Black Klansman, KKK & the LDS

[SamBee]

I watched Black Klansman recently and it got me thinking about a few questions:

* What has been the relationship between the KKK and LDS? The film is set in Colorado, not trad Klan territory but Colorado includes some Mormon communities I believe.

* Does the KKK hate Mormons like it hates Catholics?

* Does the KKK bar LDS members? (The Orange Order, the Protestant supremacist org in Ireland bans LDS as non-trinitarian).

* Would the pre-1978 church have forbidden members to join the Klan?

I know the LDS and KKK share a common Masonic influence (as does the Orange Order). The LDS has frequently been accused of being racist in the past, but I feel it is enough outside the American mainstream to atract the Klan’s ire. The modern LDS also wouldn’t stand for members joining it.

[dande48]

Utah History Encyclopedia, The Ku Klux Klan

TLDR;

1. The first movement in Utah (1920s) had some Mormons, but was mostly made up of non-members. They were against LDS political and economic power in Utah. The Church has repeatedly deounced them, forbade membership, and enacted anti-KKK laws in Utah. The third KKK movement in Utah was mostly Mormon, and lasted from 1970-1981.

2. No.

3. Not explicitly for being LDS.

4. They did.

[SamBee]

Thanks for that link. It made for interesting reading. It seems that LDS members have had a complex relationship with the KKK (although it’s worth pointing out that there has not been one Klan for decades – there are a number of rival organizations who all hate each other and each claims to be the true successor. Black Klansman is about the group the Knights of the KKK)

[Roy]

SamBee wrote:

there has not been one Klan for decades – there are a number of rival organizations who all hate each other and each claims to be the true successor. Black Klansman is about the group the Knights of the KKK

An offshoot group of the Knights of the KKK should be named the “Knew Knights of the KKK.”

[SamBee]

Roy wrote:

SamBee wrote:

there has not been one Klan for decades – there are a number of rival organizations who all hate each other and each claims to be the true successor. Black Klansman is about the group the Knights of the KKK

An offshoot group of the Knights of the KKK should be named the “Knew Knights of the KKK.”

😆

Korrekt Knights of the KKK?

Kaucasian KKKK?

Kuddly KKKK?

(I notice that the Kanadian branch used a K in one thing I looked up.)

[Author]

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