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

by Ron Stallworth

But to black revolutionaries like Stokely, because I and others like me had chosen to wear a badge, gun, and blue uniform representative of the forces of an “oppressive” (their point of view) government and enforce what they perceived to be naturally unjust laws specifically designed to work against those victimized by that oppression, we had become modern-day “house slaves”—house niggers, each of us a black Judas who had chosen to collaborate with the governmental “massa” (master) and enforce the “white man’s justice.” We had become slaves to the “system,” the white man’s “boy,” as I was called on many occasions during my career by my self-proclaimed black “brothers.”

Now, I was proud of being both black and a cop. I was proud of my blackness without being angry. I was in awe of Stokely because he was a figure of the civil rights movement. People like him (MLK, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Recy Taylor, John Lewis, and so forth) made life better for people like me. But now here I was being thrust into this unique situation, and I had no qualms because I could differentiate being a cop who was black and a black man in white America.

The Klan was making its presence known. It was amateurish, desperate even, but they did get some modest coverage. By being in the press they were hoping to gain sympathy in the public’s eye, attract new members, gain attention, and legitimize their Cause. Even though Ken’s Klan here was small, it was sensational. The press would cover them no matter what.

Ken went on to explain that Butch was his bodyguard but that the Klan—collectively—was a nonviolent group. He emphasized this point stating, “No form of violence is to be performed unless it is first brought on a member of the group.”

Butch explained that each cross would be seventeen feet high by eight feet wide and assembled days in advance prior to the burning. Several days before the burning, the members would go to the predetermined locations and dig the holes for the placement of the crosses and then cover them up with rocks until ready for use. On the night of the burning the members would go to each selected area, remove the rocks, and place the crosses in their respective holes. After dousing the crosses with a flammable solution, a fuse consisting of a lit cigarette placed on a pack of matches was timed to ignite within three minutes, allowing for their getaway.

Duke upgraded his approach to propaganda by “professionalizing” it. He avoided wearing his Klan robe in public media appearances, preferring a suit and tie instead. He personally avoided using derogatory epithets to refer to blacks in public, in particular the word “nigger,” and encouraged his followers to do the same when representing the Klan and presenting their case to an audience. In essence, he mainstreamed the Klan, making it seem an acceptable and viable alternative for those looking for a means to express their displeasure with the status quo of their lives and government representatives.

The fact that he won an election as a Republican after failing twice as a Democratic candidate says a lot about the mind-set of the electorate. The conservative right-wing Republican political agenda was then and still is much more in sync with white, hate-fueled racist extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan.

INCAR and its parent organization, the PLP (Progressive Labor Party), were extremely radical, organized, and dedicated to their conviction of ultimately “smashing” the Ku Klux Klan. They were well planned, on message, and better able to mobilize protest demonstrations to serve their needs. They could turn violent.

INCAR was the public “front” organization of the PLP. INCAR consisted of average citizens who did not necessarily have any strong political leanings. The PLP, on the other hand, consisted of the most devout and aggressive politically engaged individuals, the bulk of whom were aligned with the Communist ideology.

Like Duke, he wanted to mainstream the Klan, saying that “the Klan does not desire to oppose or suppress any race but believes that for each to develop to its full potential they must do so separately. Consequently, the Klan is totally opposed to racial integration and racial intermarriage … a total separation of the races for their mutual benefit.”

While we wish to be on a friendly basis with black society, we choose to live totally separated. This is our feeling regarding Mexicans and other minorities as well.”

From its 1869 origin in Pulaski, Tennessee, the Ku Klux Klan and its Confederate soldier membership under the leadership of the first recognized Grand Wizard, General Nathan Bedford Forrest, wore white sheets with holes cut out to expose the mouth, nose, and eyes, though some just exposed the eyes. According to historical records, some even placed robes on their horses.

Recently freed slaves were known by their slave masters and the general white populace to hold strong superstitious beliefs in ghosts and otherworldly spirits. These beliefs were especially strong in reference to recently deceased Confederate soldiers. Taking advantage of these superstitions, the original Klansmen sought to capitalize on this “otherworldly” belief by terrorizing the slaves into believing the white-sheeted horses and riders were the ghostly spirits of those fallen Confederate soldiers and their steeds, returned to earthly form to ensure that the ways and traditions of the antebellum South were properly observed and maintained by the freed men and women. The success of the early Klansmen in accomplishing this objective would, in effect, negate the results of the recently fought war and the government’s attempt at Reconstruction of the physically and morally battered South.

Traditionally, the burning of a cross, or a “cross-lighting ceremony,” is considered a religious celebration. The burning of a religious symbol has never been seen by Klan members as a sign of desecration; it has always been considered an honorable representation of their Christian faith and beliefs. But they historically used it to strike terror in those who feared the force and wrath of the Klan. In other words, from its very beginning the Ku Klux Klan and its members were dedicated to the cause of domestic terrorism.

The difference between the two was that INCAR was for the general public and PLP members tended to be staunch, devoted Communists.

The importance of The Birth of a Nation in relationship to the modern Ku Klux Klan cannot be overstated.

The City of Denver and State of Colorado, in essence, were under Klan control. So pervasive was the Klan’s control and influence in Colorado that certain national publications began spelling Colorado with a K. Their political dominance lasted approximately three years, ending in 1926 following funding irregularities investigated by federal authorities.

The racial fallacy in his argument is that this pronunciation is not unique to blacks. Many people from the South, whites included, employ this speech pattern. In other words, it has nothing to do with pure Aryan white racial intelligence superiority as stated by the Grand Wizard, but rather is more of a regional reflection of a cultural linguistic upbringing. In other words, his logic was extremely flawed and unsubstantiated by facts.

Donald Black is an interesting figure in the history of the racist/hate movement. When Duke left the Klan around 1980 to form the National Association for the Advancement of White People (NAAWP), Black took over as Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

Years later, after Duke and his wife divorced, Black married Duke’s ex-wife and they founded the internet’s first hate site, Stormfront.org.

The media all too often unwittingly creates the very news it reports because of its zeal to get a story. This only benefits the person or subject being covered and gives them or it a power neither deserves.

I had gotten the Grand Wizard and Colorado Grand Dragon/state organizer of the Ku Klux Klan to agree to have their picture taken with me, one of the “niggers” they despised, who in this case was acting as his bodyguard, and the photographer was the undercover officer I had placed in the group whom they all knew as me: Ron Stallworth.

The OSI agents stated that two of the names on my list, which were never identified to me, were NORAD personnel with top-security-clearance-level status. Their job was to man the main console monitoring North America’s air defense systems mechanism. The agents explained that the phone call made by the colonel was to the Pentagon, where he received permission to transfer the two Klansmen from their top secret position.

“What are you most proud of where this investigative effort was concerned?” 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.

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.