In response to Derick's post, I think that Shapiro is saying that the Klan was important in the overall political power struggle in the Reconstruction-era Upstate. He is seeking to discount Simpkins' underanalyzation and understatement of it, not supporting him. To downplay the KKK's murderous and unpalatable actions is a disgrace to the men who died as a result of violence that purposefully sought to undermine democracy.

The activities of the Klan, overall, have re-emerged in recent times. Some political group, founded on the issue of superiority of some basis? That appears to me to be precisely like the rise to power of the Taliban in Afghanistan, with the purposeful subjugation of women and any other entity that got in their way. As for Simpkins, I find is despicable that anyone can write on the eve of World War II, when Jews were already being purposefully subjugated in Nazi Germany, of the "romantic" views of any group whose primary purpose is to terrorize innocent men, women, and children. The Democratic Party should be ashamed of its antics in the situation, as well. If one studies the foundations of the Democratic party, since southerners as a whole are generally (and I intentionally use a stereotype here) regressive and historically-minded, how can the "Negro" existence of subsistence farming in general be attacked so violently? Incredible irony surrounds the mere name of the "Democratic Party," given their abhorrable actions and support of the KKK.

Unfortunately, the KKK's ideals actually did come to fruition. The mere existence of the Klan was sufficient enough to defeat Radicalism and reinstate the southern conservatives who had fallen out of favor and political prominence with the end of the Civil War. The KKK is directly responsible in every major way for the suppression and subjugation of the African-American in ways that are readily cognizant even today.