Non-racially aware people read this.

Originally they weren't. Things got out of hand. The creator of the KKK himself left because things were going down a road he didn't want them to. I love how this thread is titled. Think about it for a second...

Full fledged guerrilla warfare was on the verge of breaking out throughout the South and the federal government found itself powerless to stop it. The harsher the government mandates became, the stiffer the resistance became. Finally, in 1869, newly elected President Grant agreed to a secret meeting with Grand Wizard Forrest. The two men had faced each other in the Civil War and were now facing each other in a new kind of war. Grant asked what it would take to end the turmoil. Forrest replied the restoration of full rights of citizenship to the white South and home rule. Grant agreed. Grand Wizard Forrest would disband the Klan and later that year Grant would begin the process of withdrawing federal troops and restoring Constitutional Rights to the South. Unfortunately, the unrest did not end with the disbandment of the Ku Klux Klan in 1869. Grand Wizard Forrest had no authority over the other independent groups that also opposed the Reconstruction. Some of these groups, like the White Camellia, had grown to be as large as the Klan, and the outrages committed by impersonators continued. Though he did what he could, under these conditions President Grant found it difficult to keep his end of the bargain. Though Reconstruction would eventually end, it was agonizingly slow.

In the early 1870's there was no longer a Ku Klux Klan. But all resistance had been labeled "ku klux" by the northern newspapers and public officials. In 1871, Congress passed the Anti-Ku Klux Act which launched a massive investigation into the affairs of the late insurrectory states. The Federal government found its own policies largely to blame for the post Civil War turmoil. Gradually (too gradually) the government began to make amends and slowly, all organizations labeled "ku klux" faded away. By 1880, there was no longer a need for them. The restoration of civil liberties, civil authority, and home rule to the white South enabled law enforcers to stamp out the outlaws and criminal impersonators of the Ku Klux Klan.

The most unfortunate victims of the Reconstruction Era were the poor whites and freed Negroes who fared the worse under the violent conditions. The most infamous villains were the Carpetbaggers and Scalawags, most of whom just happened to be Jewish. But there is documentation that ex-Confederate Jews, as well as many Catholics also joined the Klan. Religious distinctions were not part of the original Ku Klux Klan's doctrine. Names like Cohen and Rosenbaum appear on both sides. Some Jews rose as high as the rank of Grand Cyclops in the original KKK.

While most historian claim that the country has never fully recovered from the Civil War, the reality is that the country has never recovered from the Reconstruction. More accurately we should simply consider the Reconstruction as the last battle and chapter of the Civil War. In the wake of Reconstruction, many myths have sprung up concerning the Klan and the most ridiculous ones seem to be most widely accepted today as facts. Most biased modern historians claim that the Klan just wandered around looking for innocent Negroes to hang. In fact, the original Klan never hung anyone who was truly innocent and did much to protect the innocent of both races.