White Robes and Broken Badges: Infiltrating the KKK and Exposing the Evil Among Us

by Joe Moore

Thomas Moore had covered in his book Dark Nights of the Soul when he wrote that “life is never as bright and successful and meaningful as you might imagine.”

“Thirty percent of the country, actually, has always been behind us, when you count everyone,” he expounded at one point.

“It was that way in the wake of the Civil War, it was that way during the 1920s, it was that way again in the 1940s, and it’s even more that way now as we approach our hundred and fiftieth anniversary. Those thirty percent are on our side, but we’ve never been able to unify them behind a single vision, a single mission.

Attention: To the terrorists masquerading as “peaceful protestors”! You have awakened a sleeping giant. The good people of St. Louis County of all races, colors, and creeds will not tolerate your threats of violence against our police officers, their families, and our communities. We will not sit by and allow you to harm our families, communities, property nor disrupt our daily lives. Your right to freedom of the speech does not give you the right to terrorize citizens.

I was able to observe plenty in the aftermath that, at the very least, suggested the country could be facing another Klan surge, as in the 1920s, or a white nationalist uprising, as in the 1940s. There were all sorts of Dixie mafia types, rednecks, and Sisters of the Confederacy members whom recruitment efforts openly targeted; if a Klansman walked down a residential street in the suburbs of St. Louis and saw someone hanging a Confederate or yellow Gadsden flag, they’d leave them a flyer or even knock on the door to introduce themselves. Only this time, the perpetrators would be better organized, armed, and committed than previous opportunities permitted, in large part because the Invisible Empire was starting to become more visible, thanks to the likes of Frank Ancona.

“Because you have gone to the extreme of contacting Pam Bondi, the FBI, Nick Cox, the statewide prosecutor, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Alachua Police Department, the Columbia Sheriff’s Office, anyone that would help you get your daughter back from the FBI?”

Americans sometimes forget that the notorious Jim Crow laws that disenfranchised Black voters in the post-Civil War era were named for James R. Crowe, a founding member of the KKK back in 1865.