Black Klansman

The true story of how an African-American Police Officer

gained membership into David Duke’s Knights of the Ku Klux Klan

Copyright ©2014, Peter Bollinger and Stephen Winston

All rights reserved. Any reproduction, transmission, in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanically without written permission from either copyright owner is forbidden.

Police and Fire Publishing

1800 North Bristol, Suite C408

Santa Ana, CA 92706

Email: ihelppolice@yahoo.com

Website: policeandfirepublishing.com

ISBN: 978-1-936986-31-6

Note to the Reader: Concepts, principles, techniques, and opinions presented in this manual are provided as possible considerations. The opinions, application, use, or adoption of any concepts, principles or techniques contained in this manual are to be used at the discretion of the reader and/or organization

Author’s Note

If one Black man, aided by a bevy of good, decent, dedicated, open and liberal-minded Whites and Jews can succeed in prevailing over a group of White racists by making them look like the ignorant fools they truly were, then imagine what a nation of like-minded individuals could accomplish -- this despite their claim in some cases to being highly educated, having more intelligence, and being far superior in every way to Blacks and Jews. This investigation convinced me that sooner rather than later we WOULD, in fact, OVERCOME those that would try and define minorities by their own personal failings of racial/ethnic bias, bigotry, religious preference, and the false belief that people of color and others who did not fit their definition of “pure Aryan white” were not deserving of respect, much less of being classified as “people.”

Copyright 2014

Sergeant Ron Stallworth (Retired)

About the Author

Sergeant Ron Stallworth (Ret.) is a 32-year law enforcement veteran who began his career in 1972 at the age of 19 with the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD).  In 1975 he became the first Black detective in the history of the CSPD as well as the youngest at the age of 22.  He worked undercover narcotics, vice, criminal intelligence and organized crime. During this time, he initiated the investigations which are the subject of this book. He later served a one-year assignment as an investigator with the Colorado Attorney General’s Organized Crime Strike Force.  He left the CSPD in 1980.

From 1980-82, Sergeant Stallworth worked narcotics and organized crime intelligence in Phoenix, Arizona for the Arizona Drug Control District (later known as the Arizona Criminal Intelligence Systems Agency). From 1982-86, Stallworth worked undercover narcotics as a Special Agent for the Wyoming Attorney General’s Division of Criminal Investigation.

In 1986, Sergeant Stallworth was hired as a Special Agent by the Utah Department of Public Safety’s Narcotics & Liquor Law Enforcement Bureau, later known as the Utah Division of Investigation. In 1989, he researched and authored the report that led to the creation of the Gang Narcotics Intelligence Unit, a joint effort between the Utah DPS and Salt Lake City Police Department. With the aid of federal grant money, that unit later evolved into the Salt Lake Area Gang Project now known as the Metro Gang Unit, the first multi-jurisdictional gang suppression and diversion unit in the state.  From the recommendations contained in Sergeant Stallworth’s report, several other gang task forces later became operational in the state. The Utah Public Safety Commissioner later named Sergeant Stallworth the state’s Gang Intelligence Coordinator.  He was the first, and to date, only person to hold this position.

While working gangs, Sergeant Stallworth began researching the correlation between gangster rap music and street gang culture.  He subsequently wrote four books on the subject (two of which have been published) and has authored numerous articles for magazines and journals.  In the 1990’s, Sergeant Stallworth testified at three congressional hearings on the subject of gangster rap music, gangs, and youth violence in America. In 1998, the National Gang Crime Research Center honored him with its prestigious “Frederick Milton Thrasher Outstanding National Leadership Lifetime Achievement Award.” Sergeant Stallworth was a consultant for the 2009 Gangland episode, “From Heaven to Hell,” about the Polynesian Tongan Crip Gang of Salt Lake City.

Sergeant Stallworth holds a BA in Criminal Justice Administration from Columbia College (Salt Lake Campus). He has been a guest lecturer at the University of Utah, Brigham Young University, Utah State University, Weber State University, San Francisco State University, Westminster College (Salt Lake City), and Columbia College (Salt Lake City and Missouri campuses). Sergeant Stallworth was an Adjunct Criminal Justice Instructor at Salt Lake Community College from 2008-2013.  He retired from the Utah Department of Public Safety in 2005 after a 20-year career during which he was a two-time recipient of the department’s Distinguished Service Award.

Pikes Peak Library District - An Interview with Ron Stallworth

http://youtu.be/OPMUZqtZX0w

Sgt. Ron Stallworth, Ret. Black Klansman Viral Rap Video

http://youtu.be/pk8_XLLUlYk

Note to the Reader

Any dialogue in this narrative is based on a combination of personal recollections and documents   in official Colorado Springs Police Department Intelligence Unit reports in the possession of the author.

Acknowledgement

To Mr. Elroy Bode, my sophomore English teacher at Austin High School in El Paso, Texas (1969). An award winning published author, Mr. Bode graciously agreed to “take me back to class” and edit my manuscript. If the reader notices any errors, it was due to my reworking of sections that did not get a chance for review by his meticulous eye.

My relationship with Mr. Bode has come full circle since I was a 15-year old student in his classroom four plus decades ago. He was my teacher, became my friend, and is now in my eyes my mentor/teacher again. When I talk to Mr. Bode, moments I deeply cherish, I always feel like I am back in school soaking up the wisdom of his years, especially anything pertaining to the art of writing (he was the one, all those many years ago, who instilled in me that I had a creative talent with words). I come away from those cherished moments with a warm glow in my heart and deep thoughts to ponder. My soul is enriched because of the honor and privilege I have had sharing a brief episode of life with him.

Thank you Mr. Bode (and to the Mrs.) for allowing me to share those “special” moments with you. Thank you for your kindness, your time, and your patience with me. You are, and have always been, my “Teacher.”

Ronnie Stallworth

Layton, Utah

November 17, 2013

Dedication

To my late wife, Michelle “Micki” Stallworth, who lived this experience with me during our courtship and subsequent engagement. Her mother was born and raised in Montgomery, Alabama (Alabama has a long history of Klan activity) and Micki spent the first nine years of life there raised by her grandmother.  She (and her mother) quite literally, thought I was out of my mind for daring to “take on the Ku Klux Klan.” While her mother expressed fear Micki might get caught up in the “madness” of my investigation and find herself being victimized by Klansmen trying to exact revenge against me, Micki simply expressed concern for my safety and welfare. Despite obvious danger, she was naturally curious and found great amusement in the double “sting” my colleagues and I were pulling off on the Klan and Progressive Labor Party.

Micki left me in 2004 at the age of 49 following a long and courageous fight with cancer, but not before leaving me two sons.  She is never far from my thoughts.

Special Dedication

Following the loss of my wife, I went through a six-year period of wandering in an emotional wilderness; my companion of 30 years was gone and my world was gone as well.  On December 10, 2010 Patsy Terrazas-Hermosillo re-entered my life.

Patsy and I graduated from the same high school in 1971 and we both had Mr. Bode for sophomore English, though in different classes.  Another unique life experience bound us in that her second husband had passed away from the same type of cancer that took my wife, several months prior to our reconnection on Classmates.com.  We talked on the phone for nearly three hours on that December day and have spoken every day since.

Patsy has filled the void in my life in the aftermath of my wife’s passing and, quite frankly, I cannot imagine my life these past years without her in it. She is a very passionate and compassionate person who always seeks the better in those around her. She has been my confidante and partner in the publication of my previous books as well as this one.  She makes me feel complete and is my biggest supporter, celebrating my achievements with more enthusiasm than I tend to exhibit.  Following the signing of the contract with my publisher we took a trip to Disneyland, site of our senior class trip.  At every opportunity she proudly told Disneyland employees that I, her beau, was a newly “published author.”  I was constantly being congratulated on my good fortune and it would have been easy to let my ego run amok, but fortunately Patsy keeps it in check and in the process keeps me grounded.  For that I am very grateful.

Patsy revealed to me she held a “crush” on me in our sophomore year (which I knew nothing about) but was too shy to let me know.  I did not learn about it until that December 10th phone call, 41 years later. I am very glad we have been able to rekindle a friendship after the passage of so much time.  More importantly, though, I am glad we have developed a deep abiding love and respect for one another, and what might have been then is happening now. I love you “My Sweet Girl.”  Te amo mi corazon por vida.

Ronnie Stallworth

Layton, Utah

November 22, 2013

Foreword

The next afternoon I finally met Agent X.  He escorted me to a conference room and told me to have a seat at the large rectangular brown wooden conference table.  He left me alone for about three minutes and when he returned he was carrying a couple of pencils and a legal pad in his left hand.  In his right hand was an expandable folder, approximately six inches wide filled with papers. These items were placed on the table in front of me with instructions that I could look at anything in the folder and write down notes, but absolutely no copies of any of the material was allowed out of the room.  He told me to take my time and then left me alone.

Inside the folder was a treasure trove of data on the history of the Ku Klux Klan in Colorado.  Many of the sheets of paper were yellowed with age and dated back to the 1920s. It was a virtual time capsule on the Colorado Klan: how and when they formed (1921), their first Grand Dragon, a physician named John Galen Locke, and their activities such as bombing the home of a Black mail carrier who had moved in a White neighborhood, burning a Black A.M.E.—African Methodist Episcopal—Church to the ground, boycotting Denver’s Jewish businessmen and excluding them from membership into specific clubs such as the Masons and physical threats to Jews and Catholics.

By 1923 it was estimated that the Klan in Colorado had approximately 30,000 to 45,000  members, half of whom lived in Denver. There were also chapters in Canon City, home of the state penitentiary; Boulder, home of the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, and, Pueblo, about 35 miles south of Colorado Springs. Once established, the Klan made a grasp for political power.  They took control of the state’s Republican Party and selected virtually all of its candidates in the 1924 elections.  By 1925, the Colorado State Senate and House of Representatives were a majority of Klan members elected through the Republican Party.

What immediately leaped out of the yellowed pages was the name of one of their candidates, Benjamin Stapleton.  He was elected mayor of Denver and served from 1923-1947. He was the major force behind a project which later became the Denver Municipal Airport. In 1944, the airport’s name was changed in his honor to Stapleton International Airport.

Several key members of his mayoral staff were also Klan members. So committed was his relationship to the Klan that irate voters called for his recall after learning of his Klan sympathies which he withheld during the campaign. His response to their recall effort was delivered at a Klan rally:

“I pledge to work with the Klan and for the Klan in the coming election, heart and soul, and if I am elected I shall give the Klan the kind of administration it wants.”

Stapleton won the recall election on the strength of the large Klan voter turnout and their influence on the Denver populace. Jubilant in their victory, Klan members held a cross burning ceremony.

In the November general election other Klan-supported candidates swept to victory. The governor, Clarence J. Morley, was a Klansman, the two U.S. Senators Rice Means and Lawrence Phipps had strong Klan connections, and the Klan held the lieutenant governorship, state auditor, and attorney general offices. Another Klansman, William J. Candlish, was selected by the Grand Dragon to be the Chief of Police for the Denver Police Department and was officially apponted by Mayor Stapleton. In addition, Klansmen were seated on the Board of Regents for the University of Colorado and the State Supreme Court.  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. (Afro-Denver Magazine, Vol. 6, Number 2, Feb., 1980 and Denver magazine, February, 1980)

I sat at the conference table for close to two hours fascinated by what I was reading, taking as many notes as I could because of the vast richness of the information.  I was literally reading about and seeing images of ghosts who had changed Colorado society, some for the better because of their politics, others in a negative way because of their social leanings. A thought kept going through my mind: I wonder...

Prologue

“I hate niggers, Jews, Mexicans, spics, chinks, and anyone else that does not have pure white Aryan blood in their veins...”

That was my answer to the voice on the other end of the telephone.  The “voice” had identified himself as the Local Organizer of the new Colorado Springs chapter of the Ku Klux Klan.  I had inquired about membership and was being recruited via this phone call.  The voice had asked me why I was interested in joining the Klan.

I continued, “…My sister was recently involved with a nigger and every time I think about him putting his filthy black hands on her pure white body I get disgusted and sick to my stomach.  I want to join the Klan so I can stop future abuse of the white race.”

The Local Organizer replied, “You’re just the kind of person we’re looking for. When can we meet?”

Thus began, perhaps, the most interesting and unique chapter in my 32-year police career, eight years (1972-1980) of which were spent with the Colorado Springs Police Department. I was a detective, the first (and at that time the only) Black detective in the history of the CSPD, assigned to the Intelligence Unit. Yes, I said Black detective. That is what made this an interesting and unique experience. Me, a BLACK American of AFRICAN descent, while working an undercover police intelligence investigation, seeking membership into the Ku Klux Klan!

Patrolman Ron Stallworth (1975) at the age of 22.

The first Black and, at that time, the youngest detective

in the history of the Colorado Springs Police Department.

This investigation unfolded over a period of seven months and also involved an investigation of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP), a Marxist-Leninist (i.e., Communist) organization which counter-protested the KKK, advocating violence against them and also the police department.

I was able to “sting” (con) the local organizer of the Colorado Springs chapter of the KKK, the Grand Dragon (equivalent to a state leader) for the Colorado Klan, and David Duke who, at that time (1978-79), was arguably the premier national leader of the various KKK factions in the United States. He was based in the New Orleans, Louisiana area and held the title of Grand Wizard.  They all believed I was, to quote David Duke “…an intelligent White man….” and, as a result, I was able to gain their trust and subsequently obtain membership into their faction of the Klan. So successful was the “sting” that the Grand Dragon sought my advice on a couple of decisions concerning him and the Colorado Springs chapter. The Local Organizer, a Specialist 5 in the Army who was in the process of being discharged, avidly put my name up to the chapter membership for a vote to replace him.

