna Agresti and James D. Agresti<\/span><br \/><span>July 29, 2022<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/black_white_fist_bump-1.png\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>During a June 7th Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on white supremacy and domestic terrorism, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bennyjohnson\/status\/1534222689455464449\">stated<\/a> that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the Ku Klux Klan \u201cwas formed by elected Democrats.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Klan \u201cleadership was almost entirely elected Democrats.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>today\u2019s Democrats \u201ctry very hard to erase the history\u201d of their party\u2019s involvement with the Klan.<\/li>\n<li>today\u2019s Democrats \u201cpoliticize acts of violence.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Conversely, \u201cfact checkers\u201d like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politifact.com\/factchecks\/2018\/oct\/24\/blog-posting\/no-democratic-party-didnt-create-klu-klux-klan\/\">PolitiFact<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/archive-fact-checking-2336745806\">Associated Press<\/a> have <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/ap-fact-check-race-and-ethnicity-immigration-religion-lifestyle-24410d9a43113b4e9fb9e96cbe43f226\">repeatedly<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politifact.com\/factchecks\/2013\/jun\/10\/stephen-martin\/state-sen-stephen-martin-says-democratic-party-cre\/\">argued<\/a> that the Democratic Party did not found the Klan, played a limited role in it, and that racist southerners fled to the Republican Party after 1964.<\/p>\n<p>In reality, Cruz\u2019s statements are a much closer reflection of the facts.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Origins &#038; Leadership<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The AP and PolitiFact correctly state that the Klan was started by a group of Confederate veterans in Pulaski, Tennessee as a non-violent, grassroots social club without political motivations.<\/p>\n<p>What the AP and PolitiFact fail to acknowledge is that the Klan\u2019s 1865\u201366 founding as a social club does not mark the beginning of the Klan as it is known today. Per the 1971 academic book <a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books\/about\/White_Terror.html?id=DNKqQgAACAAJ\"><em>White Terror: The Ku Klux Klan Conspiracy and Southern Reconstruction<\/em><\/a><em>,<\/em> the \u201creal beginning\u201d of the \u201cKu Klux conspiracy\u201d occurred at an 1867 <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3BgtCCD\">meeting<\/a> in Nashville that consolidated the Klan.<\/p>\n<p>As explained by an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/books\/edition\/Ku_Klux_Klan\/KW81AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&#038;gbpv=0\">1884 book<\/a> written by a founding <a href=\"https:\/\/encyclopediavirginia.org\/entries\/ku-klux-klan-in-virginia\/#heading0\">member<\/a> of the Klan, this meeting bound the \u201cisolated dens together\u201d with \u201cunity of purpose and concert of action\u201d to supposedly reign in rogue Klansmen that had turned violent toward black people just a year after the group\u2019s founding. However, <em>White Terror<\/em> points out that if Klan leaders really wanted to eliminate violence, they would have disbanded altogether. Instead, they sought \u201ctighter organization\u201d and recruited leaders \u201cof far greater prestige and authority whose influence extended throughout the state\u201d\u2014primarily ex-Confederate generals and Democratic politicians.<\/p>\n<p>An <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ojp.gov\/pdffiles1\/Digitization\/46433NCJRS.pdf\">investigation<\/a> published by the Illinois General Assembly in 1976 explains that after the Klan \u201ctransformed into a political organization,\u201d violence became more widespread under Democrat leadership. The men that guided the Klan\u2019s reorganization and subsequent growth included:<\/p>\n<p>However, the Illinois <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ojp.gov\/pdffiles1\/Digitization\/46433NCJRS.pdf#page=16\">investigation<\/a> also found that \u201ccentral control over the actions of the various local Klan groups did not really exist,\u201d and some of the figureheads above began \u201cdropping out\u201d to distance themselves from local terrorism. For example, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/books\/edition\/Reconstruction_After_the_Civil_War\/GH1W13Xv5y8C?hl=en&#038;gbpv=1&#038;dq=nathaniel+bedford+forrest,+denounced+lawlessness&#038;pg=PA158&#038;printsec=frontcover\">Nathan Bedford Forest<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/authentichistor00davi\/authentichistor00davi_djvu.txt\">ordered<\/a> the Klan disbanded in 1869 because he claimed a \u201cfew disobedient and bad men\u201d had infiltrated the Klan, disgracing its \u201cgood name and honorable reputation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, some prominent Democrats remained loyal to the Klan\u2019s violent activities. For example, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncpedia.org\/biography\/strudwick-frederick-nash\">Fredrick Strudwick<\/a> led a Klan attempt to assassinate a Republican state senator and was later elected as a Democrat to the North Carolina state legislature.