The State of Hate: Marking the 150th Anniversary of the Ku Klux Klan Act

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Ku Klux Klan Act, also known as the Civil Rights Act of 1871. Yet, violent acts of racism, antisemitism, and xenophobia fill our news channels and media feeds with increasing alarm, begging the question: how has our country really changed in 150 years?

Join featured speaker Avery Friedman, a premiere civil rights attorney and CNN commentator, to understand how hate groups like the KKK rise to power, what role they play in American culture today, and how the law is used to protect victims of hate. Then, Leon Bibb, primetime news anchor for WKYC in Cleveland, takes the conversation even deeper, with a one-on-one interview on the state of hate. Plus, hear special remarks from Marcia Fudge, the 18th Secretary of U.S. Housing and Urban Development.

We are proud to present this program in connection to the special exhibition, Notorious: RBG: The Life & Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, presented locally by PNC Bank.

Thank you to our programming partner: ACLU of Ohio, ADL Cleveland, Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law – Cleveland State University, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences | Cleveland State University, Fair Housing Center for Rights & Research, NAACP- Cleveland Branch, Ohio Council on Holocaust and Genocide Education, SCLC Cleveland Chapter, US Department of HUD