The American Spectator

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The Investor

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• In 1987, an Alabama jury held United Klans of America responsible for the 1981 lynching of Michael Donald, awarding his family $7 million. The Klan had to turn over all its assets, including its national headquarters.

• In October 1988, an interracial group marching to honor Martin Luther King won a verdict of $1 million against two Klan organizations and eleven Klan members. Investigators traced the assets of the Invisible Empire, a major Klan defendant in the case, over a five-year period and, in 1994, its leader was forced to pay damages and disband his organization. The group's office equipment was given to the NAACP.

• In 1998, a South Carolina jury ordered the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Grand Dragon Horace King, and four other Klansmen to pay $37.8 million for conspiracy to burn down the Macedonia Baptist Church. (The court reduced the award to $21.5 million.)

A word to the wise on marketing: to most of the world, "Ku Klux Klan" automatically means bad news, but if you're part of that minority that wears masks and burns crosses, you obviously feel otherwise. If, however, you are trying to pass in decent society and trick people into believing you're just another private club, the name "Invisible Empire" sticks out like a sore thumb. Bypassing the "Chairman" title for "Grand Dragon" is also a tip-off that you are out of step with the rest of the world.

And, thanks, lawyers, for the great job!

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