HOUSTON – The year is 1990. The White Camelia Knights, a long standing hate group with deep roots in Southeast Texas, holds a rally in Houston.
More than 25 years later, the Ku Klux Klan is fragmented, in the midst of a steep decline and no longer has the staying power it once held. That’s according to a new report, recently published by the Anti-Defamation League.
“The fact that we have noticed that the numbers have been dwindling is very significant,” said Dena Marks, associate director of the Anti-Defamation League.
Despite the organization’s recent attempt to exploit the presidential election by staging political endorsements to attract media coverage, the ADL’s report states what remains of the KKK today is nothing more than “a collection of mostly small, disjointed groups with no predominant leadership or stability.”
KKK groups such as the White Camelia Knights, based in Cleveland, Texas, a group who once used a bus to recruit members, are all but inactive.
“I think in part its people seeing the KKK as antiquated and obsolete and there are other white-supremacist groups that are attracting people that would normally go to the KKK,” Marks said.
The new extremist groups include the Texas Aryan Brotherhood and Aryan Circle, two of the largest white supremacist prison gangs in the country. They’re based in Texas and growing in numbers.
"They are more technologically advanced. They use social media and have more advanced methods of recruiting,’ Marks said.
Deceased cop killer Dennis Clem, who in 2007 was wanted in the Houston area for shooting and killing two black teenagers, was said to be a ranking member of the Aryan Circle.
The ADL warns these hate groups are just as dangerous as the Ku Klux Klan and should be just as feared.
Copyright 2016 by KPRC Click2Houston - All rights reserved.