Can the KKK find a new foothold in the US?

An Al Jazeera correspondent traveled to Boone County, Arkansas, to examine whether the Ku Klux Klan has gained influence amid reported growth in white nationalist sentiment. The faction interviewed, which operates under the shortened name Knights Party, is led by Thomas Robb, a Christian pastor who has run this KKK offshoot since 1989. Robb described a conscious effort to reframe the organisation's outward message around themes of family and faith while distancing public communications from the KKKs violent past.

Despite the rebranding, Robb made clear to the reporter that the group maintains explicit racial exclusion. When asked whether a Black person would be permitted at the groups church, he answered no, describing the congregation as a "white nationalist church." He also expressed views that non-white politicians are not truly American and drew distinctions between children of white and non-white immigrants when defining who qualifies as American.

The report places the Knights Party in the context of wider concerns about a resurgence in white supremacy. It cites a 2025 Public Religion Research Institute survey in which roughly 32% of over 20,000 US adults agreed with a statement aligned with "great replacement" thinking. Civil society groups such as the Southern Poverty Law Center estimate at least 152 active white supremacist organisations in the United States, and recent public actions by other groups, like a Patriot Front march in Washington, D.C., this year, are noted as part of a broader trend.

Robb traces increased public receptiveness to white nationalist messages back to Barack Obama's 2008 election and argues the group gives voice to people angry about change. At the same time, he acknowledged that many individuals remain reluctant to formally join an organisation openly tied to the KKK; he declined to provide membership figures or evidence supporting his claim that support is growing. The report also references critics who say political rhetoric, including from high-profile leaders, has at times echoed or normalised themes central to white nationalist movements.