<\/p>\n<p>Likewise, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Wilmington-coup-and-massacre\">Red Shirts<\/a>\u2014a \u201cparamilitary extension\u201d of the Democratic Party and essentially the \u201cKlan in a different uniform\u201d\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/omeka.coloredconventions.org\/files\/original\/e6a2079c99b745dd003a2107de1cd938.pdf#page=7\">attacked<\/a> a black militia in 1867 for refusing to surrender their guns to the leader of another militia that \u201chad no legal right\u201d to the weaponry. One participating Red Shirt leader named \u201cPitchfork\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Benjamin-R-Tillman\">Ben Tillman<\/a> became the Democratic Governor of South Carolina and a U.S. Senator. He recalled what became known as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Benjamin-R-Tillman\">Hamburg Massacre<\/a> (in Edgefield county) with pride:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>White men in Edgefield <a href=\"https:\/\/babel.hathitrust.org\/cgi\/pt?id=mdp.39015079003128&#038;view=1up&#038;seq=19&#038;skin=2021&#038;q1=a%20riot\">planned<\/a> \u201cto seize upon the first opportunity\u201d to \u201cprovoke a riot and teach the Negroes a lesson\u201d because they believed that \u201cnothing but bloodshed and a good deal of it\u201d could succeed in \u201credeeming the state from negro and carpet bag rule.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/babel.hathitrust.org\/cgi\/pt?id=mdp.39015079003128&#038;view=1up&#038;seq=26&#038;skin=2021&#038;q1=purpose%20of%20our%20visit\">goal<\/a> \u201cof our visit to Hamburg was to strike terror,\u201d and \u201cseven dead negros lying stark and stiff, certainly had its effect.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/babel.hathitrust.org\/cgi\/pt?id=mdp.39015079003128&#038;view=1up&#038;seq=27&#038;skin=2021&#038;q1=offered%20up%20as%20a\">massacred<\/a> black people were \u201coffered up as a sacrifice to the fanatical teachings and fiendish hate of those who sought to substitute the rule of the African for that of the Caucasian in South Carolina.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/archive-fact-checking-2336745806\">AP<\/a> reports that \u201cmany\u201d Democrats joined the Klan, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politifact.com\/factchecks\/2018\/oct\/24\/blog-posting\/no-democratic-party-didnt-create-klu-klux-klan\/\">PolitiFact<\/a> reports \u201csome\u201d did and that Nathan Forest spoke at a Democratic National Convention, but this is the extent of their admissions of Democrats\u2019 membership in the Klan.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Media Whitewashing<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Even though some individual Democrats denounced the violence of the Klan, Democratic politicians and their media allies consistently covered up for it.<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/27919387#metadata_info_tab_contents\">2011 paper<\/a> in <em>The Journal of Southern History<\/em> explains that Democratic newspapers published \u201cblanket denials\u201d of the Klan\u2019s existence \u201cduring and after its most active period of violence.\u201d This is exemplified by the New York Tribune\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/chroniclingamerica.loc.gov\/lccn\/sn83030214\/1868-10-19\/ed-1\/seq-4\/\">criticism<\/a> of Democratic papers in 1868 for dismissing the Klan as a \u201cmythical maggot of distempered Republican brains.\u201d Democratic politicians followed suit, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Democratic Governor Robert Lindsay, who <a href=\"https:\/\/quod.lib.umich.edu\/m\/moa\/aca4911.0008.001\/249?page=root;size=100;view=image\">testified<\/a> before Congress in 1871 that \u201creported outrages by Ku-Klux or disguised persons had ceased for the last two years\u201d in Alabama.<\/li>\n<li>former Democratic Governor John Stevenson who <a href=\"https:\/\/memory.loc.gov\/cgi-bin\/ampage?collId=llcg&#038;fileName=099\/llcg099.db&#038;recNum=279\">claimed<\/a> in 1871 that there was \u201cno evidence\u201d of \u201cany secret political organization\u201d in Kentucky.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Such denials were pervasive throughout the Democratic Party and media. As documented by <a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books\/about\/White_Terror.html?id=DNKqQgAACAAJ\"><em>White Terror<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cMost Democrats asserted that no regular or continuing Ku Klux organization existed in their counties, or in the state,\u201d and they \u201cdenied even more vehemently that the disguised bands were politically motivated.