It should be noted that the Grand Wizard, David Duke, did not learn he had been “stung” until a newspaper columnist interviewed him in 2006 about my story and informed him about the Black man he had given a membership to 28 years earlier in Colorado Springs. What follows is the story of that “sting” and how I, a Black man, gained membership into the Ku Klux Klan, was asked to assume the leadership role of Local Organizer of the Colorado Springs chapter, became a member of the communist-oriented anti-Klan protest group, Progressive Labor Party, and was asked to establish and lead a chapter of its “front” organization, the Committee Against Racism, in Colorado Springs.

Chapter 1

Over the past few years as people have learned of my undercover intelligence investigation of the Colorado Springs chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, they have asked, sometimes quite seriously, if it was anything akin to the skit by Black comedian Dave Chappell, Clayton Bigsby:  Black White Supremacist KKK, in which a blind Black man was raised to believe he was White and accepted the White supremacist creed of White racial superiority.  He became a Klansman and traveled to rallies wearing his Klan robe with his body completely covered, concealing his dark skin. He gave rousing speeches, inflaming the racial hatred and passion of his audiences to the point where they would yell for him to remove his hood so they could finally see the face of their ideological and cultural hero.  Always, though, there would be one of his protectors to shield him from the enthusiastic calls from the audience.

One day, however, Clayton got caught up in the audience euphoria about his calls against “niggers,” Chinese, the liberal media, homosexuals, Black politicians (Colin Powell and Condolezza Rice), and his calls for “White Power” and other slogans promoting White superiority/supremacy. He removed his hood and gloves, and the audience, for the first time, saw that their iconic spokesman in fact was the very personification of those he had been exhorting against.

Dave Chapelle – Clayton Bigsby

http://cliptank.com/funny-clips/dave-chappelle-black-k-k-k-member.html

My investigation — my experience as a “Black Klansman” — was nothing like that of Dave Chappelle’s fictitious Clayton Bigsby character. Although mine had many comedic moments     which shall be described throughout this narrative, it was very serious with — in some cases —elements of life and death consequences attached to some of the decisions that I and my coworkers had to make.

It began in October, 1978….

As an Intelligence Unit detective, one of my duties was to scan the two daily newspapers for any reports of information concerning any hint of subversive activity that might have an impact on the welfare and safety of Colorado Springs citizens.  As I looked over the classified section, one particular ad caught my eye.  It read:

Ku Klux Klan

For Information Contact

P.O. Box 4771

Security, Colorado 80230

Security was a suburban housing development area located southeast of Colorado Springs near two main military bases: Fort Carson and NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command).

Fort Carson is a U.S. Army base located approximately five miles from Security. It is a major Military installation with a population of 14,000. NORAD is a joint American and Canadian military mission charged with the aerospace warning, control, sovereignty, and defense of the North American continent. The mission “includes the monitoring of man-made objects in space, and the detection, validation, and warning of attack against North America whether by aircraft, missiles, or space vehicles, through mutual support arrangements with other commands.”  It was established in 1958, an effect of the Cold War between the former Soviet Union, with the main technical facility located inside Cheyenne Mountain on the west side of Interstate 25 across from Fort Carson.  It is considered a “Top Security Clearance” facility.

I wrote a brief note to the P.O. Box explaining that I was a White man interested in obtaining information regarding membership in the KKK and doing something to further the cause of the White race.  I signed my name Ron Stallworth, gave the undercover phone number which was an unlisted, untraceable line used for investigative, the undercover address, untraceable for undercover investigative correspondence contacts, placed it in an envelope and dropped it in the mailbox.

Why did I sign my real name to the note which launched an official investigation?  Like all of our undercover investigators, I maintained two separate undercover identities with the appropriate support identification, driver’s license, credit cards, etc.  So why did I have this lapse in judgment and make such a foolish mistake?

The simple answer is I was not thinking of a future investigation when I mailed the note.  I was seeking a reply, thinking that it would be in the form of literature such as a pamphlet or brochure of some kind. As for giving the undercover phone number, I suffered a “brain cramp.” All in all I did not believe my effort would have any traction beyond a few mundane auto-mailed responses. I believed this blatant placement of such an inflammatory racist ad was nothing more than a feeble attempt at a prank and by answering it I would see how far the prank would play itself out.

Approximately two weeks later, on November 1, 1978, I received the phone call from the Local Organizer referred to in the prologue.  He identified himself as “Ken,” a Fort Carson soldier who lived in Security with his wife.

Ken, throughout the conversation, never used the name “Ku Klux Klan” but referred to it in the coded term of The Organization.  He explained membership in The Organization would cost $10 for the remainder of the year, $30 for the next year, and I would have to buy my own hood and robe. It should be noted that my initial responses, stated in the Prologue, secured Ken’s confidence enough that he felt comfortable in continuing to reveal himself and The Organization’s goals and intent in Colorado Springs.

For example, with the Christmas holiday approaching they were planning a “White Christmas” for needy white families. Ken emphasized that “no niggers need apply” and that they were seeking monetary donations at the P.O. Box.  The Organization, he explained, maintained a bank account under the name of “White People, Inc.” at a bank in Security.

In addition, The Organization was planning to burn four 17-foot crosses in various strategic locations throughout the city.  By doing so they would be announcing their presence in Colorado Springs, attract attention to The Organization and emphasize their determination to further the cause of White rights.

Ken invited me to meet with him about a week later at the Kwik Inn, a small diner in Security, at which time he would further discuss the prospect of my being accepted into The Organization.  He said a tall, skinny, hippy-looking White guy with a Fu Manchu beard, smoking a cigar, would meet me at the Kwik Inn and then take me to a secondary location for the meeting.  He asked how he would recognize me. I gave him a physical description—minus skin color—including the type of shirt I would be wearing.  With that, our initial telephone conversation came to an end.

At this phase of the investigation, certain truths about undercover work must be acknowledged.  First, I broke the most basic rule of all and that was going into a case without a plan of operation. Secondly, 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.

When this investigation began I had been a police officer for four years, three of which had been spent working undercover narcotics and vice. I was well-versed in the basics of how to conduct such investigations; however, in this particular instance I was much too lackadaisical in my initial approach looking into this matter that my judgment lapsed and I allowed myself to make a critical error. Fortunately, the people I was dealing with were not, to use an old adage, “The brightest bulbs in the socket,” and my mistakes did not jeopardize the outcome of the investigation. If anything, my failings at the onset, unbeknownst to me, were the beginning of many future comedic moments.

Following the phone conversation with Ken, I began preparations for the face-to-face meeting.  The description I gave him—minus skin color—was close to that of a good friend of mine, Chuck, one of the narcotics detectives. The shirt description was significant because Chuck, whom I refer to as the “White Ron Stallworth,” usually wore this particular type—red plaid flannel—to work. The shirt would help Ken identify “Ron Stallworth” when he showed up for the meeting.

I immediately contacted Chuck’s lieutenant and requested his use for an undercover assignment on November 9th.  I gave him the details and what I hoped to accomplish with Chuck’s help.

Lieutenant Arthur refused my request on the basis that once Ken heard Chuck’s voice he would immediately know he was not the person he had spoken with on the phone.  His explanation was that Ken would be able to tell the difference between the voice on the phone being that of a “Black” man as opposed to the “White” man standing before him at the meeting.  His second reason for refusing my request was that this whole idea of the Ku Klux Klan being in Colorado Springs was not to be taken seriously and he would not allow the identification of one of his undercover investigators to be irresponsibly compromised over such foolishness.

The lieutenant’s conclusion that the Klan’s local organizer would be able to tell in a face-to-face conversation the “White” Ron Stallworth from a “Black” Ron Stallworth was shared by others within the CSPD familiar with what I was trying to do.  When I asked the question, “What does a Black man talk like,” the response I always got was, “You know...”  Some would say that certain things I said sounded “Black,” and when I asked them to give an example they always failed to respond. In other words, they were blinded by mental prejudices and stereotypes about speech patterns of Black Americans of African descent.  The handful of people who shared this notion had known and worked with me for six years up to this point in my career.  They had never seen me “shuck and jive,” which was what many of them meant by the phrase “talk like a Black man” except in my capacity working undercover and only when the role required that I do so.

Despite this six-year history they still had not yet reached a point where they could see past those mental prejudices and stereotypes. They harbored no bigotry against me personally, they simply clung to a long-held belief on the oratory skills of Black men and it guided their view regarding my ability to succeed in this investigation.

To add a bit of context to the Lieutenant’s position, he and I had developed a personal and professional hostility about one year earlier following my removal from the Narcotics unit.  He transferred me out of Narcotics back into the uniformed patrol division, where he knew I did not want to be, and within six months I was back in the Detective Division working in an undercover capacity in the Vice & Intelligence Unit. His refusal to heed my request was in essence a form of payback for what he felt was a disrespectful slight I had shown him.

With the Lieutenant’s rejection, I made the decision to go over his head directly to the Chief of Police to secure the resources I would need to follow up on the proposed meeting with the local Klan organizer. In terms of my career, this decision was not what one would call a wise one.  In terms of the acrimonious relationship I had with the Lieutenant, this major step up the chain of command—bypassing a Captain and Assistant Chief of Detectives—was sure to fan the flames of that animosity.

I had approximately one week to put events in motion for the meeting with the local Klan organizer and quite frankly did not have time to worry about inflaming existing bitter feelings or about department-rank protocol and the damage resulting from banged-up egos.  My bottom line was the Lieutenant had issues with me and he would continue to have issues with me regardless of whether I did this or not. In other words, I had nothing to lose.

Another aspect to the fuel I was about to add to this personal fire between us concerned the Lieutenant’s attitude toward our Chief of Police. He intensely resented the Chief, having no respect for him whatsoever because of the politics of his ascension to that rank.

The Chief had been in position only for a short while up to this point and had previously held the permanent civil-service rank of Lieutenant, though junior in seniority to Arthur, his Narcotics counterpart. As a lieutenant, the Chief had been in charge of the department’s Community Relations Division, considered a nondescript job within the police hierarchy, and had been quite good at it. Because he had not served in a “front line” capacity in the same vein as one of his “peers” in the detective or uniformed patrol division, the Chief was vilified for having leapfrogged them in the selection process.  In their eyes he was deemed unqualified to be Chief of Police of the Colorado Springs Police Department.

Arthur, the Narcotics lieutenant, failed to come to grips with the reality that time had passed him by. During that period, CSPD like many police departments in the country began requiring a more educated status for advancement within its rank structure.  Traditional issues, such as being more deserving (am I better qualified based on case productivity and seniority) were no longer the paradigm on which a promotional consideration was based.  They were being relegated to a secondary status in favor of personal achievement in higher education.  One of the specific requisites the promotional board sought in search of a new Police Chief was someone from within the current rank structure who possessed at least a Bachelor’s Degree. The Narcotics Lieutenant held an Associate’s Degree compared to the Community Relations Lieutenant who possessed a Master’s Degree, the only ranking officer in the CSPD with a post graduate degree at the time.

I briefed the Chief on the action I had taken thus far:  The mailed response to the newspaper ad, the telephone conversation with the local Klan organizer, and his stated plans to burn crosses to announce their presence to city residents. The Klan desired to perpetrate a historical act of domestic terrorism, thus increasing White pride and consequentially boost enrollment numbers.    I explained my request to set up a face-to-face meeting with the Klan organizer and subsequent rejection by the Lieutenant of utilizing Chuck as my stand-in.

He expressed great interest in my briefing and after a few questions asked if I needed any additional manpower. I requested the use of two surveillance detectives to accompany me on November 9th.  He then phoned the Lieutenant and directed him to give me all the necessary manpower assistance I needed to move this investigation forward. As expected, Arthur was not pleased by my actions.  I, as expected, did not care whether his feelings and ego were upset.  In my mind this meeting was a unique opportunity to advance an opening into a group with a long history of domestic terrorism which was now in the process of establishing themselves in my city.

I held my first meeting with Chuck and briefed him on everything involving the investigation.  The November 9th meeting was pivotal because Ken had already formed a tentative positive image of “Ron Stallworth” based on the initial phone conversation.  I informed Chuck that he had one immediate challenge:  Take that positive image Ken had planted in his mind through the telephone interaction and reinforce it during the face-to-face meeting.  There was, however, a secondary challenge he and I had to share from this point forward. Unfortunately, Chuck was only available on a very limited basis due to a narcotic workload and department politics, and only as a last resort, so I would need to continue the bulk of the deception via the telephone; thus, we needed to stay in sync in terms of any conversation between us individually and any member of the organization.

As I explained to Chuck, Ken had to always maintain the belief that he was dealing with one person whether talking to me on the phone or him (Chuck) in person; coordinating our conversations so we could pick up from one encounter to the next without any breaks in conversational flow.

On November 7, I spoke with Ken to confirm our meeting in two days in Security.  We agreed that the hippy-looking White guy and I would meet at 7:00 p.m. in the parking lot of the Kwik Inn diner.

Ken was relaxed enough to reveal that because of the publicity regarding the newspaper recruitment ad the Army had placed him on leave until his military tour of duty ended in 37 days.  I told him that I had seen an article in the newspaper announcing an upcoming Colorado Springs appearance by Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke and asked him if it was true.

Ken said Duke had personally telephoned the newspaper and told them he would be in the city in January, 1979.  He revealed that the Klan (Note: This was the Ken’s first open abandonment of the metaphorical term “The Organization” and use of the term “Klan” with me, a clearer indication of a developing comfort level) had planned on a downtown march at Christmas, but now with Duke’s January arrival they would wait and have it at that time.  He also stated that the Colorado Springs chapter had six robed members.

