By: Samantha Black

Introduction  In the United States, there are a lot of different kinds of hate groups.  Some of these hate groups, hate others due to either their sexuality, race, and or religion.  The one thing that all of these groups have in common is a hatred towards people who are different than themselves.

The National Alliance  The national alliance is a form of neo-nazi and white supremacist group.  It was founded in 1974 by William Pierce.  The NA believe that Jews are a danger to the white survival.  Since 1998, the NA grown from about 1000 to ‘  Since 2001, the NA had activity in 30 states.

The Ku Klux Klan  Better known as the KKK, they’ve been around since after the Cival War in  Their anger was directed towards African Americans in the beginning years.  As time went on they started hating Jews, Catholics, homosexuals, and immigrants.  Through the years of the KKK, their has been 3 different sets of Klans.

Ku Klux Klan cont’d  Since their existence, the Klan migrated toward the northern city and states.  At one time in the 1920s, Indiana was said to have the most powerful KKK.  In today’s society, there are 150 Klan chapters with 5,000 to 8,000 members.

Klan 1  Founded in 1865, by Tennessee veterans from the Confederate Army.  Had about 550,000 members  The group was spread around the southern part of the United States.

Klan 2  Membership peaked in the mid 1920s  Their was about 4-5 million men involved.  They preached racism, anti-Catholicism, and anti-Communism, and antisemitism.  In the 1930s memberships went down to 30,000 members.  The second Klan started burning the crosses in yards and made it their trademark.

Klan 3  The third klan was from the year 1946 to now.  The third klan was overshadowed by the growing amount of neo-nazi activity since the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Westboro Baptist Church  Is an independent Baptist church and hate group known for it’s hatred towards homosexuals.  The church is located near Topeka, Kansas and founded by Fred Phelps.  Main focus was directed towards homosexuals and soldiers in the military.

Westboro Baptist Church cont’d  They show their beliefs through picketing at funerals, usually soldiers that were KIA or homosexuals and also the desecration of the flag.  Carries out daily picketing in Topeka, usually 6 per day, and 5 on Sunday.  It has been said the group thinks that God kills sodiers because of America’s tolerance of gays.

Westboro Baptist Church cont’d  They have different kinds of signs at soldiers funerals saying:“Thank God for Dead Soldiers,” “Fag Troops,” and“Thank God for 9/11.”  Their hatred goes deeper besides of homosexuals and soldiers, they also hate; Catholics, Judaism, and other religions.  States and the federal government’s are passing bills and laws to make people stay back so many feet from funerals.

The Militia Movement  The militia movement is a right-wing extremist group that is ant-government.  The events that set the militia off was the deadly standoffs at Ruby Ridge, Idaho in 1992 and Waco, Texas in  By 1996 the number of militia groups declined.  The most active and largest militia these days are the Kentucky State Militia.

Conclusion  Some hate groups in the United States are worse than others, some show their hate with anger and violence, such as the KKK, and some show their beliefs through picketing and their voices like the Westboro Baptist Church.  But they all still have one thing in common, the hatred of people who are different than them and think differently.