Committee Condemns Klan

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31551, 13 December 1967, Page 9

Committee Condemns Klan

(N.Z. Press Assn. —Copyright) WASHINGTON, Dec. 10. America’s Ku Klux Klan must be regarded as a vehicle for “death, destruction, and fear,” the House of Representatives committee on un-American activities warned today. Klan involvement in kid-

Klan involvement in kidnapping, beatings, arson, bombings, and outright murder in recent years compelled it to be viewed in this way, the committee said. The committee’s final judgment in a 371-page report made public today culminates extensive investigation into the history and horrors of America’s most durable terrorist movement It describes the constant claim of the Ku Klux Klan that it is a law-abiding segregationist movement as “pure sham.” “Klans have continued to rely on terrorism as an instrument for achieving socalled white supremacy and other objectives. “This terrorism runs the gamut from telephoned threats or intimidatory crossburnings to various forms of physical violence.” The report says the Klan is still strong enough to deal out death and destruction in 1967 in spite of its population of slightly less than 17,000—a far cry from the “invisible empire’s” better days.

The committee said as of last (northern) spring there were 17 independent organisations which claimed to be the true Ku Klux Klan. Most were located in the south, although some “klaverns” were found as far north as Michigan. The report is based on an investigation conducted tn

1 1965-1966. It summarises the findings of the investigation —most of which were brought out in a series of public hearings—and offers the committee’s views as to the Klan’s true purposes and its ability to carry them out. Unlike the Ku Klux Klan movement of the past, which was monolithic, today’s Klan crusade is a competitive affair participated in by numerous groups which “are continually being organised and disbanded,” the report said.

“Committee investigations and hearings into the activities of the major

Klans demonstrated nevertheless that Klans operate—today as in the past—as conspiracies to deprive certain citizens of rights guaranteed by the Constitution,” said the nine Congressmen making up the committee.

The committee also took note of the Klan’s capability for infiltrating law enforcement agencies in the south. While such instances were relatively few, said the committee chairman, Edwin Willis, “the committee regarded even a minor infiltration as harmful in view of the fact that the entire department becomes suspect

to those who seek protection from the Klan.” Of the 16,810 members the committee estimated were in Klan organisations in early 1967, it said 15,075 belonged to the United Klans of America Incorporated.

U.K.A. drew the most attention from the committee during the hearings, and because they balked at answering questions, the Imperial Wizard, Robert Shelton, and other U.K.A. leaders were cited and convicted for contempt of Congress.

Their cases are now before the United States Court of Appeals.