Long relents and lets the Minutemen step in and mob up some of the insurgent areas, however in most cases the insurgents don’t put up a major fight and instead move to guerrilla tactics. With the ongoing violence in the south the guerillas see a moderate boost in membership and now number 40,000 strong, though mostly untrained and in isolated pockets dispersed across the entire south but especially in black communities.

As the KKK continues their assault the guerrillas change focus. They no longer attack military targets and instead move to fighting the KKK itself. A plan is formed by the leadership whereby they will bait KKK lynch mobs and soldiers into unfavorable positions and then ambush them. This plan is successful but it also leads to the deaths of non-KKK members who had joined the lynch mobs and helps inflame racial tensions as whites accuse the SPA of gunning them down. They have also begun to target armories, convoys and weapons caches and have begun handing out weapons to local communities. This has helped them recoup losses and has also made the black community in the South heavily armed.

As the violence gets more and more out of control major cities in the south start seeing race riots, usually set off by minor union activity or petty crime these incidents quickly spiral out into street fighting and pograms. Hundreds of black civilians are killed in the ensuing violence as white mobs burn down whole communities and gun down protesters in the streets. Also targeted are Italian cultural associations, Catholic churches and Jews.

The Great Culling Averted

Seeing the escalating violence and the deliberate attacks on their members by predominantly black militias the KKK leadership quietly decided that the time had come. They believed that so long as there were this many blacks in the United States the white race could never be safe. Therefore the order was given for a “Great Culling.” The KKK would move to start massacring black communities outright to restore white supremacy over the South and the United States.

Some members of the KKK passed their plans over to senior members of the Minutemen, hoping that they would get involved. While most were quiet one commander decided to take decisive action, seeing the KKKs plans as horrific and too far for the purposes of public order. General Robert E. Wood unilaterally ordered the arrest of various KKK groups and the Grand Wizard himself on charges of conspiracy, treason and murder. Minutemen across the South tore into KKK lodges and took them unaware. For the black community this action was resoundly praised. Trust in the government shot up as it looked like the Minutemen were finally stepping in to protect them.

Among the white community and the far-right radicals however this was an outrageous action. They demanded that Long promptly fire General Robert E. Wood for overstepping his authority. On the other hand the moderate business orientated wing of the AFP was horrified. Wood was a major member of the AFP and many of them knew him personally. They put their trust in what he was doing. Now the South wasn’t just divided along racial lines but the America First Party was as well. Increasingly Long’s inaction was criticized by both sides as they demanded he publicly support them and hush the other.

In the meantime however Wood’s actions have caused the violence in the South to slow down. Though there still are racial tensions and killings on both sides happen they are nothing like the heights seen over the past months.

A KKK Coup?

A month after Wood’s crackdown a senior KKK member was arrested by the Minutemen under suspicions of spying. It was revealed that the KKK remnants had been actively in talks with other far-right elements about the possibility of an anti-Long coup. The full extent of the plot is entirely unknown as most of the KKK’s documents were burned before the Minutemen could get their hands on them. Suspicion has been cast on the far right of the AFP and the Moderates have grown even more adamant that Long do something and step in to restore order to the South.

Aftermath

While the worst of the violence is over there are still major racial tensions. The Socialist insurgency has slowly grown among the African American community and the African American community as a whole is now very well armed. These racial tensions will take years if not decades to heal and it is likely that the South will be split for a long time.

• Civilian Deaths

  • 2118 Black civilians killed
  • 490 White civilians killed
  • 396 Jews and Catholics killed by KKK attacks

• Armed losses

  • 2981 KKK deaths (Mostly at the hands of SPA kill squads)
  • 857 Socialist deaths (Mostly at the hands of Minutemen raids)
  • 313 Minuteman deaths

Courtesy of Raven, checked and reviewed by me