On November 9, 1978 at 7:00 p.m., Chuck met the hippy-looking White guy with a Fu Manchu beard in the parking lot of the Kwik Inn sitting in a pickup truck.  He identified himself as Butch.  Chuck identified himself as Ron. I, along with two narcotics detectives, was in the vicinity acting as Chuck’s surveillance backup. Prior to attending the meeting, Chuck had been fitted with a wireless body transmitter which allowed me to listen to and record his conversation.  In addition, I gave Chuck personal items of identification—just in case they were asked for—to confirm his identity as “Ron Stallworth.”  Some of those items included a library card, credit cards, social security card—anything bearing my name that did not have my picture or otherwise identify me as a Black man (Note: At no time during the duration of this investigation did any of the Klansmen challenge Chuck by asking for proof of his identity as “Ron Stallworth.”).

Butch said he had been sent to pick up Chuck and take him to another location for the actual meeting with Ken. He was very secretive about where this secondary location was but that Chuck had to leave his car at the Kwik Inn parking lot and ride with him in the truck. He insisted there was no other way it could be done and explained that Ken would always let the prospective member select the primary location (though in this instance it was selected by Ken himself).  As part of their arrangement, however, once there they would immediately relocate.

As with any undercover meeting, it is imperative that the “UC” (undercover operative) do everything that he can to maintain control of events to the best of his ability.  This is essential not only for his own personal safety and the overall success of the operation but for the benefit of the surveillance officers whose primary responsibility is to provide back-up for him in the event the situation breaks down and threatens his personal well-being. With this in mind, recognizing that he was “wired for sound” and also had a hand-held “walkie-talkie” police radio in his unmarked undercover car, Chuck tried vigorously to convince Butch to let him take his car and follow him to the secondary meeting site. Butch was equally as adamant in his refusal and Chuck finally relented and got into Butch’s truck.

As he entered, Chuck glanced in the direction where I and the other two surveillance detectives were parked. Because the wireless body transmitter is a one-way device (transmit not receive), we could hear Chuck but could not transmit messages to him. He did not even know if the transmitter was working, though we had tested it after affixing it to his body prior to leaving the office for this meeting.  It wasn’t uncommon for these devices to have unexpected breakdowns, sometimes in the middle of an undercover operation. As with any such operation, the UC often functioned in a sort of eerie darkness, devoid of knowledge as to whether the transmitter was operating properly and his surveillance was able to clearly hear his conversation, or whether they had any knowledge as to his whereabouts when, as in this instance, he was moving from one location to another without any foreknowledge.

As it turned out, our concerns were unwarranted as Butch drove about a mile-and-a-half to a popular hangout for the local adult crowd, especially the area’s military personnel, the Corner Pocket Lounge.  I later learned that the lounge was the “unofficial” recruitment point for Ken and his Ku Klux Klan cohorts. The surveillance team took up positions around the building as Chuck and Butch made their way into the Corner Pocket Lounge. Fortunately, on this occasion, the body transmitter was working flawlessly.

Chuck was greeted by Ken—a short (about 5’9”), stocky (approximately 220 lbs.) man about 28 years of age with brown hair, cut military length, and a slight mustache. With him was a younger man (approximately 20) who Butch introduced as his younger brother, Baron.  Believing he was talking to me (Ron Stallworth), Ken told Chuck, “I’ve been impressed talking to you over the telephone. I feel you have some fine ideas that could possibly help the cause.”  He then showed Chuck a packet of papers which he said had all of the necessary information Chuck would need if he decided to join The Cause. He proceeded into an explanation as to his motivation for joining the Ku Klux Klan.

The Klan, according to Ken, became his “salvation” after he had once been shot by some “niggers,” and his wife had been raped by several of them.  His prejudices towards “niggers,” he said, had really begun after he joined the U.S. Army. “Have you been reading the publicity the Klan has been receiving in all the papers,” Ken asked Chuck. Chuck replied yes, though he admitted he probably had missed some of the articles on occasion.

Ken explained the reporter had, in his opinion, made The Cause look bad and in the process him as well, but he wouldn’t elaborate on exactly how the reporter made him look bad. He was having trouble with his military command ever since and his effort to re-enlist was in jeopardy as a result.

Ken stated that Butch’s wife had recently been stabbed by “niggers” and the woman who lived on his street was a suspect in the stabbing. He said “someone” had burned a cross on this woman’s lawn to send her a message but had done a poor job of it. [Note: I checked all police and sheriff department report databases on this alleged incident and could find no indication that it, in fact, had occurred. If it had, then the victim did not report it to the police…a highly unlikely prospect.]

Ken was amused by this turn of events stating, “I’d like to meet whoever was responsible for the burning so I could show him the correct way to burn a cross and also congratulate him.”

Ken went on to explain that Butch was his bodyguard but that the Klan—collectively—was a non-violent 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, for the first time since arriving at the Corner Pocket Lounge, spoke to Chuck stating, “In public the Klan is to be referred to as The Organization or The Cause.” He explained his personal anguish at wanting to express himself violently in his relationship with “niggers,” yet denying himself that opportunity and satisfaction because he always remembered the non-violent policies of The Organization.

Chuck then told Ken he was definitely interested in joining The Organization.

Ken told him to open the packet of papers and take out the membership application. He explained step-by-step how to fill out the application, including the costs. The fee for the remaining year’s dues would be $10 with a full year being $30.  There would also be a $15 local chapter fee.  Ken identified the bank in which the Klan held an account and told Chuck it would be necessary to attach a picture with the application. “Butch and I are anxious for you to join The Organization as soon as possible.  If you do, in all likelihood you and Baron would be going to Denver soon to become sworn members of the group at the same time.”  He explained that once the application process was completed it generally took ten days to two weeks to get the membership card returned from the national office in Louisiana.

Ken was asked if there were any activities planned for Colorado Springs in the near future.  He replied there was a plan to simultaneously burn four crosses next month on strategic hills throughout the city. The burnings would announce the presence of The Organization to the citizens of Colorado Springs. Butch explained that each cross would be 17 feet high by eight feet wide and be built prior to the burning. Several days before the burning, the members would go to the pre-determined 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. Butch added that if Chuck got his membership card early enough he would be able to participate in the cross burnings [Note: Being allowed to be a part of a cross-burning ritual was considered to be a high honor.]  Both he and Ken explained that participating in official activities was contingent on first being a card-carrying member of The Organization.

Ken then continued the narrative regarding the planned activities by telling Chuck they were going to put together a “Poor White Folks Christmas” next month.  The members were going to put gift bags of food and other items together for poor white people.  “Niggers,” said Ken, “look at Christmas as a time to rip off White people, and the Jews look at it as a time to make money off the White population.  No one ever looks out for the welfare of White people so the members were going to do something for poor White people at Christmas.”

Ken admonished Chuck to never admit having participated in any cross burnings and never admit to having participated in any acts of violence. This, he explained, was a policy of The Organization.

When asked what the procedure was for introducing another prospective member into The Organization, Ken replied, “The first thing to consider was if there was any Jew” in the prospective member’s background. If not then a personal interview—much like this—would be arranged. [Note:  Chuck, as any good UC (undercover investigator) does, was already thinking ahead. Based on discussion we had prior to this meeting, Chuck was trying to establish a means to get a secondary back-up investigator into the Klan.]

Ken revealed that in two months (January 1979), The Organization was expecting the arrival of David Duke the Grand Wizard of the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. In honor of his visit, the Colorado Springs chapter of The Organization was planning a membership march along one of the main downtown streets. The march would be coordinated by the state leader (a Lakewood, Colorado fireman), Fred Wilkens. The Organization’s objective for Duke’s visit was to have 100 “robed” members, Klansmen in white hooded robes ready to participate in the march in a show of support, in honor of and respect for the Grand Wizard, and to demonstrate that the The Klan was a viable presence in Colorado.  [Note: In this instance Ken, for the first time in the meeting, did not use the euphemistic term “organization” to refer to the KKK.]      Ken indicated that if they were able to gather the hundred robed members from the Colorado Springs chapter by Christmas, they would possibly be joined by fellow members from Louisiana, Kentucky, the metropolitan Denver area, and several southern Colorado cities including Pueblo and Canon City which is home to the state maximum security prison.

After a few more minutes of small talk, Chuck took the packet of papers from Ken with the promise to complete the application process and get it in the mail in the next few days.  He and Ken agreed to talk further on the subject and he took him back to his car.  As they rode back Chuck asked Butch about the number of Klan members in Colorado Springs.

Butch replied that he did not know and he believed only the State Organizer, Fred Wilkens, knew how many were in the Colorado Springs area. He did say that when Chuck got his membership card it would have on it two letters—CO—which stood for Colorado, followed by a series of numbers. The first two numbers would be the year and the remaining numbers represented the state membership.

Butch further explained that the Colorado Springs Klan chapter, as in other cities, was divided into “dens” consisting of approximately five (5) members.  These were people who, according to Butch, “really trusted each other and socialized together after meetings.”  He expressed his hope that Chuck, once accepted as a member, could belong to their den.

Chuck was returned to his car at the Kwik Inn parking lot and Butch promised to telephone him in a few days to make sure he had followed up with the membership application.  As he left, two surveillance cars followed him back to the Corner Pocket Lounge where he picked up Baron and Ken. They followed Butch’s truck to a nearby house, the occupants of which were later determined to be a Fort Carson Army couple from Watsonville, California.

Chuck returned to the police department intelligence unit office where he met with me for a debriefing. Inside the packet of materials Ken had given him were a couple of Klan newspapers, The Crusader, and a membership application.

I completed all of the necessary information on the membership application—including filling in my personal data. I also took a photo of Chuck, seated in the office—as required—for submission with the application. The next day, I obtained $10 of department funds from my Sergeant to apply toward the membership fee and mailed the application to Metarie, Louisiana, national headquarters of David Duke’s Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

In the interim, until the next meeting with Ken, Butch, and the rest of the Colorado chapter members, I was involved in a series of connective events.

First: The day after the Corner Pocket Lounge meeting I had my first telephone conversation with the Grand Wizard himself.

While reading one of the Klan newspapers I noticed an advertisement for “The Voice of the Klan” at a Palm Harbor, Florida phone number. The “Voice of the Klan” was, in fact, several pre-recorded messages from various sections of the country expressing KKK propaganda. The messages were typical of White supremacist rhetoric:

“Wake up White man!  The Black man wants your woman and job.  The Jew wants your money.  The Zionist Occupied Government (ZOG) wants to take away your citizenship rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution and make you slaves to all mud people and their Jewish masters.  Your only means of salvation is to join the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, the only group of patriots dedicated to preserving your heritage and rightful place in a White American society.”

ZOG was the typical White supremacist reference to the U.S. and their belief that it was dominated by and under the control of Jews influenced by the policies of Israel.  Mud People was their reference to any dark-skinned, non-White person they considered under the dominion of Jews.

As the expected recorded voice droned on preaching his racist rhetorical tome, I was surprised to hear a live male voice break in and identify himself as David Duke, the actual “Voice of the Klan.” Taken aback by the unexpected live person on the other end, I was forced to quickly come up with a response.

I asked him if he, as reports indicated, was planning a trip to Colorado Springs and he replied yes, sometime in January 1979 (approximately two months away).  He said he had a KKK rally to attend in Palm Harbor and ended our exchange by stating he hoped to meet me then.

Second: The first public counter-protest against the emerging KKK presence in Colorado Springs was reported to me the same day as the “Voice of the Klan” exchange with David Duke. The public outcry over the Klan presence came to my office in the form of an intelligence memo stating that Blacks and Latinos were planning to commit arson against any cars belonging to KKK members, and this memo was determined to be credible.

Over the next week, word began filtering throughout the public arena that David Duke was going to be in Colorado Springs in January for a “media blitz” recruitment effort on behalf of the local KKK chapter. Uniformed Colorado Springs Police Department officers responded to a disturbance at the Southgate Shopping Center located on the south end of the city limits.  They encountered eight demonstrators peacefully marching in front of stores, carrying placards with anti-KKK slogans printed in bold black letters, and handing out leaflets. One of the demonstrators I later learned was a professor at Colorado College, a prestigious local four-year private school.

The leaflet, printed in English and Spanish, was published by INCAR, the International Committee Against Racism, and it had a Denver P.O. Box address.  I later learned of an INCAR meeting planned for that evening and attended in an undercover capacity.  This was the start of my co-undercover investigation of the Klan involving the Progressive Labor Party and its “front” organization, the International Committee Against Racism.

An INCAR representative from Denver, Marianne Gilbert a Denver University Professor was present at the meeting along with a Denver representative of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP), Doug Vaughn.  The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the start of an INCAR chapter in Colorado Springs and to plan protest efforts against the KKK and David Duke’s upcoming visit to the city.

The collective intensity of the public protest against the KKK presence quickly built to include a slew of other alphabet soup organizations: LAMECHA (Colorado College), BSU (Black Student Union—Colorado College), LaRaza (Colorado Springs), CWUC (Colorado Workers United Council—Denver), PBP (People for the Betterment of People—Colorado Springs), and ARC (Anti-Racist Coalition—Colorado Springs). More on the Klan counter-protest effort later and in particular INCAR and the PLP.

Chapter 2

I spent the next month fighting internal department politics over my investigation while simultaneously trying to further it along. The political conflict stemmed from Arthur, the previously mentioned narcotics Lieutenant, his second-in-command, Jim—who had been my Sergeant when I had served in the narcotics division approximately a year earlier, and their personal “vendetta” against me.

Arthur and Jim were very “old school” type of officers; that is to say they believed in a code of strict adherence to rank structure, including blind loyalty to a position taken by a higher ranking officer. In their eyes it did not matter whether you agreed with their behavior or the particular position on an issue, as long as you recognized they were “superior” officers and, therefore, it was your “duty” to support their position no matter what.  The pettiness of Art and Jim in this regard was legendary among those who had worked under their command and they often demonstrated their inflated sense of superiority in the following rather unique fashion.

