“Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” This simple quote from the film Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace has rang as a pop culture and geek culture icon for all that is wrong with the human psyche. Jedi Master Yoda (voiced and controlled by puppet master Frank Oz), a wizened Zen master of George Lucas’s Star Wars Universe utters these words to child Anakin Skywalker (portrayed by Jake Lloyd) as a response to Skywalker during a discussion about Anakin’s mother. Although these words have come from a pop culture reference, these three simple sentences can be used to help define a piece of United States history, specifically the period of Reconstruction in the former Confederacy. This, arguably, also gave rise to one of the most prevalent hate organizations in American history, the Ku Klux Klan.
The Ku Klux Klan, commonly referred to as the KKK or the Klan, made its first appearance in the late 1860s following the United States War of Secession. In the war torn south, many people were being forced into a new way of life they did not agree with. Black people, formerly slaves, were now freed citizens of the United States. Southern Republicans came out to build pro-Union governments. Republicans came from the North to support the pro-Union governments and Union soldiers were stationed in major cities in an attempt to ensure the peace.
“Fear leads to anger.” In 1866 the face of the United States was changing. With any kind of change there is always bound to be some people who are afraid. One group of Confederate veterans decided to take this fear head on and formed an organization to assert themselves and their beliefs on the people of the former Confederacy. Thus was born the Ku Klux Klan. For the next 5 to 6 years, the KKK acted out of anger then hatred to fight their fears of the changing nation. Much of this original Klan was made up of veterans of the war, and many were looking for an outlet for their experience in war in a time of peace. Eric Forner mentions in his book Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877 “the Klan was a military force serving the interests of the Democratic Party,” the Democratic Party at that time still being Anti-Federalist in its ideology.
“Anger leads to hate.” When fear has been subsided, and anger has taken hold in a person, yet another outlet is needed for the anger. Anger usually manifests as hate, and in Reconstruction United States, there were many targets of hate for the growing Klan. Members of this first iteration of the Klan had the specific goal of reasserting white supremacy in the South, and with the victory of the Union Armies in the War of Secession, targets of these goals were clear. The blacks, rising up as naturalized citizens of the United States. However, there were also the scallywags, native born Southerners supporting the Union and Republican ideals. The carpetbaggers, Republicans and Northerners moving South.
While directing their hate, towards whites and blacks in the South, the Klan used their reputation and weight to make political statements, commonly through terrorism. Attacks on Freedmen’s Bureau offices and Republican political offices were not uncommon. Just as not unheard of were more gentle threats towards. An example of which where Klansmen stormed a teacher’s home, asked her politely to dress, and as gentlemen requested she leave the county as she was an icon of unfair taxes and equality in the classroom. (Example cited in James F. Rhodes’s History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the McKinley-Bryan Campaign of 1896). More commonly heard about however are the brutally violent attacks of the Klan in the South.
“Hate leads to suffering.” The more famous instances of the Klan in their brief reign of terror in the 1860s are of their brutally violent assaults. Many people might guess that the KKK terrorized the South for decades, when in fact it was only over a period of 5 to 6 years. However this period was no less important to history than the century of hate and violence it would ignite. Over the course of their 5 years, the Klan, trying to exercise their new found rights, would kill thousands of blacks and hundreds, if not thousands, of pro-Union whites.
The 5 year reign of terror of the Ku Klux Klan caused much suffering for those that were the target of their fear, anger and hate. For five years the Klan lynched anyone who disagreed with their ideas and anyone who they saw as a threat to their way of life and the future. Though a series of laws passed in 1871 the KKK was branded a terrorist organization and faded away. However, just 40 years later; fear, anger, hate and suffering will return and persist for a century.
Three simple sentences from a little green alien some how summarize one of the greatest and most prevalent domestic terrorist organizations in US history. Fear leads to anger. Fear of a change of life and a new dawning of a nation. Anger leads to hate. Anger of those who would dare challenge the established order. Hate leads to suffering. Suffering of the targets of a groups anger fueled hate. Yoda’s words seem to ring true throughout history illustrating that fear is the path to the dark side.
References
Foner, E. (2009). Give me liberty!: an American history (2nd Seagull ed.). New York: W.W. Norton & Co..
Sourced as reading material and source of information for this paper
Ku Klux Klan – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved November 13, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan#cite_note-37
Cross-reference with Forner and to double check dates and find more examples
Lucas, G. (Director). (2001). Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace [Motion picture]. USA: 20th Century Fox.
Source of Quote of Thesis
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