Editing Ku Klux Klan (section)

=== Third Klan ===
The "Ku Klux Klan" name was used by numerous independent local secret groups opposing the [[civil rights movement]] and [[Desegregation in the United States|desegregation]], especially in the 1950s and 1960s. They sometimes forged informal alliances with Southern police departments, as in [[Birmingham, Alabama]]; or with governor's offices, as with [[George Wallace]] of Alabama.{{sfn|McWhorter|2001}}{{Specify|reason=need specific pages|date=August 2024}} Several activists of the Third Klan were convicted of murder in the deaths of civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964 and of children in the [[16th Street Baptist Church bombing|bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham]] in 1963.

The United States government considers the Third Klan to be a "subversive terrorist organization".<ref name=autogenerated2>{{cite web |url=http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/kkk/default.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=4&item=kkk |title=About the Ku Klux Klan |publisher=Anti-Defamation League |access-date=January 2, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091226085812/http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/kkk/default.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=4&item=kkk |archive-date=December 26, 2009}}</ref><ref name="Virginia Tech">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/16/us/inquiry-begun-on-klan-ties-of-2-icons-at-virginia-tech.html|title=Inquiry Begun on Klan Ties Of 2 Icons at Virginia Tech |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=November 16, 1997 |page=138 |access-date=January 2, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101006202735/http://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/16/us/inquiry-begun-on-klan-ties-of-2-icons-at-virginia-tech.html |archive-date=October 6, 2010|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Lee, Jennifer">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/06/us/06bowers.html|title=Samuel Bowers, 82, Klan Leader Convicted in Fatal Bombing, Dies|last=Lee|first=Jennifer|date=November 6, 2006|work=The New York Times|access-date=January 2, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512151534/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/06/us/06bowers.html|archive-date=May 12, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Brush, Pete">{{cite news |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/court-will-review-cross-burning-ban/|title=Court Will Review Cross Burning Ban|last=Brush|first=Pete|date=May 28, 2002|publisher=[[CBS News]]|access-date=January 2, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101006224439/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/05/28/supremecourt/main510317.shtml|archive-date=October 6, 2010|url-status=live}}</ref> In April 1997, [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] agents arrested four members of the True Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Dallas for conspiracy to commit robbery and for conspiring to blow up a [[Natural-gas processing|natural gas processing]] plant.<ref>[http://dallas.fbi.gov/history.htm Dallas.FBI.gov "Domestic terrorism by the Klan remained a key concern"]. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100305075543/http://dallas.fbi.gov/history.htm |date=March 5, 2010 }}, FBI, Dallas office</ref> In 1999, the city council of [[Charleston, South Carolina]], passed a resolution declaring the Klan a terrorist organization.<ref name="Charleston">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=c0wPAAAAIBAJ&pg=6460,2081194&dq=klan+terrorist-organization&hl=en|title=Klan named terrorist organization in Charleston|date=October 14, 1999|agency=Reuters|access-date=January 2, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150605152433/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=c0wPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=J4YDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6460,2081194&dq=klan+terrorist-organization&hl=en|archive-date=June 5, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Third Klan groups have been in a state of consistent decline. A variety of factors are involved: the public's negative distaste of the group's image, platform, and history; infiltration and prosecution by law enforcement; civil lawsuit financial forfeitures; and the radical right-wing's perception of the Klan as outdated and unfashionable. The [[Southern Poverty Law Center]] reported that between 2016 and 2019, the number of Klan groups in America dropped from 130 to just 51.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://theconversation.com/the-kkk-is-in-rapid-decline-but-its-symbols-remain-worryingly-potent-112320|title=The KKK is in rapid decline – but its symbols remain worryingly potent|first=Kristofer|last=Allerfeldt|website=The Conversation|date=March 2019|access-date=May 16, 2022|archive-date=May 16, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220516151557/https://theconversation.com/the-kkk-is-in-rapid-decline-but-its-symbols-remain-worryingly-potent-112320|url-status=live}}</ref> A 2016 report by the [[Anti-Defamation League]] claims an estimate of just over 30 Third Klan groups still active.<ref name="TatteredRobes">'l [https://www.adl.org/sites/default/files/documents/assets/pdf/combating-hate/tattered-robes-state-of-kkk-2016.pdf "Tattered Robes: The State of the Ku Klux Klan in the United States"]. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171118095816/https://www.adl.org/sites/default/files/documents/assets/pdf/combating-hate/tattered-robes-state-of-kkk-2016.pdf |date=November 18, 2017}}, Anti-Defamation League (2016).</ref> Estimates of total collective membership range from about 3,000<ref name="TatteredRobes" /> to 8,000.<ref name="SPLCKlan">[https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/ku-klux-klan "Extremist Files: Ku Klux Klan"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180406084839/https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/ku-klux-klan |date=April 6, 2018}}, Southern Poverty Law Center (accessed October 21, 2017).</ref> In addition to its active membership, the Third Klan has an "unknown number of associates and supporters".<ref name="TatteredRobes" />