The rank structure within the Colorado Springs Police Department was separated by two colored badges -- silver for patrol officers and gold for ranking officers Sergeant and above.  If a dispute or perceived challenge arose on an issue and Arthur or Jim found themselves losing the argument or just did not want to discuss the issue, they dismissed the “offending” individual by dismissively holding up their gold badge and asking you the color of yours.  That was your cue to “be quiet,” the discussion was over, and in essence you were being dismissed…LONG LIVE THE KING!

My relationship with these two men had a rather unique history, especially where Art was concerned, and they had never come to grips with its evolution.

I was hired by the City of Colorado Springs on November 13, 1972, as a police Cadet at 19 years and nearly five months old. The cadet program was designed for high school graduates between the ages of 17-19 who desired a career in law enforcement. Applicants underwent the same battery of tests as regular police candidates and were required to pass them with the same scores because they were, in essence, officers-in-training. Once accepted into the program, the young applicants were paid a beginning salary of $5.25 per hour, far above minimum wage which was $1.60.  Duties included attendance at the Police Academy in addition to performing civilian support functions within the department, such as processing criminal history records and parking enforcement.

Swearing in Ceremony with Ralph Sanchez

Ron Stallworth in full Cadet uniform

The cadet program had been a part of the police department for approximately four years with the specific intent to try and boost minority recruitment, particularly Blacks, into the ranks of law enforcement. In this regard, the program had been a failure because up to the time of my hiring it had never employed any Blacks. It had recruited one Puerto Rican and two Mexicans, but everyone of the program’s other hires had been White. At the time of my hiring the CSPD had approximately 250 sworn officers, only two of which were minorities (Mexican).  One of them had graduated from the ranks of the Police Cadet program.  At the age of 19 years and nearly 5 months old, I was hired for the specific purpose of integrating the Colorado Springs Police Department with a Black presence.

I still clearly recall my job interview. I sat across the table from the Assistant Chief of Police in charge of Personnel (a White man), the Captain of the uniformed Patrol Division (a White man), and the Personnel Manager for the City of Colorado Springs James Woods (a Black man).  Mr. Woods took a special interest in me. He had an easy-going personality, quick with a smile, which belied the fire in him to induce change in a system he knew was inherently biased and prejudicial toward Blacks. He had a passion to “fix” that systemic problem and pointed out the obstacles that I would be confronting during our first face-to-face meeting.  He was the first person to raise the comparison of my role in the Colorado Springs Police Department to that of Jackie Robinson, the legendary Black baseball player who integrated major league baseball with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.  The “ghost” of Jackie Robinson was later raised during my job interview.

I was asked a series of questions regarding my background growing up in the Mexican border community of El Paso, Texas; in particular, what was it like being a young Black male living in a southern state during the height of the civil rights movement of the 1960s.  My personal lifestyle was heavily questioned: Was I a womanizer? I was not. Did I like to frequent nightclubs? I wasn’t very active in that scene. Was I a heavy drinker? I rarely indulged. Did I use drugs? Only drugs prescribed by a doctor. I had never used any illicit drugs such as marijuana, which for someone my age during that cultural time period, was virtually unheard of and I was vigorously challenged regarding my answer.  Had I ever been involved in anything that would bring shame to the department? I had not.

One highly charged area of questioning concerned the isolation I would probably experience as the only Black employee in the department, in particular one trying to scale the ranks of commissioned officers. I was told that employees of the department had little to no experience interacting with Black people and the few that they regularly encountered were usually involved in the criminal lifestyle. I was asked if I could handle the pressure of being a solitary figure who no one would, initially, trust or want to have anything to do with.

As the interview progressed, the questions got more pointed to include the use of the pejorative nigger, and as to how I would respond to various scenarios if it were used in reference to me by department personnel or citizens during the discharge of my duties as an officer. Could I hold my tongue and instinct to lash out at those who crossed the line in this regard?  What about my loyalty to the department?  Being the sole Black, once word got out to the Black community that I worked for the department efforts probably would be made to compromise me by appealing to my sense of “community” to my “Black brothers.”  Could I, the interview panel asked, withstand that pull?

The interview must be understood in the context of the time. Such questions seemed and were racists when viewed in hindsight and in the light of today’s laws governing employment interviews. What they were saying and doing could not be done under the legal standards in place today. This was 1972, barely 4-5 years removed from the time when America’s major cities were burning as a result of racially-fueled riots over the issue of civil rights equality for its Black citizens.  Though a dying breed, the Black Panther Party with their racially-tinged rhetorical slogans of “Black Power,” “Kill Whitey,” and “Revolution Has Come, Time To Pick Up The Gun” were still a social force to be reckoned with.  For a department that had been “lily white” for much of its history and had not experienced Blacks except in an extreme negative context, such questioning from their perspective was deemed to be natural and necessary.

The interview panel emphasized to me that the Colorado Springs Police Department needed to integrate, and a Black presence in the ranks of sworn police personnel would not be an overtly welcomed one.  I was told I could expect to hear the occasional nigger verbal grenade thrown my way and have my right to wear the uniform and badge challenged by some “purist” thinkers within the department accustomed to a pre-civil rights America; an America in which Blacks were more socially relegated to a state of “back-of-the-bus-servitude” in relation to Whites.  They assured me that this was not the total atmosphere within the department, but it was dominant enough to have taken root in some areas.

I was asked several times if I could withstand the barrage of scrutiny that would come my way—should I get hired—for the one year probationary period that would immediately follow, without jeopardizing my job by retaliating against my tormentors. Could I, they asked, respond in the same fashion, as Jackie Robinson who did NOT fight back against those that baited him with racial insults and physical assaults during his first year in the big leagues?  Could I, they asked, set an example that a Black man was just as capable of wearing the uniform of the Colorado Springs Police Department as a White man, and that a man of color deserved to walk among them as an equal?  This was the self-imposed weight resting on my shoulders as I went through the process of interviewing for a place within the Colorado Springs Police Department and to which I was subsequently hired.

[Note:  The racist sentiment among the rank and file officers that I had been challenged on in my interview did not take long to manifest itself in certain ways. For example, I would hear the classic Polish joke “How many Poles does it take to screw in a light bulb?” One minute and then later that same joke would be directed my way by a different officer except this time it would be “How many Blacks….”  Another example concerned a pet name that quite a few officers had for Blacks: “Toads.” I would have officers come to the Identification & Records Bureau, where I was eventually assigned, and request a criminal history check on a suspect.  The request would always be in the form of “I need to check on this toad.”  I began to notice that, with very few exceptions, the toads that were being checked into were Black.  To be fair the term was also used to refer to those individuals that we cops tended to put in the general category of “assholes,” however, 90% of the time a toad happened to be a Black person.]

Following my swearing-in ceremony with the mayor on November 13, 1972 I was given my first assignment as a cadet on the graveyard shift in the Identification and Records Bureau.  My job was to prepare/file criminal history records and take and classify fingerprints, a skill I have since forgotten, and navigate the myriad of paperwork flow.

[Note: Two examples of the department’s racial attitude were vividly laid bare to my sensibilities shortly after I became a Police Cadet. The first was during my period of transition following my swearing-in ceremony. I reported to the lieutenant in charge of equipment and supply requisition who was responsible for issuing all newly sworn personnel their uniforms and equipment.  Because I wore a small afro hairstyle and the department did not have experience in dealing with anyone wearing an afro, this lieutenant measured my head size but did not take into account the amount of hair on the top and sides of my head. He deliberately pressed the measuring tape down as deep as he could to my skin thus rendering a false hat size, about one and a half sizes too small. When he gave it to me and I tried it on, I told him it was too small and showed it to him on my head.  It literally sat on top of my afro because I could not pull it down over the side of my head. I looked like one of those cartoon monkeys that wears a hat several sizes too small while amusing a crowd, begging for money while the organ grinder plays music.  He told me to work with it and ultimately laughed and told me to get my hair cut like everybody else and then the hat would fit. I decided to flip his snarky arrogance back at him by taking the hat without any further challenge. Department policy stated that whenever a person in the uniformed ranks left the building he or she was required to wear his/her hat. Beginning the very next day, I started leaving the police department to walk the downtown streets in search of a lunch time eatery. I would put my one-and-a-half size too small hat on the top of my afro-styled head, hold my head up high, and proudly walk down those city streets in my Police Cadet uniform “looking like a damn clown” and acknowledge the funny looks from the people who stared at me and frequently pointed their fingers at me.  This went on for about a month until one day the Chief of Police saw me coming back from one of my lunch excursions.  He asked me why my hat was on my head in that fashion. I told him the lieutenant refused to give me one that fit my head and the hairstyle unique to my race. The chief ordered me to advise the lieutenant to immediately issue me a hat that fit my head appropriately and that it was a “direct order.” When I smilingly gave the lieutenant that message he was not very happy with it or my obvious enjoyment in delivering it. He asked me the hat size. I told him I didn’t know because I didn’t have my glasses, which I did not wear at the time, and couldn’t read the writing on the hatband which was fairly large.  He angrily pulled out his requisition file and was so flustered at his dilemma that he did not think to look at the hatband and looked up my name to see what he had previously recorded. He then went and got a couple of different larger size hats and I finally settled on one that appropriately fit my afro-styled head. That lieutenant did not like me for the rest of my career in the department because I had beaten him at his own game.

The second incident occurred during a graveyard shift in the Records Bureau. John, an elderly White I.D. technician, was in a jovial, somewhat frisky mood as we described our ideally attractive favorite female celebrities. He described his fantasy date and I described mine. We went back and forth with me mentioning a couple of White women who met with his approval.  I then mentioned the multi-talented, voluptuous and sultry Lola Falana, then one of the most popular entertainers on the Las Vegas scene. John recognized her name, and the smile which dominated his face as we bantered back and forth, immediately disappeared. His response shocked me because he said he could not relate to my choice in Ms. Falana as “beautiful” because he did not know what constituted beauty in a “colored” woman. After all these many years, I distinctly remember John’s next statement to me:  “I don’t know how YOU people define beauty in a woman.”  He said this very casually without any intended, overt malice.  He stated he had never looked at women of color in terms of physical attractiveness and therefore to describe Lola Falana as “beautiful” was something he could not understand or relate to in any way.

I was dumbfounded to say the least.  This nice, elderly man had unknowingly and unintentionally slapped me in the face with his statement.  To my 19--year--old innocent way of seeing the world, an attractive woman was well…an attractive woman, regardless of skin color.  If she had big, seductive eyes, a shapely figure, and a sultry, sensuous demeanor about her--as personified by Ms Falana--it did not matter if she was Black, White, or any other color in the rainbow.  SHE WAS A BEAUTIFUL AND ATTRACTIVE WOMAN!

I quickly moved the discussion in another direction and gradually distanced myself from John for the rest of the shift. I was disillusioned and disgusted by him and wanted nothing further to do with him in the immediate aftermath of his revelation regarding my worth as a human being.  To John’s way of thinking, I had no sense of value in terms of a woman’s physical attractiveness that was equal to his as a White man.  My idea of beauty was foreign to him based on his generational upbringing. I could forgive his ignorance based on that fact alone, but on the other hand he was still reflecting a basic, blatant sense of racial White superiority that I found abhorrent.  My relationship with John was never the same again.

It was during my work in the Records Bureau that I first encountered Arthur, Jim, and the other members of the narcotics unit.  Their office was located in the basement of the police department and they would come up to the first floor office of the records bureau requesting criminal histories of suspects they were investigating.

I was intrigued and fascinated by these unkempt looking, long-haired “hippies,” as they were respectfully called by everyone in the department. I was immediately told to NEVER acknowledge their identity in public unless they acknowledged you first, because they could be operating in an undercover capacity and that recognition could jeopardize their investigation and put their lives in danger. They looked like the bad guys, carried guns, and enforced the law with the good guys. I found this stimulating and I wanted very much for it to be a part of my professional make-up.

I knew early on that I was somewhat of a “rebel” at heart. At my swearing-in ceremony, the other applicant hired, Ralph Sanchez, showed up before the mayor of Colorado Springs wearing a nice suit and tie with a crisp black shirt and spit-shined black shoes.  I, on the other hand, wore a nice pair of slacks, sharply pressed. I had been ironing my own clothes -- heavily starched -- since elementary school, with a dark pullover shirt and a light fall jacket. I didn’t like suits and ties, had never liked suits and ties and had not been told to wear them. The instructions given regarding my appearance for the ceremony was to look “nice” and my appearance, by MY standards was “nice.”  Besides, in my mind I had passed all of the required tests and was now on the employment rolls of the CSPD.  I did not need to impress the mayor of Colorado Springs nor anyone else who was going to be present for the ceremony, which only consisted of the three members of the interview panel; my mother was working and could not get the time off to attend.

This early display of appearance and conformity to the “norm” of CSPD expectations was to set the tone for the career path Ralph and I were to follow. What started out as a friendship between us because of our mutual endeavors on the road to being Police Cadets turned sour within a year as he, due to being six months older, graduated into the ranks of the uniformed Patrol Division sooner and quickly developed an attitude that he was better than I was.  He felt he was now my superior and insisted I treat him with deference I was unable to muster.  He became a “model” patrolman, what we in the department referred to as a “Yes Man” or in a more crass term, a “Kiss Ass.” He was always willing to do the bidding of those in a position to help advance his personal agenda.  Ralph always adhered to departmental protocol, never crossing the line or even going near it. To do so in his limited world-view would be to risk upsetting those valuable potential human assets who could push his personal/professional agenda to the next level and Ralph was not one to push that envelope.  It got him nowhere as he was not liked and was looked down upon by his peers within the department.  Ralph’s desire was to become a detective; however, during my tenure with the CSPD he never achieved that distinction and came to resent the fact that I surpassed him in that regard.

