by Ryan Wilder

The white supremacy movement operates on the basic premise that all non-white races should be exterminated or forced to live separately from whites. White Supremacist groups may have religiously based beliefs or simply believe that races should not mix.

The movement began in the U.S. shortly after the abolition of slavery in 1865 and the subsequent passage of the Bill of Rights in 1866. However, the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln caused the Republican Party to lose power in Congress. With democrats controlling the House and Senate, many of the rights African-Americans had been promised were not protected.

The original Ku Klux Klan was formed in Pulaski, Tenn. in 1866 and was made up primarily of former Confederate soldiers. Their purpose was to oppress blacks in the postwar South through violence and intimidation. Branches of the KKK spread throughout the South and Midwest, and persecution of blacks became more widespread.

The KKK was eventually eradicated after President Ulysses S. Grant pushed the Ku Klux Act through Congress in 1871. The act gave the president power to intervene in states where KKK activities were frequent.

The KKK was revived several times during the Twentieth Century, most notably in response to the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s. Their main function at that time was to intimidate blacks into not voting. They used various acts of violence, including lynching, to do this.

Today, many white supremacist groups exist throughout the country and the world. The advent of the Internet has given leaders of groups preaching racial violence a new medium to spread their message to impressionable minds. Many not only encourage violence toward religious and racial minorities, but also work to put members in positions of political and governmental power.