The Ku Klux Klan is the best known and perhaps the oldest extremist racist organization to have emerged in the modern western world. It was founded between 1865-66 in Pulaski, Tennessee, by six veterans of the Civil War, former members of the Confederate Army, which was founded by the US slave-owning states that split from the rest, paving the way for the Civil War. Its name comes from the Greek word "circle" and declares the natural superiority of whites over all other races.
The organization has from time to time developed intense action with murders of blacks, arson of houses but also with its trademark which is none other than the burning crosses. Like many other events and periods in history, the Mr. Kloux Klan has mostly become known to the wide non-US public by the Hollywood film industry.
This time the organization came to light through the director's new film Spike Lee entitled "BlacKkKlansman", which deals with the story of Ron Stallworth, a black former police officer who managed to infiltrate the CCP.
His son plays the leading role in the film Denzel Washington. "John David understood the essence of my 25-year-old self very well. Spike showed great respect and appreciated my opinion. "The film would not have been made if Trump had not been in the White House."
The story of the film is based on Stallworth's book: "Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime" (The Klan Black: Race, Hate and the Secret Search for a Lifetime). "I saw the film twice," Stallworth said. "Obviously Spike brought out the script around my story. He did a good job building the plot and was caught by the thread that connects Charlottesville, David Duke and Tramp».
What is the real story?
In late October 1978 in Colorado Springs, USA, Ken O'Dell, a secret member of the recently reborn Ku Klux Klan, received encouraging signs that his strategy of placing ads in a local newspaper to recruit new members had proved successful. Ken received a letter from Ron Stallworth, who wrote to him that he wanted to "promote the goals of the white race" and join the CCP.
Stallworth was, in fact, the first black undercover detective in Colorado Springs, and part of his job was to browse through local newspapers looking for clues to suspicious activity. During one of these investigations in 1978, Ron noticed the secret ad.
Before long, the two men start an enthusiastic phone call. Ken, who hated blacks, them Jews, Catholics and people from any minority there, sees Ron as a fraternal spirit. Unfortunately for Ken, there were some things he did not know about Ron and he will not find out until he reveals them 28 years later in a newspaper interview.
The story of how a black man infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan is surprising. But if you think about the level of technology in the 70's, you can understand how such a daring police venture took shape. Without Internet and smart phones marginal terrorist organizations had to rely on text messages and phone calls for their secret communications.
"Fortunately, the people I came in contact with were not the smartest guys," says Ron. "It was so hilarious." The former police officer considers that the most important achievement of his career was this: "The year I secretly joined the CCP" he said.
Today Ron is 65 years old and lives in Texas, in the city where he grew up. He was 21 years old when he joined the police force, as a patrol officer and was the only black man in the entire department. The quest for the Ku Klux Klan came about four years later and was a gift to him. The only thing that kept him irregular from the investigation was the membership card in the organization.
. @ BlacKkKlansman follows the true story of Ron Stallworth's investigation into the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan in Colorado Springs, Colorado pic.twitter.com/eH6PWYxPUc
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His involvement with the CCP raises some questions. For example, what happened when he had to meet these people in person? "I called my friend Chuck," he said.
The police were worried at the time and wanted to know more about her actions, so Ron started working on it. "When I saw the ad in the newspaper, I replied considering that they would send me some leaflets." Instead, Ken O'Dell responded directly and introduced himself as the local "Purpose" organizer. The officer was not prepared for the phone call, but had planned to include in his letter a number that could not be identified and was connected to the police station. However, he made two shocking mistakes: he signed the letter to the CCP in his own name and broke the most basic rule of a business: "Speaking to Ken for the first time, I improvised as much as I could: 'My sister recently had an affair with an Arab.' I said angrily on the phone "and every time I think of him putting his dirty black hands on her pure white body I get disgusted and sick". And Ken replied, "You are exactly what we are looking for. When can we meet? ”
The police officer decided that there should be two Ron Stallworths: the black version that would continue the written and telephone communication and the white one, Chuck. A friend of his who worked in the drug department and would appear at meetings with CCP members.
Chuck agreed to play the role, but the leaders were opposed to the idea. "They will understand that you are μαύρος from your voice ". Ron says law enforcement at the time was confused between their prejudices and their determination to crack down on racist hate crimes. By no means did they want the riots of the 60s and early 70s to be repeated.
The first date was given in a restaurant, where white Ron met a very thin white man who smoked a cigar and had a thin mustache, Ken. They went to a secret location together to talk. Chuck started, wired with microphones, with black Ron and another police investigator, Jimmy, watching his movements from a vehicle.
After a while, the white man stopped outside a descent that the organization used as a recruiting center. Ken came in with another member Clan and with an entry form for Ron. Ken was pleased that Ron had no Jewish roots and said attendance cost $ 10, but new recruits had to pay for members' classic attire, robe and cloak.
It was very difficult for Ron not to burst out laughing at the gullibility and futile seriousness of the Klan members. Only once did members become suspicious. "Chuck had gone to a meeting with them and I wanted to clarify something after he left. So I called Ken. He immediately said: "What happened to your voice?" I coughed a little and said I had a nasal infection. Ken prescribed me a medicine. "I take these all the time."
The appearance of the "most political" David Duke
David Duke, a white politician, white supremacist and Holocaust denier, is still an influential figure in American politics. At the time Ron conducted the investigation, Duke was the new leader of the Ku Klux Klan, or Grand Master. "A man who seemed sensible on the outside but transformed in private conversations," Ron recalls.
Duke is a public relations man. His greatest achievement was that he won the respect of the CCP by forbidding its members to wear hoods and cloaks in their public appearances and aligning "The Purpose" with the foundations of Christianity and dissatisfaction with the government. "It simply came to our notice then American "Every mother would want for her daughter," says Ron.
Ron befriended Duke over the phone. He presided over the sacred candle-lighting ceremony of Chuck. "I laugh that we humiliated David Duke, who thinks I do not have the intelligence of a single ape because I am genetically inferior."
The infiltration of the organization did not result in any arrests and when the Klan unexpectedly nominated Ron as head of the local department, he was forced to terminate the investigation. But through their work, Chuck and Ron prevented a nail bomb attack on a gay bar and identified seven soldiers as members. Clan. Ron also leaked information about conspiracies to use violence against black extremists.
When Ron retired in 2006 he made the above revelations. His face and name were published on far-right sites. "After that I started carrying a gun."