Within the first six months as a patrolman Ralph shot and killed a teen-aged boy, a known burglar, in broad daylight.  Ralph said the boy was armed and pulled a gun on him while fleeing the scene of one of his burglaries. The problem with Ralph’s story was that the individual did not have a weapon on him. It was only through the masterful verbal sleight of hand on the part of the El Paso County District Attorney that Ralph survived the shooting investigation through the Grand Jury. He retained his position as police officer; however, his credibility among his peers suffered significantly after the incident.  He continued his “Yes Man” role in hopes of moving beyond the uniformed ranks but continued to be ignored by those in power.  Years later, long after I had left the department, I learned that Ralph, at the young age of 51, had suffered a massive heart attack and passed away as a result. I hope he finally found peace.

Although I was a rebel at heart, a non-conformist personality, I was still savvy enough to know that when conforming to established trends, it was necessary to do certain things that would benefit me personally. In other words I picked my moments to challenge “the system” and figured out how far I could push the envelope.  I was never one for the stylized trappings of official police uniform protocol and other such accoutrements.  If I do say so myself, I looked damn good in my uniform, I just didn’t like wearing it and didn’t want to make a career out of being a patrol officer.  Seeing the narcotics officers coming to my office for assistance sowed the seed which grew into my professional aspiration. Becoming an undercover narcotics investigator, someone who looked like the average citizen, but who carried a gun and badge and had the authority of the law behind him became my calling, my professional purpose of being.  From that moment forward, my every waking moment was dedicated toward trying to make that a reality.

I was a fraction over 19 years of age, approximately 1½ years away from my 21st birthday at which point I would be sworn-in as a Patrolman and begin my field training program. Then, it was an unwritten rule that no one would be considered for a detective position until they had put in at least two years in Patrol.  At the bare minimum I was looking at four years before I could hope to entertain the possibility of being considered for a detective position in the narcotics unit and that was only on the chance that there was an opening. I had that one last major obstacle standing in my way….there had never been a Black patrolman, let alone a Black Detective. Much later, I learned in its early history the CSPD employed Blacks in its patrolman ranks to patrol Black-only neighborhoods, but not a Black detective. I, however, was determined to overlook the obvious and march forward toward my objective to meet history.

In the Colorado Springs Police Department, unlike many other police agencies around the country, the position of detective was an “assignment” as opposed to a “promotion” in rank.  There was no pay differential for the assignment other than the occasional extra overtime that came with an extended investigation. The only other “perk” was the prestige, if one saw it as such, that came with the privilege of calling yourself a detective. What were the tangible qualities that got one assigned to the Detective Division during that period of time, circa 1970s?

First and foremost there was no test—written or oral—of any kind. They looked at report writing abilities for which I always received high compliments, oral communication skills and in terms of narcotics, it was the ability to “bullshit” at a high degree of efficiency, and the ability to get along with others. The one tangible that could not be defined was appeasing the “good ole boys,” those who were the ultimate arbiters of who was allowed to enter the “inner-sanctum” of the Detective Division.  In other words, who you knew was just as important as your individual skill or talent level. It was in this vein that I set out on a crusade to accomplish my objective to become a “Narc.”

After some time narcotics detectives had gotten accustomed to my presence in the Records Bureau, I struck up conversations with them—in particular Arthur—about the mechanics of being an undercover cop. I questioned them about every nuance imaginable when they came to my desk for criminal history records requests.  I asked about the language of the street, slang terms for drugs and price ranges in various weight categories, how I should respond in a particular scenario if something out of the ordinary was said.  If I heard a drug reference in a movie, I would later question one of them about the factuality of it in practical use. Within a short period of time I had, quite literally, made a pest of myself in their eyes, but in doing so I achieved something much more tangible and important—I had begun to get myself noticed by members of the “good ole boys” network.

It wasn’t enough, though, that I had gotten the attention of the Narcotics Unit with my youthful, persistent, enthusiastic inquiries about their job. The main member of the “good ole boys” whose attention I needed to garner was Arthur, then a Sergeant, the head of the Narcotics Unit and the one who I saw as my “Moses” with the ticket for me to enter the “promised land.”

I peppered the investigating officers in the Narcotics Unit with questions of the day-to-day aspects about the job; Arthur received those too, punctuated with a big exclamatory:  “Make me a NARC!”  Whenever I saw him, no matter the circumstances except in a public setting, I would boldly call out, “Make me a Narc!”

Arthur was initially amused by what he obviously perceived as being the overzealous antics of an eager cadet. He patiently responded to my declarations by asking my age (19) and then told me I hadn’t yet reached the age of consent to be a cop (Translation:  21, to be able to carry a gun and wear the blue uniform of a Patrolman) and thus be considered for a position within the Narcotics Unit.  He kindly told me to come see him when I turned 21, approximately 18 months later.

Rather than be deterred by his polite dismissal of me and my goal, I became more resolved to see it to fruition. You might say, as it was so determinedly stated in the 1980 John Belushi-Dan Akroyd comedy movie classic, “The Blues Brothers,” “I was on a mission from God!”  At every opportunity when our paths crossed I would declare to Arthur, “Make me a Narc!”  Even though we were forbidden from acknowledging the narcotics detectives in public, if I happened to see Arthur in a public setting, which I did on a couple of occasions and he caught my eye, I would silently mouth the words, “Make me a Narc!”  His response was always the same…he would always smile or emit a hearty laugh, shake his head no, and go on about his business.

This exchange between us went on for about a year, and then one day, while he was standing in the lobby of the police department talking to the Chief of Police, I walked by in civilian clothes. I was on my days off and interrupted their discussion. Remember, I was a non-conformist who tended to disregard most protocol—such as NEVER intrude on the private conversation of the Chief of Police with one of his supervisors, but I did by declaring, “Hey Arthur, why don’t you make me a Narc!”

I never turned my head, just continued walking, and I overheard the Chief ask Arthur who I was.  When told that I was one of the Police Cadets who had been constantly pleading for over a year for a position in the Narcotics Unit, the chief stated, “Maybe we should consider it.”

HALLELUJAH!  My strategy was paying dividends.  I was being noticed positively by the main “good ole boy” himself, the one with the final judgment on all personnel matters within the department.  He, in turn, had expressed that positive opinion to Arthur.  For the rest of the day I felt like I was walking on air.

On June 18, 1974, my 21st birthday, immediately following my swearing-in ceremony and receiving my formal commission as a Police Officer for the City of Colorado Springs, the first Black to graduate from the ranks of the Police Cadet program, I marched over to Arthur’s office and showed him my brand new City certificate of employment and department identification card signifying my minutes-long status as a full-fledged cop.  I then repeated my obnoxious, I’m sure to his ears by now declaration,  “Now that I’m legal will you make me a Narc?”

He laughed at my audacious persistence and then told me I had to put in at least two years in uniform before consideration could be given for an assignment in the Narcotics Unit. Once again I was told to wait for two years and then come back and talk to him about possibly joining the Narcotics Unit. Little did I know that 13 months later events would intersect which would alter the timeline and in the process change the course of my career path and unfortunately, start me on an eventual collision course with Arthur.

In April 1975, exactly ten months after being sworn-in as a Police Officer, I was contacted by Arthur and asked if I wanted to work a special undercover assignment with the Narcotics Unit. I didn’t hesitate in my response “Yes”, when, and what was the nature of the assignment. I didn’t care what it was or how much danger it might entail; I just knew that this was MY moment and I was ready to tackle it head on; I had been preparing for this since I became a cadet.

The “special” undercover assignment for which I was being recruited concerned Stokely Carmichael, later known as Kwame Toure, the former Prime Minister of the Black Panther Party, iconic pantheon contemporary of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, former participant and later head of the SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee) which staged sit-in protests at White-owned businesses that refused service to Black citizens in the South—and the man commonly credited in 1966 with coining the phrase “Black Power”—the fist pumping, chest thumping revolutionary clarion call for Black empowerment.

Arthur explained to me that Stokely was contracted to give a speech at a club called Bell’s Nightingale, the other being Fanny Mae Duncan’s Cotton Club named after the legendary New York hotspot of the World War II era run by organized crime which allowed Blacks to be hired help and featured entertainers, but forbade them to enjoy the fruit and fare of their labor.  Although his speech was open to the public, tickets set at a reasonable price were required for admission. It was presumed that the bulk of Colorado Springs’ finest Black citizenry, as well as its youthful revolutionaries would show up in force hoping to bask in Stokely’s feverish anti-White/pro-Black aura; a strong desire to taste his past glory when his words struck fear in the hearts and minds of the highest elements of America’s White political power structure.  To the police department, the potential outcome was unpredictable and so concerned were my superiors that they sought me out after my years of vocally advocating for a chance to be an undercover operative.  Now was my time to prove my professional mettle to them and it was to be against one of the foremost leaders of the civil rights movement, a man I had watched numerous times as a teenager on the late-night news agitating the system and provocatively confronting the forces I now represented.

The department still had enough respect for Stokely’s rhetorical powers of persuasion to be of such a formidable force that they wanted an “inside” observer to his performance and the audience response to his message.  They were concerned that his message would resonate to such a degree that it might rekindle the emotional fervor of the local Black masses and possibly lead to a violent response.  Although it was never spoken, I knew Arthur and the department brass were worried Stokely would ignite another city—our city—on fire much like the 1967 riots.  My assignment was to monitor his speech, gauge audience reaction, and report on possible response procedures the department should take steps to enact to prevent another return to the past.

On the night of the speech, I reported to the basement office of the Narcotics Unit dressed in casual clothes suitable for an evening of “nightclubbing.”  While I was being taped up with a wireless body transmitter so my surveillance back-up officers could listen in on my end of the conversation, I was bombarded by various members of the unit with “what if” scenarios, which was my crash course in undercover work. What if the suspect offers you some cocaine to snort, how do/should/would you respond? What if you’re asked to smoke a marijuana cigarette, how do/should/would you respond?  What if someone pulls a gun on you, how do/should/would you respond? Other officers were schooling me on the various prices for different amounts of drugs and giving me a crash course in the underground language of the drug scene.  It was obvious the narcs were anxious about an inexperienced brother officer going into an unknown environment and their apprehension was appreciated.

Arthur, meanwhile, was counting one hundred dollars of official City funds and recording the serial numbers in anticipation of a drug transaction possibly taking place, which might result in an arrest and lead to the recovery of the particular bills.  After going through this standard ritual, I was given a receipt to sign, thus transferring the money into my official custody and making me responsible for their expenditure and/or return. I was experiencing a massive case of “sensory overload” which, for me, was very exhilarating. I was a virtual human sponge, soaking up every bit of information that my young mind both in age and police experience could absorb, trying to retain as much as possible though not necessarily succeeding. This was my inauguration into the world of undercover narcotics investigations. I was 21 years old and had officially been a sworn officer for less than one year.

My final marching orders were to concentrate on Stokely Carmichael and his speech with emphasis on the audience response to his message.  I was told if the opportunity presented itself I was to feel free to make a drug purchase as long as I was able to somehow identify the seller.  As a new cop accustomed to strict rules of conduct governing all manner of behavior, I asked what was to me arguably the most important question of all was; could I order an alcoholic drink while in the bar?

All of the narcotics detectives laughed at the naïve innocence of my question—one I later learned was common to newly assigned members of the narcotics unit—but Arthur eased my concern by telling me one mixed drink or beer was acceptable as long as it was in keeping with the need of the investigation (Note: This was a very loose statement but clearly understood by all concerned that alcohol consumption, while working in an undercover capacity, must always be done in moderation with an eye toward later courtroom testimony and how that consumption would be received and perceived by the judge and jury).

I was given an unmarked car, with a portable radio, and made my way to Bell’s Nightingale located at 601 E. Las Vegas. In the early evening hours, there was already an overflow of parked cars. Clearly Stokely’s much anticipated talk was going to be a local success. After paying my $3.00 entry fee for the program, “STOKELY CARMICHAEL SPEAKS,” I made my way through the crowd. I started to get the standard “stomach butterflies” knowing that I was operating in an undercover capacity, not to mention I had already recognized several people who I had, over the course of my young career, cited for various traffic offenses. I also recognized several of our local “ghetto celebrities,” pimps, their prostitutes, and drug dealers. A couple of the younger, more “thuggish” elements were also within eyesight.  I felt like Daniel entering the lion’s den, food waiting to be recognized and consumed. I was sure I had entered Dante’s Inferno right here in Colorado Springs, and I was a minion from Heaven trying to avoid their trap.

I made my way as far from them as I could as I believed they were sure to recognize me from various street encounters between us, that had not been to their liking.  Interestingly enough, one of those “What if” scenarios began playing in my mind as I tried to formulate a response in case I was confronted by them.

All of these people had an inherent dislike for the police and it was only exacerbated when a Black officer was concerned.  To them I was NOT a “Black” man, but rather a police officer who happened to be Black.  In their eyes I was a “traitor” to the cause for which a Black revolutionary brother like Stokely had dedicated his life and was here to speak about. Where Black brothers like Stokely were intent on bringing down the White man, a “devil” in their eyes, and his racist-centered society and dominant government structure, brothers like me were caught in a netherworld common to Black officers; a “phantom-like” void in which we were too Black for the White community we served as well as some of our fellow officers, and too “Blue” for the color uniform we wore for our fellow “soul brothers” steeped in the cause of civil rights/social revolution beneficial for the Black community. Our fellow citizens of color, a good many, not all tended to view Black officers through the jaded lens of suspicion, lost sheep which had strayed from the herd rather than through the commonality of a shared life experience built on a background of biased degradation based on skin pigmentation and other social factors.  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 an occasion during the course of my career by my self-proclaimed Black “brothers.”

