For this blog post I wanted to  go out on a limb and compare Voldemort and his followers to the KKK of the United States of America.  So this thought really stood out to me as I watched The Goblet of Fire, specifically the battle between Harry and Voldemort. We see all of the death eaters summoned by Voldemort and they all appear in these hooded costumes. While noticing this attire, I could not help but to think that  these costumes are eerily reminiscent of those of the KKK. It also goes deeper than the costumes as we see that the death eaters are really a hateful, spiteful group intent on destroying another group simply because of their race. Led by Voldemort, this group does whatever they can to further their own agenda,  which is wiping out the muggle-borns in the Wizarding World and creating a 100% pure blooded Wizarding community. From day one at Hogwarts we see the hate muggle-borns recieve, although we initially think nothing of it. Draco Malfoy and his minions really do despise Hermione, not because of anything she did or because of a fight that they had was simply because she is born to 2 non-wizard parents. Through Voldemort and his hateful teachings we see multiple people try to either go at Harry for surviving his wrath or go at muggle borns for not being 100% purebred wizards. 

The tactics and hateful rhetoric we see from Volemort and the death eaters is also eerily reminiscent of the KKK as the KKK used intimidation, hateful speech, and violent actions in an attempt to scare and wipe out the black community in the United States. It is also interesting to see how the similarities of those who were a part of the KKK and those who participate with the death eaters, are somewhat alike. Both groups held members who were key in their communities and societies, especially the KKK who had police chiefs, police officers, firefighters and even politicians who were at one time or another in the KKK. The death eaters were no different in that they had people who were key to the community in their organization.  Lucius Malfoy and Barty Crouch are probably the two most notable members that one thinks of when they discuss notable death eaters. Igor Karkaroff was also a notable member of the death eaters. Lucius Malfoy was a follower of Voldemort, a death eater, and he also worked for the Ministry of Magic, whose job it was to protect the wizard community from danger. The irony here is that in working for the ministry of magic he was in some ways an Inside Man for Voldemort, always allowing him to get the upper hand and know information that he wasn’t supposed to know.  It was also a twist on authority as the one who is supposed to be protecting and serving the community was one of the main ones harming and putting the community in harm’s way. Barty Crouch Jr. was also very notable in that his father was the head of the Department of Magical Cooperation. His father was also a key contributor to multiple people receiving life imprisonment in Azkaban, one of those people being Sirius Black. By Voldemort being able to use Crouch Jr,  it showed that the death eaters had power and influence in very high places, even if it wasn’t directly. Igor Karkaroff, who was the Headmaster of Durmstrang Institute, was a follower of Voldemort as well, and held much influence in the wizarding community. While he was not as great of a headmaster as Dumbledore, he was a headmaster nonetheless and proved that Voldemort’s influence on powerful people in the community was not some small feat.

Overall the similarities between the Ku Klux Klan of the United States and the Death Eaters in the Harry Potter series are crystal clear. They both are organizations that were built on Division and Hate. They are also both organizations who use violence and intimidation in order to cause fear in the communities that they were terrorizing. They even wore similar attire as the Ku Klux Klan was known for wearing hooded robes similar to those of the Death Eaters. The violence and hate as well as they’re similar garb were things that really made the comparison stick out to me and that gave this comparison life in my thoughts.

-LP