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cFew Democrats were willing to admit the Klan\u2019s political character and purpose.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cThe Democratic press in Louisiana played its familiar role as Klan apologist.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cDemocratic newspapers continued to ignore violence more than they condemned it.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>The \u201conly native whites who stood out in significant numbers against the Klan\u201d were Republicans.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In 1871, a Congressional committee exposed the Klan\u2019s mass terror and called for federal intervention in the South. Congressional Democrats pushed back, issuing their <a href=\"https:\/\/quod.lib.umich.edu\/m\/moa\/aca4911.0001.001\/291?page=root;rgn=full+text;size=100;view=image\">own report<\/a> which stated that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/quod.lib.umich.edu\/m\/moa\/aca4911.0001.001\/585?page=root;size=100;view=image\">it is<\/a> \u201cfolly and madness\u201d to claim that \u201cany country can prosper where the Anglo-Saxon is made politically subordinate to the African.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/quod.lib.umich.edu\/m\/moa\/aca4911.0001.001\/518?page=root;rgn=full+text;size=100;view=image\">government<\/a> cannot \u201clong exist \u2018half black and half white.\u2019\u2009\u201d<\/li>\n<li>the <a href=\"https:\/\/quod.lib.umich.edu\/m\/moa\/aca4911.0001.001\/294?view=image&#038;size=100\">disguised men<\/a> perpetrating violence in the South do not \u201chave any general organization, or any political significance\u201d and their conduct is not \u201cindorsed by any respectable number\u201d of white people.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u201cTerrorist Arm of the Democratic Party\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In direct contrast to the claims of Democratic politicians and the media that the Klan had no \u201cpolitical significance,\u201d Klansmen used violence and intimidation to serve the interests of the Democratic party.<\/p>\n<p>For example, a black resident of Alabama named Robert Fullerlove <a href=\"https:\/\/quod.lib.umich.edu\/m\/moa\/aca4911.0010.001\/254?page=root;rgn=full+text;size=100;view=image\">testified<\/a> before Congress (along with other Klan victims) that Klansmen interrogated black people about their political beliefs and promised to leave them alone if they \u201cwould come over to the democratic side.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Klan also made frequent death threats to Republican speakers and officials. One Republican state official <a href=\"https:\/\/quod.lib.umich.edu\/m\/moa\/ACA4911.0013.001\/355?rgn=full+text;view=image\">testified<\/a> that the \u201csheriff and clerk, to save their lives, have declared themselves democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One <a href=\"https:\/\/quod.lib.umich.edu\/m\/moa\/aca4911.0004.001\/666?page=root;rgn=full+text;size=100;view=image\">Democrat<\/a> from South Carolina testified that members of the Democrat Party in Abbeville County:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>were organized into clubs which appointed secret \u201ccommittees.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>ordered these committees to <a href=\"https:\/\/quod.lib.umich.edu\/m\/moa\/aca4911.0004.001\/667?page=root;rgn=full+text;size=100;view=image\">seize<\/a> and destroy Republican ballots by force prior to the election.<\/li>\n<li>prevented about four hundred blacks from voting Republican at the Greenwood polling precinct.<\/li>\n<li>generally understood that Republican speakers should be shot, killed, or stopped from speaking.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/quod.lib.umich.edu\/m\/moa\/aca4911.0004.001\/670?page=root;rgn=full+text;size=100;view=image\">were<\/a> \u201cnearly all\u201d part of the Ku Klux Klan.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books\/about\/White_Terror.html?id=DNKqQgAACAAJ\"><em>White Terror<\/em><\/a>\u2014which contains over 1,000 footnotes\u2014summarizes the Democratic Party\u2019s involvement with the Klan as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cThe Klan became in effect a terrorist arm of the Democratic party, whether the party leaders as a whole liked it or not.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cNearly all members\u201d viewed the Klan \u201cas a secret political society in behalf of the Democratic party.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>The \u201cKlan itself was universally regarded as a Democratic political device.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Some activities were \u201cobviously and almost exclusively political,\u201d and the Klan \u201csystematically\u201d terrorized \u201cRepublicans of both races.