The club was peppered with a smattering of Whites, those “wannabe” Blacks known as wiggers—White niggers—by the hip-hop community, especially women who vicariously sought emotional support and physical refuge in the company of Black men. This was not a new social phenomenon as it was amply explained by the late Pulitzer Prize winning (Roots) author Alex Haley in his classic 1965 seminal work, The Autobiography of Malcolm X (First Edition, 1964 pages 68, 96-97 and 120). As explained by Malcom, White women who sought physical and emotional refuge in the company of Black men represented a “status symbol of the first order” to the average Black man.

Malcolm, a contemporary of Stokely’s, was a civil rights figure who highly influenced him and the Black Panther Party. They often acknowledged Malcolm as their mentor and the inspiration for their political stance in the movement to progress the civil rights of America’s Black citizens.  Malcolm was most known for his work in progressing the Nation of Islam—the so-called Black Muslims—from its seminal days to the major social force it has since become under its present leader and early Malcolm mentee, Louis Farrahkan.

Some of the women at Bell’s Nightingale were girlfriends of the Black men, others were their prostitutes who were there on “business” trying to score a “trick” (paying customer).  I happened to find a table near the back of the bar with a lone occupant, a fairly attractive German lady.  With her permission, I took a seat with my back to the wall, a common strategic move by undercover operatives—and police in general—having view of the entire location in order to give themselves an advantage in case an altercation erupts.  From this position, I also took note of the closest exit in case I had to make a hasty escape for personal safety reasons.

She welcomed my company and eagerly struck up a conversation in heavy German-accented English. Her conversation was flirtatious in nature and put me in a slightly awkward position because I had just started to date the woman who, five years later, would become my wife.  Although we were not yet in any committed relationship, I knew in my heart -- though I hadn’t told her yet -- I wanted to pursue the relationship as far as it and she would allow. In spite of this, the “dog” in me--all men have a little “dog” in them where women are concerned, especially if they are as I was a fraction over 21 years of age, single, with no personal obligations of any kind. I was somewhat flattered by the German woman’s interest in me. I, however, was far too disciplined and dedicated to my goal to allow her flirtatious interest in a possible amorous adventure derail my purpose. That was a line I had no intention of crossing.

I ordered a rum and Coke, my first alcoholic drink while on duty and graciously refilled what she was drinking. I redirected her conversational interest in me to the topic of drugs. She offered to “score” (buy or introduce me to someone with drugs for sale) some marijuana or cocaine for us to enjoy, but before I could delve deeper into this prospect, Stokely Carmichael was introduced to a rousing standing ovation complete with the symbolic raised, closed fist of the Black Power segment of the civil rights movement and shouts of “Right On Brother” and “Black Power.”  The crowd was fully in the moment with him. I, however, while clapping, was busy laughing at my female companion joining in with the crowd in her thick German accent yelling “Black Power” with a raised White fist.

Stokely’s talk was typical of the many he had given over the years.  It was laced with references to his philosophical beliefs in Pan-Africanism, an ideological movement which encouraged worldwide economic, social and political solidarity among people of the African diaspora. It was (is) a belief based on a shared historical legacy united by a common enemy—the White race.  Coupled with his belief in a Marxist revolutionary overthrow of the American political system, Stokely’s message was of great interest to the Black masses, and   concern to my superiors.

As a public speaker, Stokely had a dynamic, mesmerizing, charismatic quality about him that instantly drew audiences into his rhetorical web. The alternating effect of his pitch and tone could raise the audience into a fevered frenzy or bring them down as if they were listening to a soothing Sunday morning sermon. He was like a master marionette, pulling the strings on our emotions and leading us down a path that we probably never knew we wanted to tread.

I, for example, a sworn police officer on a specific mission to deal with Stokely’s revolutionary rhetoric, found myself—several times—caught up in the rapture of his reasoning against the very governmental institution I represented and the White people I generally looked on with fondness and good intentions. When these occasions occurred and I found myself enthusiastically clapping and yelling “Right on brother,” I had to quickly remind myself that we were in adversarial roles and sincerely hope and pray that I was a good enough undercover actor that my surveillance officers listening to the wireless body transmitter would not be able to detect the tone of agreement and acceptance in my voice with his logic.  One of those occasions still stands out in my mind 38 years later.

Stokely, with the audience, me included, in the palm of his rhetorical hand, blasted the White man/White race by stating that throughout their history they had understood only one thing exceptionally well -- the power that comes from the barrel of a gun.  He then called for the Black masses in America to prepare for the “BIG” revolution that was soon to come by arming themselves.  This one statement received, perhaps, the greatest applause response from the crowd and the loudest verbal affirmation in the form of “Right on brother” and “Black Power.”  In this call for armed racial conflict, Stokely openly advocated direct confrontation with the forces of law enforcement if it became necessary for the Black man to achieve his rightful place in American society.

At the end of his nearly 30-45 minute presentation, Stokely was given a standing ovation and further shouts of Black affirmation from the crowd.  His Bell’s Nightingale hosts then formed a receiving line for him to meet and greet his many admirers and those who simply wanted to touch a living, breathing piece of contemporary Black history. I stood in the line and slowly made my way toward him. When I finally got within reach, I was stuck by the regal grandeur of his physical being.

Up close, Stokely stood approximately 6’4” with what I considered to be flawless cocoa-colored skin. As I shook his hand I was struck by his warm, infectious smile with perhaps the whitest most flawless teeth I had ever seen.  I thought to myself, “This is a pretty good-looking man.”

As we shook hands, I asked him if he truly believed an armed conflict between the Black and White race was inevitable. He squeezed my hand tighter and pulled my face closer to his, almost to the point where we were close enough to engage in an unconventional kiss, though I quickly realized he wanted to speak to me in a conspiratorial tone. His eyes quickly, constantly darted around the room as he whispered to me, “Brother, arm yourself and get ready because the revolution is coming and we’re gonna have to kill WHITEY. Trust me, it is coming.”  He then pulled back and thanked me for coming to hear him speak.  He wished me well, as I did him, and my undercover assignment and brush with history came to an abrupt end.

My German tablemate tried to elicit further contact information from me but was politely rebuffed and I made my exit from the nightclub. I returned to the office to be debriefed by Arthur and the rest of the Narcotics Unit detectives. They clearly found Stokely’s message uncomfortable and were uneasy about the potential of armed Black citizens confronting local law enforcement officials.  I was advised to prepare an in-depth report of the evening’s activities, was given high compliments for my overall performance, and told to report back to my regular patrol district assignment the next day. Little did I know this was the beginning of the culmination of all of my goals reaching final fruition; and it would start while standing at the men’s urinal answering a call from Mother Nature.

About four months after the Stokely affair in August 1975, I was standing at the men’s urinal at the police department when the Assistant Chief of Detectives, Carl Petry (pronounced PET-ry, not PETE-ry; he was VERY adamant about this) stepped up to the empty stall beside me responding to a similar call.

Chief Petry was a very reticent individual, at least to those—like me—not on his professional social plane.  In my entire time working for the Colorado Springs Police Department, up to that period and after, the longest statement Chief Petry ever said to me was “hello” in response to my saying the same to him. There was never any small talk or questioning about how I or others were adjusting to life as new officers or any other personal concerns.

In many respects, Chief Petry was somewhat intimidating to young officers.  He had a reputation as being someone in the administration to be avoided at all costs because his display of anger—rarely seen—was the stuff of legend around the department.

So here I was in dire straits responding to Mother Nature’s manipulative ways and Chief Petry was standing beside me also being held in her clutches.  Fate had found a common bond for us after all. While staring straight ahead because “real” men don’t look each other in the eye while tending to “business,” Chief Petry asked me, “Stallworth, you wanna be a Narc?”

To say I was dumbfounded would be an understatement. First of all, I had no idea that he even knew my name much less that he had any idea of my personal/professional ambition. I recovered quickly enough to answer, “Yes sir,” and he told me to report to the Narcotics Unit the next night.  At that moment my professional life could not have been better.  I was now officially an undercover narcotics detective, though I had yet to make a case, the first Black in the history of the Colorado Springs Police Department and, as I later learned, the youngest—by about a month.

Ron Stallworth’s Colorado Springs Detective Shield – Ron was the first black detective in the history of the Colorado Springs Police Department and at the time, the youngest.

All narcotic investigators for the police department were

cross-deputized by the county for reasons of special circumstance.

Chapter 3

On Monday, November 20, 1978 I telephoned Lakewood, Colorado, a southwestern suburb of Denver for Lakewood Fireman Fred Wilkens. Fred Wilkens was the State Organizer (Grand Dragon) of the Colorado Ku Klux Klan. He was a constant irritant to the Lakewood city fathers because of his racist political persuasion which he frequently evoked in media interviews.  Everything he did was within the law—though just barely in some instances—but legal nonetheless. Numerous media articles reported on his extracurricular KKK activities. For example, in the February 1978 Denver magazine article titled “The Invisible Empire Unmasked:  The KKK’S Master Plan,” Wilkens announced, “The Klan is the hope of the White race in Colorado and the nation, and we want to give White Americans the opportunity to join us…We’re going to go out into the community and let people see the new resurgent Ku Klux Klan.”

Wilkens, a native of Alabama and the father of two, moved to Colorado in 1972 and joined the Lakewood Fire Department in 1974.  He stated in the article that he started the Colorado Knights of the Ku Klux Klan on the 4th of July, 1976, in response to the disturbing things he saw in the state such as “reverse discrimination, school integration, rising crime and Jewish suppression (sic).” To Wilken’s way of thinking, the White man in Colorado needed an organization to represent and fight for him. That was the Ku Klux Klan.  He petitioned the national headquarters in Metarie, Louisiana then under the leadership of David Duke’s predecessor, Jerry Dutton, and was given permission to start a Colorado chapter.  He began by putting an advertisement in the personal sections of the two main metropolitan Denver daily newspapers, the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Post, with a P.O. Box address, the same method followed by Ken O’dell.

Three months after starting the Colorado Klan, Wilkens was paid a visit by Grand Wizard Dutton to aid in a recruitment campaign, similar to what David Duke was planning for his January 1979 Colorado Springs visit.  The announcement of Dutton’s visit to Denver and effort to “re-activate” the Klan in Colorado prompted a letter from then Denver District Attorney Dale Tooley in which he expressed his personal and official opposition to the Klan.

Mr. Tooley, in his letter, went on to describe a boyhood experience of “seeing hooded Klansmen burning fiery crosses on Ruby Hill in south Denver,” which he said contributed to an atmosphere of discrimination and racism. He considered the Klan unwelcome in Denver and would not allow that atmosphere to re-occur. Mr. Tooley promised he would utilize all resources at his disposal to monitor the activities of the Grand Wizard, Fred Wilkens, and their cohorts.

Wilkens tried to counter the District Attorney’s claim of an atmosphere of discrimination and racism brought on by Klan activity by advocating that the Klan was a non-violent, law-abiding organization.  Mr. Tooley refuted this proclamation by citing a September 1976 shooting death of a Black man escorting a White woman to a Denver theater.  The assailant, who committed suicide, had his apartment searched and Klan material was found.  The Denver magazine article also cited an increase in anti-Semitic complaints since the advent of Wilkens’ resurrected Klan.

Wilkens paid homage to the importance of David Duke as Grand Wizard in the article when he noted that Klan membership in Colorado dwindled following former Grand Wizard Dutton’s visit. He was not a media savvy, articulate and photogenic individual in the same mold as Duke; thus, when Duke assumed the leadership role of Grand Wizard in 1977 and traveled to Denver to mount a media recruitment blitz, Wilkens enthusiastically pointed out, “That’s when things really took off.  David was on four TV programs and numerous radio shows and really put the Klan’s message across. With his help we began having more and more local and statewide inquiries concerning joining the Klan and we expanded our recruitment efforts throughout Colorado.”

[Note: Though he held the title of Grand Wizard, David Duke could equally lay claim to being called a public relations wizard.  He sold his “product” of a “new” Klan on appearances for the early morning and late night talk shows, in Time and Newsweek magazine articles regarding the transformation of the Klan, and a host of other media publications, including soft porn magazines such as Playboy and Oui.

David Duke on Phil Donahue Show

http://youtu.be/C52FcLUTj04

His appearance was that of the All-America boy every mother would want as a prom date for their daughter. He was always well-groomed, well-mannered at least in public, articulate, and highly educated with a Masters Degree.  His Dr. Jekyll appearance belied a Mr. Hyde personality and perspective on racial matters common to the core of America’s social and political climate. He spawned 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. As he stated in a Oui magazine article circa, 1979, “I’m not preaching White supremacy,” though he has said he firmly believes Whites to be superior to Blacks and other minorities. “I’m preaching White separatism. I’d like to see all the Blacks go back to Africa where they belong, but I’d even be willing to give them part of this country--a couple of states, maybe--as long as they have a separate society.” Toward this end, Duke dedicated himself to combating the integrationist argument. Education became a major part of his strategic positioning.

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 in representing the Klan and presenting their case to an audience. In essence, he mainstreamed the Klan, making it an acceptable and viable alternative for those looking for a means of expressing their displeasure with the status quo of their lives and government representatives.

In an ironic sense of prescience to my future investigation, Wilkens told the reporter the Klan has a security team in place that gives surprise lie detector tests at meetings to weed out FBI and local police investigators attempting to infiltrate the organization.  He indicated there had been a high degree of FBI and police infiltration into the Klan ranks and these infiltrators often incited violence from within to discredit the Klan. Wilkens, without offering any proof to substantiate this charge and in direct contradiction to historical documentation insisted as fact that, “During the sixties the FBI was directly responsible for the murder of civil rights workers in an effort to discredit the Klan. What an FBI agent will do is find a tense, volatile situation, and then start talking up violence to Klan members.  Even if the members just discuss the possibility of violence in passing they’re wide open to a charge of conspiracy to commit a crime. We have our members on guard and we’re not going to be tricked into anything here.”

