CNN Crime : Lawsuit seeks to bankrupt Klan group. Description of Ku Klux Klan Organizations

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CNN Crime
Lawsuit seeks to bankrupt Klan group.
Description of Ku Klux Klan Organizations
By Ann O'Neill

Jarred Hensley is shown in Klan garb in a photo posted on the Southern Poverty Law Center's Web site.

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1 of 3 Jordan Gruver, an American citizen of Panamanian descent, took a beating that July day in 2006 at the Meade County fair in Brandenberg, Kentucky. He was called names, spat upon, doused with alcohol, knocked to the ground and punched and kicked.

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When the blows stopped, Gruver had a broken jaw and left forearm, two cracked ribs and cuts and bruises.

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Now, with the weight of the Southern Poverty Law Center behind him, Gruver is fighting back in a civil courtroom. Gruver and the center are suing the Imperial Klans of America, and they hope to win damages large enough to put the supremacist group out of business.

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An all-white jury -- seven men and seven women -- was chosen Wednesday to hear Gruver's lawsuit against the Klan and two of its members. They are identified in court papers as "Imperial Wizard" Ron Edwards, and Jarred R. Hensley, the Ohio Klan's "Grand Titan."

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At an earlier court deposition, Edwards demonstrated his contempt for the center and its lawsuit by tattooing a profane reference to it on his freshly shaved head.

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Richard Cohen, the law center's president, said, "The Imperial Klans of America is one of the largest Klan organizations in the country. It promotes violence and intimidation against racial and ethnic minorities, homosexuals and so-called 'race traitors.' While on a recruiting mission, members of this organization targeted and viciously beat our client solely because he has brown skin.

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"Our lawsuit seeks justice and compensation for the victim of this brutal hate crime. We also hope that the monetary damages will be sufficient to put the organization out of business and send a strong message to other hate groups and their followers that this type of racial violence will not be tolerated."

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The center says the Imperial Klans of America is the second largest KKK group after the Brotherhood of Klans, based in Marion, Ohio.

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Estimates of its total membership vary widely, but the center says it has about 23 chapters in 17 states.

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Gunter said Edwards' son, Steve, runs another group called the Supreme White Alliance, which has ties to two supremacists accused in a plot to don white tuxedos and assassinate Barack Obama.

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