Quote from Joe Doaks:
We have most sincerely repented of our grievous sins. We are Republicans now.
Go try a little experiment. Go out to the western counties in the mountains of North Carolina. Ask where the local KKK meeting is at. Go into the meeting and say that you are a Republican. --- You will be the next person hanging at the end of the rope.
Traditionally the KKK in the South has been made up of rural Democrats. This is an issue that extends into the modern day. We still have KKK members running as Democrats for public office in 2012. For the first time this year the state Democratic party in Raleigh disowned these racist candidates -
North Carolina: Former KKK Member, White Supremacist Running As Democrats. Over the past 30 years, 13 members of our state legislature have had associations with the KKK, all of these were Democrats and none Republicans. Note that until 2010, the North Carolina state legislature always had a Democratic majority for over 100 years.
There is a long list of Democratic politicians that have been KKK members. Most on this
list (like
Senator Byrd) are from 1950 & later.
The KKK was founded originally by Southern Democrats to get rid of carpet-bagging Republicans and blacks in the South. Many blacks and Republicans were terrorized by the KKK. One example is the
Wilmington Massacre. This has not changed greatly since the advent of "Southern Strategy" in the South. Rural Democrats in the South (uneducated, barely religious, drinking, trailers, Nascar, sex, on welfare, racist, KKK supporters) are very different than Republicans in the South (generally college educated, anti-alcohol, anti-sex, anti-evolution teaching, religious, working, racist, nice homes, professional).