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

by Ron Stallworth

There are certain truths about undercover work that must be acknowledged. First, I broke the most basic rule of all and that was going into a case without a plan of operation. Second, I used my real name instead of my undercover identity—a cardinal sin. Third, having used my real name, I gave the undercover address and phone number without anticipating the possibility that anything would come of the effort.

This was to be an intelligence investigation whose purpose would be to learn as much about the growing threat of the Klan in Colorado Springs, and Colorado in general, and to prevent any acts of terror that might result.

a new racism for the right-wing masses, one that melded the antipathy to blacks and other minorities to general dissatisfaction with government and fear of an ever-changing complex world.

Wilkens explained, “The hub of the Klan plan revolves around political activity.” The goal was to get Klansmen elected to political offices at all levels of government throughout Colorado. If they could not find qualified Klansmen to run for elective office, Wilkens said, “We will also support non-Klansmen who share our philosophy.

As undercover investigators, police can legitimately use various forms of deception to gain information or apprehend a suspect, but they cannot persuade an innocent person to commit a crime he or she was not predisposed to commit, nor can they coerce a suspect into doing so even if they are certain she or he is a criminal.

Instead, we steered (or tried to) such conversations away from acts of conflict, which proved beneficial to our objective of intelligence gathering and still provided for the public safety and welfare. The rule of law governing entrapment always kept us in check and also prevented us from crossing the line into committing criminal acts ourselves.

Success in a police investigation does not always rest on how many arrests are made or how much illegal contraband is seized.” Success often lies not in what happens but in what you prevent from happening.

Our history is always in our present.