Posted on 06/09/2018 12:06:17 PM PDT by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin
In 1978, Ron Stallworth was working as a detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department when he came across a classified ad to find out more about the Ku Klux Klan — and answered it. Two weeks later, he got a call on the police department's undercover operations line. It was the local KKK organizer. He asked why Stallworth wanted to join the Klan. "I said I wanted to join because I was a pure, Aryan, white man who was tired of the abuse of the white race by blacks and other minorities," Stallworth recalls. But Stallworth — a highly decorated law enforcement veteran — is actually black. In his new memoir, Black Klansman, he tells the story of how he hoodwinked the Ku Klux Klan into thinking he was one of them. (As you might imagine, this conversation includes some racist language.)
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
On why the Colorado Springs Police Department was investigating the Klan
My job as an intelligence officer, detective, was to monitor any subversive activity which could negatively impact the city of Colorado Springs. And, let's face it, the Ku Klux Klan historically is a subversive group. ... And when I saw the ad in the newspaper, obviously I perked up to this fact and set about trying to address it, to understand it.
On how he infiltrated the Klan
When you've grown up and you've been called "nigger" many times in the course of your lifetime, and you've been treated negatively because of your race, it's not too hard to put on that front. ...
The gambit was: I obviously, as a black man of African descent, could not meet a white supremacist posing as a KKK member. So I had to have a white officer introduced into the mix posing as Ron Stallworth. So I got an undercover narcotics detective friend of mine — in the book, he's identified as Chuck, that's not his real name — but I had Chuck pose as me. And for the initial meeting, I gave him any identification that I had minus a photograph, so that if they should question him about being me he could pull those out and, you know, convince them. And it worked. We did this for seven and a half months. On the Klan organizer he and his partner interacted with, Ken O'dell, the local organizer that I answered the initial phone call with, he was a soldier at Fort Carson, Colo., about 5' 9", stocky. He was not — none of these guys were, as I say in my book, the brightest light bulbs in the socket. Because if they were, they would have known that they were talking to two different people — one on the phone and one in person — because my voice and Chuck's voice sound nothing alike. But they never picked up on it in seven and a half months of phone conversations and periodic face-to-face meetings with Chuck.
On meeting then-KKK leader David Duke and receiving the Klan handshake from him David Duke came into town in January for a publicity blitz. He was going to appear at a couple of radio stations, a TV station doing a debate with a black history professor. ... And he was getting death threats. My chief called me in the morning of his appearance in Colorado Springs, and my chief told me he was assigning me to be David Duke's bodyguard because of the death threats. I met David Duke and introduced myself without giving him my name. I simply said, "I am a detective with the Colorado Springs Police Department." And then I told him, "I don't believe in your philosophy or your political ideology, but I am a professional and I will do everything within my means to ensure your safety while you're in my city." He was very cordial. He shook my hand. He gave me the Klan handshake — he didn't know that I knew it was the Klan handshake, but he did give it to me. If you shake a person's hand and you extend your index and middle finger along their wrist and as you're pumping their hand you start pressing your fingers in their wrist area, it's the Klan handshake. ...
When he was not talking about race, David Duke was a very pleasant guy to talk to. He was a very nice conversationalist. He seemed like a regular guy on the phone when the subject wasn't on race and on Jews and ethnicity. When that subject came around, the Dr. Jekyll in him left and Mr. Hyde appeared — the monster appeared.
On what he learned about the KKK
Well one thing I learned is that they're very serious about their objective, their agenda. They truly believe that they, as white people, are inherently superior to blacks, Jews and other minorities. That was part of David Duke's agenda, is to turn the Klan from a racist organization in the eyes of the public into something that is respectable and acceptable. And sadly to say, with the gentleman we have in the White House, part of that has been accomplished. There is a historical thread from the David Duke that I dealt with and what he was saying — his approach to immigration and other issues impacting the country — a connection between him and what Donald Trump campaigned on and what Donald Trump is a governing by. That historical thread is quite obvious if you sit back and connect the dots. I connect them a little bit in my book. It is addressed in the movie. But in many respects, David Duke was the playbook. He established the playbook by which Donald Trump ran and ultimately became — I won't even use the term — let's just say he became the occupant of the White House.
Hiba Ahmad and Barrie Hardymon produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Nicole Cohen adapted it for the Web.
I will NOT tolerate this man saying this nor trying to connect me, a Trump supporter, to that Godless political view. You know, it suddenly hit me. This Godless man has as his religion his politics, not love of God just as Duke does. They are exactly the same, only their party banners are different colors. Another thing, Stallworth...it rare for me to publicly advocate the following: You deserve a good solid punch in the mouth for that, consequences be damned. No freedom of expression on that one.
I have an uncle who was killed investigating the KKK. I also have an African American grandson. I love using these facts against social justice warriors that I meet.
By the way, my grandson has red hair and blue eyes and is whiter than me. Go figure.
Yep. Understand. It is not about race. It IS about right and wrong. This man has angered me more than anyone else ever by tying Trump to that cesspool, therefore by implication all of us who have supported him. Really want to meet him in person.
lol
Hi.
My wife has relatives that are “whiter” than me.
They come from a county in Virginia (near Charles city).
Could easily infiltrate the kkk and neo nazis.
5.56mm
Only a yellow journalist could connect the actions of a black guy infiltrating the KKK and Donald Trump in a bad way.
I wonder if Hiba Ahmad did all the editing?
5.56mm
There used to be a FReeper with the screen name, “connect the dots”. Wonder what happened to him.
Issues are quite often not as one dimensional as they have been made out to be. Often it’s about group identity.
I put that in on purpose. Was wondering who was going to notice it.
That does sound odd that the Klanners couldn’t recognize that the phone guy wasn’t the undercover guy. Unless some counter-espionage was going on and they DID recognize it.
Any effective whopping lie has to have SOME truth to lean on to make it plausible. The lie is about the connections that bring about this truth. It is not race but faith that started America out as great as it did.
I can almost always tell by tone of voice, not pronounciation of words whether English is being spoken by an anglo or another race. I am about 90% correct. When listening to him on NPR, I could tell something was different about his tone, but not via his pronunciation of words.
Half the KKK are undercover FBI agents.
lolol. Well, they don’t know me.
The left is today’s KKK, at least based on this infiltration story, because today ...
If one on the right tried infiltrating a left-wing group by acting how they thought a lefty in that group should act, it would work..
If one on the left tried infiltrating a right-wing group by acting how they thought a righty in that group should act, they’d be spotted immediately.
“Half the KKK are undercover FBI agents.”
Yeah.
This guy infiltrated way back in 1978.
I’m guessing at this point, there are more undercover agents than actual members.
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