ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the various types of terrorist activities inside the United States involving groups and individuals who have resorted to violence themselves or who have encouraged others to commit such acts, if only by dispersing messages of hate. In the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) foreshadowed the organizational structure of more and contemporary terrorist organizations in that it worked both within the legitimate political process and at the same time had members who engaged in illegal political violence. Prosperous African Americans and immigrants who jeopardized white economic power found their businesses burned and their possessions stolen.” But as the press reported extensively on the Klan’s terrorism and states adopted “antimasking” laws, the opposition to the KKK strengthened. The most dramatic expansion occurred on the heels of several incidents in which police officers shot and killed young African American males.