Wilkens expressed to the reporter the basic philosophical tenets of the Ku Klux Klan as the preservation and advancement of the Aryan race.  He said, “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.”

Regarding Blacks, Wilkens stated, “…we believe they are unsuitable and unadaptable to White society. As long as they continue to participate in the White culture we will continue to have higher crime, higher taxes for welfare, lowering of educational and labor standards, and in general, a continuing deterioration of white civilization. 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.”

Jews, on the other hand, are considered by the Klan to be a separate race with a religion alien to the ideals of Western (i.e. White) civilization. From the perspective of Klan members, Jews control the media, the monetary system, and manipulate and control Blacks to do their bidding which gives them immense power and influence in American society.

Finally, 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. If a candidate wants our public endorsement we’ll give it to him or we may support him with financial aid. The important thing is to get the right kind of thinking into government.”

Public outcry over Wilkens’ position as a first responder had been registered to media outlets as well as with formal complaints to Lakewood City officials.  In each instance he had been condemned publicly, rebuffed by public officials for his racial viewpoint, yet nothing could be found to officially excoriate him or his extracurricular actions, and no punishment was ever forthcoming.  His stated allegiance to the Klan was deemed to be within his 1st Amendment right and as long as it did not interfere with the performance of his official duties as a Lakewood fireman, no action could be taken against him by city officials. In fact, he apparently had an exemplary record as a fireman including, according to one report, giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a Black person following a fire rescue. Wilkens was always clear to separate his professional actions from his personal convictions and the city could only express their displeasure in him from a limited purview. As he clearly stated in the Denver magazine article, “I’m on the spot as a fireman. There are quite a few people who would like to see me lose my job. But it’s my constitutional right to believe what I think is right, and I’m going to continue to the best of my ability to function as a good fireman. My job is to protect the lives and property of all citizens, White and minority groups alike. That’s exactly what I will do.  People ask me if I’m a racist and I tell them it depends on how you define the word.  If you define it as a race hater, I definitely am not.  If you define it as someone who loves his own race, then I certainly am.”

I called Wilkens because, again, I preferred to talk to the person at the top of the food chain rather than someone—like Ken—who, being merely a Local Organizer, stood at the bottom of that chain and could not be specific in his replies. Even Wilkens was limited in this regard, which was why I eventually sought out direct contact with David Duke. As an intelligence detective I wanted to know as much as possible about him and figured a phone conversation was the way to make his acquaintance. In addition, since Lakewood was just outside of Denver I could begin laying the groundwork for trying to get an undercover Denver officer into the Colorado KKK headquarters having knowledge that Denver Police Intelligence Division did not have any active undercover investigation into the Klan’s activities in their jurisdiction.

Some might ask why I did not consider working with the Lakewood Police Department to get one of their officers undercover in the Klan headquarters run by one of their city’s fireman.  The answer has to do with the culture of the Lakewood Police Department at that time and how they were generally viewed by a good number of Colorado law enforcement officers, me included.

Their Chief was a renowned retiree from the Los Angeles Police Department, Pierce Brooks.  His fame came from being the lead detective in the famous “Onion Field” case chronicled in 1973 by LAPD Sergeant Joseph Wambaugh in his bestselling book by the same name.  It told the tale of a kidnapping of two plainclothes LAPD officers by a pair of criminals during an evening traffic stop and the subsequent murder of one of them in an onion field near Bakersfield, California.

As Chief of the Lakewood Police Department Brooks instituted various changes that were unheard of at the time, changes we in the Colorado law enforcement community poked fun at.  For example, they were not called “police officers” but rather “police agents” and they wore blazers instead of a standard police uniform.  Perhaps the most unique--for the time--and which later proved innovative for the law enforcement profession was his requirement that all of his “police agents” have college degrees, at least an Associate’s Degree.  This was in an era when joining a police department only required a high school diploma or GED equivalency.  During my one and only visit to the Lakewood PD I noticed a colored stick-pin board of the United States.  Strategically placed throughout the cities and states of the board were different colored pins denoting the origin of various collegiate degrees of Lakewood PD “police agents” including, as I recall, one Doctorate.

Having just a high school diploma at the time and having worked with a couple of college educated officers who did not have what we in the profession referred to as “street smarts,” implicitly understanding classroom/book learning, but with relatively little or no natural instinct of how the “jungle” of the streets unfold, I did not have much respect for and little use for college educated officers who were not at least of command level Sergeant and above. That was my maturity level and rudimentary understanding then, but those particular officers I had occasion to work with had given me valid reason to come to that conclusion. It was an archaic way of thinking, but at the time most officers strongly advocated in its favor.

When working closely with someone whose life may depend on the manner in which they carry themselves and execute their actions in the field, one doesn’t necessarily want to rely on a wealth of college classroom learning. I wanted an officer with a strong “street knowledge” understanding of the “jungle” and for this reason felt the Denver Police Department would be the best point of contact for eventually introducing an undercover officer into the investigation.

Wilkens answered the phone and I immediately introduced myself as a new Colorado Springs chapter Klansman.  I requested any literature that would help me improve my knowledge of the history and ways of the Klan.  He promised to send me several issues of The Crusader, the Klan newspaper.  I also asked about my membership card and he said he would check into its status.  He knew it had not been approved as of this date, but told me if I did not receive it within the next two days to get back to him and he would personally contact the national headquarters in Louisiana to push through the process.

I once again asked about the alleged impending Colorado Springs visit of David Duke in January.  Wilkens confirmed Duke’s arrival as tentatively around the first week of January.  He hoped to have 100 robed Klansman for the proposed march in December. He asked about a recent Gazette-Telegraph newspaper interview given by Local Organizer Ken O’dell.  He wanted to know my personal reaction to the interview. I told him Ken, now known by his last name of O’dell, expressed the goals and objectives of the organization very well and I thought it would be well received by the public. Wilkens asked if he should give more personal interviews to the media in Colorado Springs. I told him yes, without offering specific reasons, and he immediately expressed a desire to meet me in Lakewood to discuss organizing efforts for the Colorado Springs area.  We then ended our call.

Eight days later Ken called my undercover alter ego Chuck, thinking he was talking to me on the undercover telephone line in the Narcotics office to inquire about the status of my membership card. He was told the card had not yet arrived and I was therefore still prevented from full participation in Klan activities. He said he personally spoke with “Mr. Duke” yesterday and was told he would be in Colorado Springs on January 1st.

[Throughout this investigation Ken frequently invoked David Duke’s name to relay proposed dates and events.  Often his invocation of Duke’s name was merely a means to elevate his status in the eyes of the chapter members and created difficulty in my ability to evaluate the prospective veracity of his information.]

Since the last meeting with Chuck at the Corner Pocket Lounge, Ken had taken a trip home to San Antonio, Texas. Since his return he revealed there were several requests for media interviews which he would be following up on.  He added there were 100 Klan applicants in the Colorado Springs chapter, but it was almost impossible to get them robed in time for the proposed December march.  Ken did say he was not ready to totally give up on the idea of the march but at this point it was not looking good; apparently it took about a month after members applied before they received their robes and proudly display their public persona as Klansmen).  He expressed a desire to meet directly with me (Chuck) in the near future and the conversation ended.

A half hour later, Ken again called the Narcotics undercover telephone line and asked to speak to “Ron.” Chuck was not in the office at the time so another one of the narcotics detectives, pretending to be him (me), spoke with Ken who told him that he had just learned from the Klan National Headquarters that my membership had been approved.  The detective was assured that my membership card should be arriving in the mail in the next couple of days.

On the 28th of November I learned that the local KKK chapter had an account at the Bank of Fountain Valley located on State Highway 85-87 in the Security area near Fort Carson. The account, in the names of Ken O’dell and Jennifer L. Strong, also listed as a corporation in the name of the White Peoples Organization.  The initial deposit was $44.00.

Later that same day, I telephoned Fred Wilkens in Lakewood, Colorado.  He told me he recently returned from the national Klan convention in New Orleans and that David Duke confirmed he would be arriving in Denver on January 6, 1979.  Wilkens said there would probably be a planned march in Colorado Springs on either January 7th or 8th in honor of the Grand Wizard. He explained that the uncertainty was based on a large portion of the state’s membership not owning white Klan robes, and because they wanted significant media coverage it was imperative that Klan marchers be seen by the public from the symbolic context of their white robes.

The symbolic importance of the Klan’s desire to have intense public coverage of a large group of its members clad in white robes marching down the main downtown thoroughfare on Nevada Avenue, was in homage to their leader, David Duke.

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 did the same to their horses.  To what purpose was this ruse being played?

David Duke – Intro to the Klan

http://youtu.be/Qa67mYeGdNU

Recently-freed slaves were known by their slave masters and the general White populace to hold strong superstitious belief in ghosts and otherworldly spirits.  This was especially true of recently deceased confederate soldiers. Acting on their superstition, the original Klansmen sought to capitalize on this “otherworldly” belief by terrorizing the slaves into believing the white sheeted horse 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.

Another symbolic representation was the “fiery cross” burned at the site of those—White and Black—who had offended them.  One can only imagine the state of mind of those superstitious slaves at the sight of a “ghostly apparition” of horses and riders and the “demonic” spectacle of the fiery cross as vengeful action for alleged sins against the honored traditions of the “Old 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 belief but used historically to strike terror in those who fear 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.  Though that superstitious belief no longer persists, its symbols are still used to induce terror in the hearts and minds of its victims.  The notion of 100 white robed Klansmen marching in formation reported on by heavy media scrutiny would do just that --  incite terror in the citizens, especially the Black southern-based citizens of Colorado Springs and their young children unaccustomed to such shenanigans.

Wilkens mentioned that while in New Orleans he personally led the march because David Duke had received death threats from members of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP).  He said Duke refused to back down from their intimidating efforts and the march proceeded without incident.

Wilkens said he received a lot of negative response from the “nigger” population, but the security provided by the New Orleans Police was excellent, and to avoid a confrontation with the “niggers” the Klan had cooperated with the police and conducted the march one hour before their regularly scheduled time.  By the time the “niggers” gathered for their staged protest, the march was completed. He explained that two Klansmen had been arrested because they were carrying guns and fired a couple of rounds into the air to “frighten the niggers.”

Wilkens continued expressing his embarrassment resulting from Ken O’dell’s statement at the convention, guaranteeing in front of the entire congregation that Colorado Springs would have 100 robed Klansmen by December prepared to march.  As a result, Wilkens stated he now felt obligated as the Colorado State Organizer to ensure the success of Ken’s statement; a large number of members without robes would leave a bad impression on the Klan with the news media  Wilkens added that he would really like to meet with me to further discuss organizing strategy in the Colorado Springs area.  Wilkens asked me to be his Colorado Springs media conduit and arrange interviews for David Duke’s time in the city. I told him I would be honored to do so, though I never did.

Wilkens told me to expect a package from him—sent to the undercover P.O. Box—containing his copy of the Klan bylaws so that, “I could learn to properly conduct myself in the ways of the Klan.”  He added that my membership card should also arrive in the mail within the next week.

I asked Wilkens if he knew of any Black extremist group who planned on disrupting the proposed December march.

He said no, he had not heard of any particular group planning to disrupt the march, but the Klan was prepared to deal with any situation with a counter-demonstration.  He added that in the event of such action he hoped it would be non-violent; however, if violence did erupt and was directed at any Klansman they would take appropriate measures, of which he would not elaborate. Wilkens then asked me to call him on Thursday, November 30th, and begin scheduling local media interviews for him, which I did not.  Our conversation then ended.

In the interim, as I conducted various follow-up on the names and information that had thus far been accumulated, the anti-Klan protest movement started to pick up steam.  One example was reported in a newspaper article which appeared in the now defunct Colorado Springs Sun (November 29, 1978).

In the article, the Committee Against Racism (CAR) and the People for the Betterment of People announced they were changing their scheduled December 21st protest march against the Klan to December 16th.  This came following a meeting of local civil rights advocates that was attended by about 60 people and based on complaints from Colorado College students that the original date was too close to their Christmas break and a one week pushback would better accommodate their ability to generate a large student turnout.

The primary reason for the meeting, however, was to discuss tactics aimed at uniting community opposition to the Klan. The 60-person attendance was notable because the meeting was not publicized but rather the result of word-of-mouth notification over a short span of time. The most disturbing aspect of this tactical discussion was offered by Doug Vaughn of the Denver Chapter of the International Committee Against Racism (INCAR). Doug called for a violent confrontation with the Klan, “When racist vermin like the Klan and Nazis wriggle out from under a rock, we believe in smashing the rock right back down on them.”

There was a third tactical position offered in response to the Klan’s December march. The Colorado College Black Student Union’s position was to completely ignore them. Their spokesperson felt this would show the Klan that they lacked the public’s support, “People watching at home on TV will think one of two things.  They’ll either think that people are scared or that they don’t give a damn.  Neither are very positive reactions.”

After much discussion, the group came to the conclusion that the Klan was 1) clever, 2) opportunistic, 3) violent, and 4) could act at any time.  They felt they had to make appropriate preparations to counter any immediate efforts on the part of the Ku Klux Klan to gain a strong foothold in and against the people of Colorado Springs.  They eventually decided that the best reaction to a Klan march would probably be a small group passing out anti-Klan leaflets and holding signs to let the public know the Klan was being opposed and to inform them of the Klan’s real purpose.

This meeting demonstrated the wide range of visceral attitudes toward the emerging presence of the Klan and the lack of consensus as to the best means of addressing their presence; from a march to a violent confrontation, to completely disregarding their presence, before finally settling on passing out of leaflets and holding signs with anti-Klan slogans. The state of mind of those professing deep concern for having the Klan in their midst varied significantly.

