Samuel Damren
This is the second commentary examining the 1915 film “The Birth of a Nation” and the effects of the Ku Klux Klan on past and present-day politics. The focus of this commentary is on the “ingredients” to the KKK’s origin and resurgence in American politics and the similar “recipe” underlying the Trump administration’s immigration policy.
Sociology Professor Rory McVeigh of Notre Dame University in “The Rise of the Ku Klux Klan” (2009) identified three ingredients which combined to produce the birth of the “original” KKK during Reconstruction and its resurgence in the 1920s.
The first ingredient is abrupt and consequential change. Following the Civil War, Southern states were divided into five military districts, black and Northern political rule was imposed on the white population and the South’s slave-based economy was eliminated. The original Klan was a violent response to these changes quelled when federal authorities forcibly intervened.
In the 1920s, different but equally abrupt societal changes sparked the resurgence of a new Klan.
First, the transition from an agriculture-based economy to urban manufacturing. Second, an influx of large numbers of Catholic and Jewish immigrants from Europe to the Eastern and Midwest United States and a similar influx of Asian and Hispanic immigrants to the American West and Southwest. Third, a pronounced Protestant backlash to Jazz Age modernity.
The second ingredient identified by Professor McVeigh to both Klan creation and resurgence was the deep resentment shared by segments of the white population to their perceived “unjust” treatment and “disadvantaged” role in American society caused by these abrupt changes.
The impact of societal changes in the South immediately following the Civil War on the white population do not require explication. In contrast, changes to American life in the 1920s affected Anglo-Saxon populations in different ways across the nation.
According to McVeigh, the 1920s version of the Klan proved adept at tailoring their messaging to match local concerns while at the same time advancing national policy initiatives. The Klan did so by consistently highlighting the need to restore and preserve “advantages” that white populations previously enjoyed while also suggesting means to protect Klan members from emerging threats.
The final ingredient to the recipe for Klan creation and resurgence, according to McVeigh, were identifiable groups – sorted by race, religion or politics – for the Klan to hold responsible for disadvantaging Klansmen and other “100 percent Americans.”
As falsely and offensively portrayed in “The Birth of a Nation,” African-Americans and Northern “carpetbaggers” were the perpetrators of an “unjust” and “shameful” oppression of Southern interests during Reconstruction.
The 1920s Klan significantly widened this group of villains to include Jews, Catholics, Asians, Eastern European immigrants and others, including unskilled laborers in urban centers, socialists and communists. However, unlike the KKK of the Reconstruction era, Klansman in the 1920s regularly worked within political boundaries instead of outside the law.
Klansman were elected to the House and the Senate. In the Midwest, state and city governments were often dominated by Klan politicians. Thousands of Protestant ministers endorsed the Klan as did many prominent civic leaders. Klan membership nationwide grew to several million.
The shelf life for the Reconstruction era and 1920s era Klans were relatively short. But during that time, the Klan was a major factor in significant political change.
What could not be achieved through overt violence by the Klan of the Reconstruction era was later achieved by Southern politicians when they changed tactics to enact “Jim Crow” laws restoring white rule across the South.
Comprehensive restriction of immigration was a major goal of the KKK of the 1920s. That goal was achieved through the Immigration Act of 1924 which greatly reduced the number of eligible immigrants to America from other than Protestant homelands.
Donald Trump’s campaign rhetoric has always echoed Klan ideology.
The disparagement of immigrants and the drum beat of “Make America Great Again” are directly from the Klansman playbook. His recent attacks on proponents of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and on proponents of LGBTQ rights are substitutes for 1920s attacks on proponents of Jazz-Age modernity.
The Great Replacement Theory – that WASPs are being systematically replaced by persons of color in America – is an updated re-tread of author Madison Grant’s long discredited 1916 book, “The Passing of The Great Race.”
In his 2024 campaign, Trump attacked “illegal” immigrants, primarily Hispanics, as “rapists and criminals” who he contended were “poisoning the blood” of America. He promised MAGA Americans swift justice to remove these individuals from the country.
Now in office, Trump has changed tactics.
Instead of pursuing criminals, ICE agents conduct broad sweeps for potential detainees based on ethnicity not criminality. The targets are ordinary working people, the parents of U. S. citizens, neighbors and others who pose no realistic threat but benefit American communities.
Homeland Security behaves as if it is above the law. ICE agents hide their identities and have repeatedly been documented beating detainees.
Probationary immigration judges or judges appointed by prior administrations have been fired by the Trump administration and replaced by former ICE prosecutors or ICE sympathizers. As a result, the Homeland Security apparatus is police, prosecutor, jury, and judge to immigrant detainees.
While they await summary deportation, tens of thousands of immigrant detainees endure inhumane treatment, no genuine due process, and are intentionally removed from friends, family and even lawyers.
This form of “swift justice” in the America of today is the functional equivalent of the “Klan Justice” depicted in “The Birth of a Nation.”
There will be a future reckoning for these misdeeds.
In this retrospective, no American will be permitted to contend that they were unaware of the ongoing inhumanity that accompanied the political storm of Trump’s immigration policy.
America will not be permitted to emulate Europe in the aftermath of Nazi occupation where citizens cowardly distanced themselves from unspeakable events by feigning lack of knowledge. It is the 21st century. We all know what is going on.
