{"id":871157,"date":"2026-10-05T03:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T03:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/871157\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T03:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T03:34:11","slug":"can-the-kkk-find-a-new-foothold-in-the-us-racism-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/871157\/","title":{"rendered":"Can the KKK find a new foothold in the US? | Racism News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deleted: Experts have warned over the past decade of a resurgence in white supremacy in the United States, fuelled in part by the mainstream influence of political figures like President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Just this year, the Public Religion Research Institute released the results of a 2025 survey that asked more than 20,000 US adults to evaluate the statement, \u201cImmigrants are invading our country and replacing our cultural and ethnic background.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

That belief is the cornerstone of the great replacement theory<\/a>, a conspiracy that falsely claims that immigrants, Jews and nonwhite groups seek to supplant white people in Western countries.<\/p>\n

The research institute found that 32 percent of respondents \u2013 nearly one in three \u2013 nevertheless agreed with the idea.<\/p>\n

Critics have accused right-wing leaders like Trump of normalising such views, through rhetoric that paints immigration as an \u201cinvasion\u201d and \u201can assault on Western countries\u201d.<\/p>\n

Trump has also been accused of cosying up to white nationalists, even dining in 2022 with Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes, a key figure in the movement. When white nationalists engaged in a deadly clash with protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, Trump said there were \u201cfine people on both sides\u201d.<\/p>\n

Al Jazeera correspondent Phil Lavelle travelled to Boone County, Arkansas,\u00a0to see whether one of the most infamous white supremacist organisations in US history had seen a bump in its influence midway through Trump\u2019s second term.<\/p>\n

He spoke to Thomas Robb, the head of what was formerly known as the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist group founded in the 1970s by David Duke.<\/p>\n

What Lavelle found was a group seemingly eager to rebrand. The group had shortened its title to The Knights Party, and members told Lavelle they were trying to re-centre their message around family and faith.<\/p>\n

But when Lavelle asked if a Black person would be welcome at the group\u2019s church, Robb\u2019s answer was simple.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d Robb responded. \u201cBecause this is a white nationalist church.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) has a long history of racism and violence in the US. The movement began at the end of the civil war in 1865, as a response to government efforts to expand civil rights to Black people and other minority groups.<\/p>\n

Through lynchings and other targeted acts of violence, the KKK attempted to block non-white participation in government and maintain racial divides.<\/p>\n

Robb, a Christian pastor, took over as the head of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan \u2013 a faction of the KKK \u2013 in 1989. He has since attempted to broaden the group\u2019s appeal.<\/p>\n

He changed his title from \u201cgrand wizard\u201d to \u201cnational director\u201d, allowed new members to participate confidentially by mail, and distanced himself from KKK violence in public outreach campaigns.<\/p>\n

Still, he has adhered to the racist philosophy his organisation is known for.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you make of politicians like Zohran Mamdani or Abdul El-Sayed?\u201d Lavelle asked Robb in his interview, referencing two high-profile US politicians who identify as Muslim.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, first off, they\u2019re not Americans,\u201d Robb said. When Lavelle pointed out that El-Sayed was born in Michigan, Robb brushed off the contradiction. \u201cI don\u2019t care where he\u2019s born. He\u2019s not American.\u201d<\/p>\n

He proceeded to draw a distinction between the children of white and non-white immigrants. Only the children of white foreigners can be American, Robb said, \u201cbecause they\u2019re white\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan is one of dozens of white supremacy organisations operating in the US.<\/p>\n

The Southern Poverty Law Center, an advocacy group, estimates that there are at least 152 such groups active in the US today, part of what it calls a rising trend over the last decade.<\/p>\n

Just this year, another white supremacist organisation, the\u00a0Patriot Front, marched through Washington, DC<\/a>, during the Independence Day holiday.<\/p>\n

Critics say Trump, at times, has echoed their rhetoric. Trump told The New York Times earlier this year that \u201cwhite people were very badly treated\u201d in fields like academics.<\/p>\n

He also instructed his second administration to dismantle diversity initiatives, and under his leadership, the government has launched probes into whether universities and companies like Nike discriminate against white people.<\/p>\n

In addition, Trump has given priority to white South Africans in refugee admissions, falsely claiming they are the subject of a \u201cgenocide\u201d.<\/p>\n

Robb claimed the current rise in white nationalist sentiment began well before Trump, in 2008, during the election of Barack Obama, the country\u2019s first Black president.<\/p>\n

Still, Robb acknowledged public wariness of joining a white supremacist group like his. \u201cAs for people actually to become members, that\u2019s kind of a line they [are] a little hesitant to cross sometimes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also declined when asked to provide membership numbers or provide evidence for his assertion that support for his movement \u201cis growing\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe we\u2019re wrong. Maybe everybody hates us. I don\u2019t know,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Deleted: Experts have warned over the past decade of a resurgence in white supremacy in the United States,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":871158,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,12,2420,3,111,15754,21,19,22,20,25,1209,24],"class_list":["post-871157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-donald-trump","tag-government","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-racism","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-us-canada","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=871157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/871158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}