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Fun (?) sidenote to the Northam story and the question of who's behind the hood...
The favourite storyline of Klan-made novels and films in the 1920s focused on the idea that when crimes were committed by people in Klan robes, the criminals were actually anti-Klan (usually Catholics) and actually trying to frame the organization.
Inevitably, the stories ended with the Klan tracking down the "real" criminal and framing the organization's vigilantism as heroic.
This became a popular talking point for Klan members in real life, who would then tend to dismiss criminal action by other Klan members (or at least criminal action they disapproved of) as the work of outside impersonators.
It became an incredibly comforting self-reinforcing narrative: they saw themselves as heroes, and any action that ran contrary to that self-image could be dismissed as not "real" Klan members.
I don't really have an ending to this thread, other than to say that the Klan hood is not a good look on anyone, Klan member or otherwise.
