During the Civil Rights era of the 1960s, various factions of the Ku Klux Klan were responsible for killing and terrorizing blacks, Jews, civil rights workers, and others. Although authorities often knew who was behind the crimes, they were usually unable to convict the perpetrators due to the prejudice and discrimination that was rampant at the time. During the 1990s, however, Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center has successfully pressured authorities to bring criminal charges in some cases. Dees has also filed civil suits on behalf of several of the victims’ families against KKK leaders and proved that conspiracies existed in which the leaders ordered Klan members to commit the crimes.

During the latter half of the 1990s, white supremacist groups such as Christian Identity, Aryan Nations, and World Church of the Creator began to change...