Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime

by Ron Stallworth

My answer is always in this fashion: “As a result of our combined effort, no parent of a black or other minority child, or any child for that matter, had to explain why an eighteen-foot cross was seen burning at this or that location—especially those individuals from the South who, perhaps as children, had experienced the terrorist act of a Klan cross burning. No child in the city limits of Colorado Springs ever had to experience firsthand the fear brought on by this act of terror. We prevented them from having such an incident burned into their consciousness, as many of their parents might have been imprinted as children. I knew firsthand from direct dealings via my undercover phone conversations with Ken when and where those acts of terror were being planned, and we in the police department were able to put a stop to them. Success in a police investigation does not always rest on how many arrests are made or how much illegal contraband is seized.”