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.politifact.com\/factchecks\/2018\/oct\/24\/blog-posting\/no-democratic-party-didnt-create-klu-klux-klan\/\">PolitiFact<\/a> quotes one historian who stated that some Klans were a \u201cstrong arm\u201d for local elected Democrats, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/archive-fact-checking-2336745806\">AP\u2019s<\/a> choice historian reports that the Klan did not \u201chave ideological motives until later.\u201d Once again, these gentle nods to reality downplay the full extent of the Klan\u2019s political activities.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Not the Party of Today<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.politifact.com\/factchecks\/2018\/oct\/24\/blog-posting\/no-democratic-party-didnt-create-klu-klux-klan\/\">PolitiFact<\/a> also uses an unsupported claim from a history professor to spread the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justfacts.com\/racialissues#civil_southern\">common canard<\/a> that racist southerners fled \u201cinto the Republican party\u201d after the 1964 Civil Rights Act was passed. This claim is belied by the facts that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.justfacts.com\/racialissues.asp#civil_1964\">80% of Republicans<\/a> voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as compared to only 65% of Democrats, giving racist Democrats no reason to switch parties.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.justfacts.com\/racialissues.asp#civil_southern_switch\">20 of the 21 Democrats<\/a> who voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 remained in the Democratic Party for their entire congressional careers.<\/li>\n<li>the main demographic of southerners who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justfacts.com\/racialissues.asp#civil_southern\">supported segregation<\/a>, namely whites who lived in poor areas with large black populations, continued to vote for Democrats at about the same rates.<\/li>\n<li>Republicans won 44% of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justfacts.com\/racialissues.asp#civil_southern_electoral\">Southern electoral votes<\/a> in 1956, about the same as the 45% they won in 1968 after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.<\/li>\n<li>the portion of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justfacts.com\/reference\/gallup_black_president_question.xls\">white Southerners<\/a> who said they would be willing to vote for a black president increased from 8% in 1958 to 95% in 1999.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The long-term shift of Southern voters to the Republican Party actually <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justfacts.com\/racialissues.asp#civil_southern_factors\">correlates with<\/a> massive declines in racism, growing prosperity, Democratic opposition to gun rights, and Democratic support of abortion up to birth.<\/p>\n<p>PolitiFact emphasizes that \u201ccontext matters\u201d because the \u201canti-black Democratic Party\u201d of yesterday is not the party of today. Yet, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bennyjohnson\/status\/1534222689455464449\">Senator Cruz<\/a> is correct that modern Democrats are still sowing racial divisions for political gain, such as:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>PolitiFact concludes its article by stating that \u201cwhile some Democrats supported the KKK, there\u2019s no evidence the group was founded by their political party,\u201d and the AP briefly acknowledges that the Klan took on a \u201cpolitical tone.\u201d These are gross understatements in light of the wide-ranging facts above, which are accurately summarized by Senator Cruz.<\/p>\n<p>By fixating on the point that the Democratic Party did not create the club that first called itself the \u201cKu Klux Klan,\u201d these so-called fact checkers distract readers from the facts that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>influential Democrats established and expanded the \u201creal\u201d Klan.<\/li>\n<li>the Klan was \u201cin effect a terrorist arm of the Democratic party\u201d and used violence to stop people from voting Republican.<\/li>\n<li>Democrats and newspapers repeatedly downplayed and denied the existence and brutality of the Klan.<\/li>\n<li>modern Democrats continue to exploit interracial violence for political purposes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Anna Agresti and James D. AgrestiJuly 29, 2022 During a June 7th Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on white supremacy and domestic terrorism, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz stated that:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1578973,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1578733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1578733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1578733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1578733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1578973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1578733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1578733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1578733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}