Photo Essay: The Ku Klux Klan Comes Back to Life in Virginia
Image: pb-110930-kkk-da-06.photoblog900.jpg
The Invisible Empire is experiencing a revival in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Three chapters of the Ku Klux Klan have reemerged in the state, holding rallies, lighting crosses, and seeking new members. Anger over gay rights, racial changes in the population, and a black president are frequent refrains at these rallies. Yet Klan members say they are not about hate, but about taking pride in their own race. “The blacks have the NAACP [The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People], the Mexicans La Raza, and the Jews have the ADL [The Anti-Defamation League],” says Stan Martin of the Rebel Brigade Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. “We whites have the Ku Klux Klan.”