When the masks are removed, the only question will be how many Americans find themselves looking in the mirror of complicity – by act or omission – at the past crossroads of this violent, cruel iteration of white supremacy.
Sociology Professor Rory McVeigh of Notre Dame University in “The Rise of the Ku Klux Klan” (2009) identified three ingredients which combined to produce the birth of the “original” KKK during Reconstruction and its resurgence in the 1920s.
The first ingredient is abrupt and consequential change. Following the Civil War, Southern states were divided into five military districts, black and Northern political rule was imposed on the white population and the South’s slave-based economy was eliminated. The original Klan was a violent response to these changes quelled when federal authorities forcibly intervened.
In the 1920s, different but equally abrupt societal changes sparked the resurgence of a new Klan.
First, the transition from an agriculture-based economy to urban manufacturing. Second, an influx of large numbers of Catholic and Jewish immigrants from Europe to the Eastern and Midwest United States and a similar influx of Asian and Hispanic immigrants to the American West and Southwest. Third, a pronounced Protestant backlash to Jazz Age modernity.
The second ingredient identified by Professor McVeigh to both Klan creation and resurgence was the deep resentment shared by segments of the white population to their perceived “unjust” treatment and “disadvantaged” role in American society caused by these abrupt changes.
The impact of societal changes in the South immediately following the Civil War on the white population do not require explication. In contrast, changes to American life in the 1920s affected Anglo-Saxon populations in different ways across the nation.
According to McVeigh, the 1920s version of the Klan proved adept at tailoring their messaging to match local concerns while at the same time advancing national policy initiatives. The Klan did so by consistently highlighting the need to restore and preserve “advantages” that white populations previously enjoyed while also suggesting means to protect Klan members from emerging threats.
The final ingredient to the recipe for Klan creation and resurgence, according to McVeigh, were identifiable groups – sorted by race, religion or politics – for the Klan to hold responsible for disadvantaging Klansmen and other “100 percent Americans.”
As falsely and offensively portrayed in “The Birth of a Nation,” African-Americans and Northern “carpetbaggers” were the perpetrators of an “unjust” and “shameful” oppression of Southern interests during Reconstruction.
The 1920s Klan significantly widened this group of villains to include Jews, Catholics, Asians, Eastern European immigrants and others, including unskilled laborers in urban centers, socialists and communists. However, unlike the KKK of the Reconstruction era, Klansman in the 1920s regularly worked within political boundaries instead of outside the law.
Klansman were elected to the House and the Senate. In the Midwest, state and city governments were often dominated by Klan politicians. Thousands of Protestant ministers endorsed the Klan as did many prominent civic leaders. Klan membership nationwide grew to several million.
The shelf life for the Reconstruction era and 1920s era Klans were relatively short. But during that time, the Klan was a major factor in significant political change.
What could not be achieved through overt violence by the Klan of the Reconstruction era was later achieved by Southern politicians when they changed tactics to enact “Jim Crow” laws restoring white rule across the South.
Comprehensive restriction of immigration was a major goal of the KKK of the 1920s. That goal was achieved through the Immigration Act of 1924 which greatly reduced the number of eligible immigrants to America from other than Protestant homelands.
Donald Trump’s campaign rhetoric has always echoed Klan ideology.
The disparagement of immigrants and the drum beat of “Make America Great Again” are directly from the Klansman playbook. His recent attacks on proponents of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and on proponents of LGBTQ rights are substitutes for 1920s attacks on proponents of Jazz-Age modernity.
The Great Replacement Theory – that WASPs are being systematically replaced by persons of color in America – is an updated re-tread of author Madison Grant’s long discredited 1916 book, “The Passing of The Great Race.”
In his 2024 campaign, Trump attacked “illegal” immigrants, primarily Hispanics, as “rapists and criminals” who he contended were “poisoning the blood” of America. He promised MAGA Americans swift justice to remove these individuals from the country.
Now in office, Trump has changed tactics.
Instead of pursuing criminals, ICE agents conduct broad sweeps for potential detainees based on ethnicity not criminality. The targets are ordinary working people, the parents of U. S. citizens, neighbors and others who pose no realistic threat but benefit American communities.
Homeland Security behaves as if it is above the law. ICE agents hide their identities and have repeatedly been documented beating detainees.
Probationary immigration judges or judges appointed by prior administrations have been fired by the Trump administration and replaced by former ICE prosecutors or ICE sympathizers. As a result, the Homeland Security apparatus is police, prosecutor, jury, and judge to immigrant detainees.
While they await summary deportation, tens of thousands of immigrant detainees endure inhumane treatment, no genuine due process, and are intentionally removed from friends, family and even lawyers.
This form of “swift justice” in the America of today is the functional equivalent of the “Klan Justice” depicted in “The Birth of a Nation.”
There will be a future reckoning for these misdeeds.
In this retrospective, no American will be permitted to contend that they were unaware of the ongoing inhumanity that accompanied the political storm of Trump’s immigration policy.
America will not be permitted to emulate Europe in the aftermath of Nazi occupation where citizens cowardly distanced themselves from unspeakable events by feigning lack of knowledge. It is the 21st century. We all know what is going on.
When the masks are removed, the only question will be how many Americans find themselves looking in the mirror of complicity – by act or omission – at the past crossroads of this violent, cruel iteration of white supremacy.
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