Ron Stallworth
remains
bitter about
the way his
investigation
into the
Klan was
closed down
Above:
Stallworth
in uniform.
Below: Adam
Driver and
John David
Washington
in Spike Lee’s
film based on
Stallworth’s
booktallworth infiltrated his local Klan
chapter almost by accident. Spotting an
ad in the classifi ed section of his local
newspaper in Colorado Springs looking
for new members, he replied on a whim
and was shocked when two weeks later a
man called Ken called and asked why he wanted to
join. Having given the right answer, he was in.
He saw it as an opportunity to gather information
about their plans and identities, but there was one
complication – the Klan asked to meet their new recruit,
and clearly would not take kindly to a black
man within their ranks. A fellow police o cer
was hastily enlisted to pretend to be
Stallworth for the meeting, and a bizarre,
almost farcical story began to unfold.
While the stand-in cop (identifi ed only as
Chuck and given directions by Stallworth)
rose in the ranks of the local chapter,
Stallworth found himself in the surreal
situation of being on o cial police protection
duty for KKK Grand Wizard David Duke at
a Klan rally, while watching his surrogate
self participate.
Now retired after 32 years in the force,
Stallworth is surprised if unfazed that he has
been thrust into the spotlight after keeping details of
his undercover investigation secret for decades. Lee’s
fi lm won the Grand Prix award at Cannes Film Festival,
but it has also been criticised for depicting racist
characters, both Klan members and within the police
force, as broadly drawn stereotypes.
“ I never looked upon t hem a s cha racters,” St a l lwor t h
ex pla i ns. “ I looked upon t hem a s what t hey were: people
who ser iously believed t hey were super ior to me bec ause
of their white skin, and that I was unworthy of being
counted as a human being in their eyes.”
The fi lm also has a Hollywood-esque explosive – but
fi ctional – climax tacked on to conclude events. In real
life, the investigation did not lead to any arrests and was
shut down after fi ve months, a decision about which
Stallworth remains bitter.
“I didn’t agree with that,” he says. “The intelligence
investigation was to gather information and hopefully
that information would lead to a criminal complaint.
But it didn't turn out that way. It ended because they
wanted me to assume the leadership role of the local
chapter and my chief said: ‘We've gone far enough, let’s
stop it.’”
Despite uncovering the fact that high-level personnel
at top-secret facility Norad (the North American
Aerospace Defense Command) were KKK members and
preventing terrorist activity such as the burning of
crosses taking place, Stallworth has regrets.
“I w ish we’d done it dif erently. I would have liked to
cont i nue t he i nvest igat ion. I felt l i ke we cou ld ’ve a ssu med
a leadership role and maintained proper police decorum,
followed proper protocol. I would have at least liked to
have tried.”
Stallworth was ordered to destroy all
evidence of his operations, but kept his KKK
membership card as a souvenir. It was only after
he retired that he started talking about his nixed
Klan investigation.
Today the story is more urgent and relevant
than ever. Stallworth infi ltrated and documented
Klan activity; nobody paid attention. Decades
later, some of t he d rea m s t hese K la n smen wou ld ’ve
had have been realised. Their ideology has beenlegitimised by a sympathetic occupier in the highest
o ce. How did we get here?
“ You just a sked a question t hat 65 m i l lion A mer ic a ns
who didn't vote for Trump are still asking,” Stallworth
says. “These values are mixed in with him, promoted by
him. We're living it now on a daily basis with his
immigration policies.”
After serving in Colorado, Stallworth moved back to
El Paso, on the US-Mexico border, where he grew up.
Much of the rhetoric about race, immigration and
potential wall building focuses on this location, and
Stallworth served out a distinguished career focused on
gang and tra cking activity. He has been on the front
line of the battle that has come to dominate US politics.
“ If you're fa m i l ia r w it h A mer ic a n h istor y, racism a nd
subjugation is the dominant theme and has been for
generations,” Stallworth says. “The Klan has always been
around. They duck underground at certain periods and
at other periods they’re out in public. The internet has
helped them to thrive – they have taken advantage
of the anonymity it provides, the loose regulations
that allow them to speak the venom that they speak.
They're openly expressing themselves – there's no
attempt to hide.”
Forty years after undercover Stallworth used to have
long, convivial phone conversations with the KKK’s
Grand Wizard, David Duke is a bigger infl uence on
American society than ever before. But he has yet to catch
up with Stallworth, and none of the other members of
the Klan has acknowledged that they were duped by a
black detective.
“I've never heard from David Duke
other than he recently tweeted that I was
a liar, which I found amusing,” Stallworth
says. “The only thing I heard was from
an FBI agent in Salt Lake City who
contacted me to tell me a website was
saying I had pulled this stunt, made a fool
of David Duke and they wanted all of their
followers to know who I was, where I lived
and what my phone number was. Then
there was about 10 pages of racial venom
spewed against me. Which I found
hilarious.”
Like the fi lm, Stallworth thinks it’s
time for society to wake up.
“The Ku Klux Klan, their followers, right-wing
supremacist groups – they are real, they exist. You have
to meet racism head on. My message is you don't have
to fear them, rather confront them at every opportunity.
Meet them head on, stomp them out.”Black Klansman by Ron Stallworth (Arrow, £7.99) is out
now. Turn to page 33 for Edward Lawrenson’s review
of BlacKkKlansmanTHE BIG ISSUE / p25 / Aug