The hate map of the USA

[fujiyama]

7. My view on this...

I get the impression that the neo-confederates are typically the more "genteel" racists. They try to gain political power through alliances with the GOP (especially in the South, it seems like it's good republican politics to be friendly to Daughters of the Confederacy and various other groups). But the way the party and its mouthpieces are going, it's growing more tolerant of white-nationalists as well - which seems to be what the teabagger wing is largely made of. Neo-Nazis are tougher for the GOP to coalesce with, because that doesn't exactly help the party in making inroads with conservative Jews.

In most parts of the country, the KKK look like clowns - probably even among many racists. Those pointy hats and robes look silly and hurt them from being taken seriously. But with demographic changes, there are many that are probably sympathetic to some or many of their beliefs. I think most of the old Klan has been absorbed into many of these many Neo Confederate groups. After all, as Lee Atwater said the GOP can't run around yelling "N-er, N-er, N-er".

The Racist Skinheads and Neo-Nazis are definitely the most violent of the bunch so law enforcement is usually on them. The Skinheads main power base seems to be in prisons. There's a great article in (I believe it was Vanity Fair) in the mid '00s on the Aryans and the prison network. It's great reading and I'll try to find the link.

The other groups seek wider political power and seek weakening of civil rights laws and disenfranchisement of minority voters. In many ways they are more destructive on a macro level.