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

by Ron Stallworth

Today, I am often asked by those familiar with my story if there are any parallels to our current times and my undercover investigation forty years ago? My answer is always the same, a resounding and unequivocal yes! The hate-fueled, bigoted rhetoric and terroristic intent of white supremacist thinkers like David Duke, Fred Wilkens, and Ken O’Dell was in keeping with the long generational arc of the Ku Klux Klan dating back to its founding immediately after the Civil War. We see and hear echoes of that same rhetoric and intent in the political climate of today. In August of 2017, in Charlottesville, Virginia, white nationalists gathered for the Unite the Right rally. David Duke was in attendance, and a protester was murdered when an alt-right white supremacist drove into a crowd. A tragedy, and the direct parallel to my own experiences with the Klan and David Duke in the 1970s is pretty clear.