The Klan’s use of burning crosses was a fictional invention popularized by literature and cinema, not a practice of the original organization.

“But the thing is, the original clan never burned crosses. This is made up. This was made up by Dixon in his in his book by Dixon in his novel. And then Griffith turns it puts it on screen in the Birth of a Nation.”

The second incarnation of the Klan functioned as a fraternal association that was fundamentally racist and white supremacist, despite differing from the first Klan in its structure and targets.

“So this is not a secretive paramilitary group. This is a fraternal association with between two and five million members. Very public members as well.”

The Ku Klux Klan and its ideology are based on ignorance and fear of things they do not understand, and they can be dismantled through education and personal exposure.

“if you cure the ignorance then there's nothing to fear we fear that of which we are ignorant we fear what we don't know we don't feel what we do know right so if we cure the ignorance then there's nothing to fear with nothing to fear there's nothing to hate”