"Kl"ever "Kl"an of Ameri"KKK"a

Its definitely true what they say, you do learn something new everyday and after reading chapter two of Freakonomics not only did I learn something new but something quite interesting, yet hard to believe at the same time, as well. That interesting something was the original purpose for the forming of the Ku Klux Klan!

It is said that the Klan was started by six young men after the Civil War, simply a circle of like-minded friends. Lie number one. Then it goes on to say that the activities were only to perform harmless midnight pranks - for instance, riding horses through the countryside while draped in white sheets and pillow - case hoods...and the lies just get bigger and more unbelievable from here. For a group that just started out to make prank fun its funny (in the shameful sense of the word funny) how drastically it changed to killing African Americans to keep them oppressed. In my opinion I believe from the very beginning this is what the Klan set out to do.

Something else I found interesting was that the Klan not only terrorized and killed African Americans but Catholics, Jews, communists, unionists, immigrants, agitators, and any other group other than themselves as well...and I thought my ancestors were the only one. = also took an interest to the codes they had as far as the Mr. Ayak (are you a Klansman) and Mr.Akai (a klansman am i)...i thought that was pretty clever on the Klansman part. As far as the graph and its trying to prove that when the Klansman were at its peak number of people and the number of lynching went down, i dont buy it. I say that because the Klan was in cahoots with so many things like the police station, and the court houses, that the lynchings were not being recorded so of course there is no record of them, therefore the number of recorded lynchings are higher when the Klan did not have members in high places.

All in all this chapter really taught me the power of information...i mean it scared even the scariest Klan into quietness and hiding! That is why now I am even more ready to take on this college "thing" gain all the information I can while I am here, that way no one or group will be able to scare me into oppression.