On December 1st, a significant development occurred in the relationship between Ken O’dell and me. He called Chuck to announce a Klan meeting at his home and explained there were two purposes for the meeting:  1) Butch and his wife would be leaving the area, returning to their home base of California, and 2) he (Ken) was leaving the Army and returning to his home in San Antonio, Texas sometime in January 1979. As a result, the Klan would need a new local organizer.  Ken told Chuck (thinking he was talking to me) that he had been impressed with me throughout our various talks and thought I (Chuck) “would make a great local organizer.”

Of course both Chuck and I were caught completely off-guard with this very unique development.  In my phone conversations with Ken there had never been any indication that he was even remotely thinking about moving in this direction. Had I known that he was considering such a move I, of course, would have sat down with my Sergeant and Chuck and tried to plot some kind of strategic response to his declaration of “Ron Stallworth” assuming the leadership role of the Colorado Springs chapter of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. The greatest impediment to this whole possibility was the issue of “entrapment,” and Chuck, like the excellent undercover investigator he was, immediately grasped upon this and put it in perspective in his follow-up response.

Thinking about the legal issue of “entrapment,” Chuck tried to redirect Ken’s thinking on the subject by telling him he did not know if any of the other members would receive his idea with the same sense of enthusiasm. “Entrapment is a justification defense in criminal law that warns against a police officer or an agent (i.e., informant) working for the government to deceive a defendant into wrongdoing.” (Criminal Justice in Action, 7th Edition, 2013)

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 they were not predisposed to commit, nor can they coerce a suspect into doing so even if they are certain she or he is a criminal. Every undercover investigator must keep the issue of entrapment at the forefront of his or her mind during the course of an investigation as it will become the cornerstone of any defense effort once an arrest has been made.  One slip can mean the difference between a failed or successful investigation and subsequent prosecution or dismissal.

Whenever I (or Chuck) talked to Klan members, we had to be careful not to steer the conversation into territory that might persuade one of them to do something they normally would not conceive of doing.  This was often difficult because many times they asked for my (our) opinion on what steps or direction they should take in carrying out some plan of action that often put them on a path of conflict with either the public or, more directly, the police.  It would have been quite easy for me (or Chuck) to manipulate conversations that would have guaranteed they would committed criminal acts, thus allowing for their arrest and prosecution.  Instead, we steered (or tried to) such conversations away from acts of conflict which proved beneficial to our objective of intelligence gathering and still provide 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.

Ken continued to press Chuck to attend the meeting at his house that evening and for him to consider replacing him in the role of Local Organizer.  Chuck declined the invitation due to a prior commitment and also told Ken he preferred to remain a “silent” member of the Klan, one whose identity is kept in the shadows rather than assume the more public role of local organizer.  His justification for this preference was due to his working for the Public Works Department within the Colorado Springs city government.

Ken claimed to have spoken with David Duke the day before and said he would be arriving in Colorado Springs on January 6th for a five-day visit. The December march had been postponed indefinitely due to not having 100 robed members; however, if they met the appropriate number by January while Duke was in the city, the march would go on as scheduled.

On December 5th, Chuck telephoned Ken and was told there would be another meeting at his home in three days to further discuss replacing chapter officers. Chuck agreed to be there. On December 8th, Chuck in his guise as Ron Stallworth, arrived at Ken O’dell’s house and was greeted by his wife, Anita. She proved to be an anomaly in the Ken O’dell-KKK relationship because of her ethnic background. One of the minority groups targeted by the Klan are Mexican-Americans, especially if a chapter is dominant in a section of the country heavily populated by that particular group.  The Klan will always, however, have at the top of their racist agenda Blacks and Jews. In the case of Ken O’dell’s wife, the two of them were from San Antonio, Texas and she was of Mexican heritage. [Note: Fort Carson CID (Criminal Investigation Detachment) investigators provided me background information on Ken. Upon seeing a photograph of his wife, I commented on her features appearing Hispanic in nature.  Further investigation on my part proved my suspicion to be true. The fact he had a minority wife was never commented on by Ken during the length of my contact with him.]

There were seven people present at Ken’s house (including O’dell and his wife) who were all later determined to be soldiers at Fort Carson.  One of these was a Joe Stewart, who was to prove to be a pivotal member of the Klan chapter.  He was introduced to Chuck as Ken’s “second in command.” “Tim” was introduced as the Klan’s Treasurer and “Bob” as the “Nighthawk” (bodyguard). This was the first full revelation of the Klan chapter’s leadership structure.  Ken explained that the meeting had four items of discussion:

1. Possible lawsuit against the Gazette-Telegraph newspaper

2. Introduction of the KKK into the Colorado State Penitentiary

3. Recruitment of new members

4. Election of a new local organizer

Their lawsuit was based on a Klan advertisement the newspaper allegedly agreed to run for a certain number of days and suddenly reneged. Ken stated Fred Wilkens and the Denver organization supported the filing of the lawsuit and segued into the issue of the Klan in the penitentiary.  Chuck was told that only one inmate had ever received Klan literature before.  He did not offer any details as to why there had only been one, and whether he was still in prison, whether he still received Klan literature, or if it had been intercepted by prison authorities.

Ken’s plan was to begin sending copies of The Crusader newspaper, along with membership applications to join the Klan, to White inmates.  He made it clear that there would be an active attempt at organizing a Klan “den” (chapter) inside the Colorado State Penitentiary at Canon City, Colorado.

As to the third item of discussion, Ken told the members that each of them was required to recruit at least three new members. In this manner the chapter would grow exponentially in a short period of time.

Ken then brought up the issue of election of a new local organizer. He felt there was an immediate need to have someone who was non-military take over the reins of leadership.  That type of person would be the best representative for the Klan because he would not be hampered by military regulations or time frames regarding duty assignments, discharge, etc.

Without further fanfare, Ken announced to those assembled he had chosen RON STALLWORTH (Chuck) as his choice to be the new local organizer. As justification for his decision, Ken explained that I (Chuck) had “proven myself to be a loyal and dedicated Klansman.” He then asked the others for input and they unanimously affirmed their support of his decision.

Chuck, again conscious of entrapment and the ramifications of being in such a high position of responsibility and how that could affect the direction and possible outcome of this investigation if it reached an ultimate conclusion of multiple criminal charges and arrests, thanked Ken and the others for the “high honor” but stated he was not certain he could devote the necessary time required to fulfill the duties of the local organizer. Ken brushed that off and expressed confidence in my (Chuck’s) ability to arrange my schedule to accommodate the necessary duties of the local organizer.  Nothing further was mentioned about the subject for the rest of the evening, though it was to come up in later discussions.

Several times during the meeting, Ken commented on the subject of violence.  In listening to the evening’s discussion over Chuck’s wireless body transmitter (I was always in one of the surveillance vehicles during these face-to-face meetings) and in further discussion with him following the meeting, we concluded that Ken supported any type of violence against those who are not members of the Klan, despite previous statements of a non-violent credo.

Joe Stewart, Ken’s second in command, on the other hand, condemned all types of violence during the meeting, indicating that was the Klan’s preferred way.  He qualified this by pointing out that unless violence was initiated against another Klan member there was no need for violence by any of its members. The “non-violent” discussion was ironic considering that Chuck noticed everyone present, except Joe, was carrying a firearm ranging from a .44 magnum to several six-inch .357 magnums. For the time period, this was significant from a legal standpoint.

In 1978, Colorado’s concealed carry permit laws as we understand them today did not exist.  For citizens to legally carry a concealed firearm they had to request a permit from the county sheriff’s department. There were no legal requirements for obtaining such permits, as there are today, other than petitioning the sheriff and getting his signature on the form.  Once that form was signed the petitioner was photographed and issued a card similar to a driver’s license, stating they were authorized to carry a concealed firearm in the county of issuance.  It was a very simple process, much of which was based on personal and political connection with the county sheriff.  The decision to issue a permit was strictly arbitrary on his part and having a personal relationship or being a political supporter, in most cases, guaranteed a petitioner a concealed firearms permit without hesitation or reservation. They did do a background check of the petitioner, but this was cursory at best, at least in El Paso County, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Of the armed Klansmen at the meeting, none was authorized to carry a concealed firearm.  Once they were off of Ken’s premises they were, in effect, in violation of carrying weapons and subject to arrest. There was also a couple of other meetings in which Klansmen were present illegally possessing firearms. None was ever arrested because of the intelligence gathering nature of the investigation.

As the primary investigative case agent, I was more concerned with understanding every facet of this domestic organization and its membership, their goals and objectives, than with a handful of misdemeanor arrests for illegal possession of firearms that would have garnered them—if convicted—perhaps no more than a few days in jail and a couple of hundred dollars in fines.

The focus of this investigation was INTELLIGENCE gathering. At any time during its course we could have brought it to an end by arresting several Klansmen for misdemeanor offenses; however, this was not my objective.  Had these individuals strayed into the realm of felony offenses we most definitely would have taken them down and brought an end to the investigation.  Until that bridge was crossed, I was determined to follow the intelligence trail as far as it would take me and learn as much about the Colorado Springs chapter of the Ku Klux Klan as possible.  This decision had the full support of my Sergeant, the Chief of Police who was kept abreast of the investigation, and Chuck, who had developed an obvious stake in seeing it through.

[Note: Just as I, a Black man, was playing the role of a White racist in my telephone discussions with the Klansmen, Chuck was having fun playing “Ron Stallworth,” a Black man pretending to be a White racist pretending to be a member of the Ku Klux Klan. The challenge we faced pulling off this deception was that we had to completely keep the Klansmen we spoke to convinced that they were talking to one—and only one—person at all times, whether on the phone or at the occasional face-to-face meeting. Even though he and I had two distinctly different voices—I was challenged only once by Ken and he believed me when I told him that my voice sounded different than Chuck’s because I was nursing a sinus infection—we had to keep them convinced at all times that “Ron Stallworth” was ONE person. If I had a telephone conversation which led to a face-to-face meeting which Chuck attended pretending to be me, he had to know every aspect of that conversation so he could be prepared to discuss any issues associated with it should they arise.  By the same token, every face-to-face conversation he had with the Klansmen, I had to know every detail because, at times, following those meetings, I would return to the office and an hour or so later phone Ken to discuss some aspect of that meeting as if I had been the one present to begin with.  In other words, the conversations Chuck and I had with these individuals had to have a certain “flow” between us in order to fool them.  THAT was perhaps our greatest challenge in pulling off this intelligence “sting” operation.  The success of this investigation would not have been possible if not for Chuck’s initial buy-in to what I was trying to accomplish and his whole-hearted agreement to work in unison.  Because of the way this investigation unfolded he had to sacrifice his normal undercover identity and become “Ron Stallworth.” His role in the “sting” and credit for its success should never be diminished.]

After the meeting Ken proudly showed Chuck his arsenal of 13 rifles and shotguns and one cap and ball pistol along with his equipment for reloading ammunition.  He commented that he had additional weapons in every room in his house and that he also carried weapons in each of his vehicles. This was valuable information to know in the event we ever had to execute a search warrant at his residence or attempt to arrest him while he was in transport.

Just prior to Chuck’s departure, Ken showed him a piece of paper with approximately 25 names which he said represented the membership of the local chapter.  He reiterated that if each one brought in three recruits the organization would grow substantially.

On December 11th I paid a visit to Investigator Guy Thomas of the Intelligence Unit at the Colorado State Penitentiary in Canon City, Colorado. I alerted him to the fact that the Klan would be attempting to recruit inmates via Klan literature mailings.  Thomas informed me that a Klan newspaper, The Crusader, had been confiscated from an inmate originally from Weld County, the northern area of the state bordering Wyoming and home of the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. This inmate, according to Investigator Thomas, was now claiming Klan membership and had recruited a fellow inmate.  A third inmate was receiving the newspaper directly from Klan headquarters in Metarie, Louisiana. A fourth inmate had been receiving letters from a member of the National Socialist White People’s Party (NSWPP) out of Arlington, Virginia. Investigator Thomas promised to keep me informed of any further developments inside the prison system.

On this same date, Chuck received a telephone call from Ken telling him he had good news to report. Two days earlier he had received a call from members of the local Posse Comitatus expressing a desire to work cooperatively with the Ku Klux Klan. This was a potential major development because the Posse Comitatus was, at that time, one of the most significant right wing ideological extremist groups in Colorado.

The term “Posse Comitatus” is Latin meaning “force of the county.” As a loosely organized far right social movement it was opposed to the federal government, preferring “localism” or that there was no legitimate form of government above that of the county level, with the sheriff being the highest form of legal authority. If, in their belief, the sheriff refuses to carry out the will of the citizens,  “…he shall be removed by the Posse to the most populated intersection of streets in the township and at high noon be hung by the neck until sundown as an example to those who would subvert the law.”

Some Posse members were practicing survivalists and were active in the formation of the armed citizen militias of the 1990s. Like the Ku Klux Klan, they embraced anti-Semitic and White supremacist beliefs, believing that the federal government is under the control of ZOG (Zionist Occupied Government), part of a Jewish conspiracy.

One of the tactics pioneered by the Posse in the 1970s and used quite frequently in Colorado Springs to terrorize law enforcement and other government officials was the use of false liens filed against property and other forms of paper terrorism.  These liens would tie the victim up in court for extended periods of time and force them to spend money and other resources on attorney fees to defend what was legally theirs. I personally knew of some officers who attempted to sell their houses only to find out at a certain point in the process that they could not do so due to a Posse lien placed against it.

As a uniformed officer, I occasionally encountered Posse members during routine traffic stops.  Because I was a city police officer and not a sheriff’s deputy, they refused to recognize my authority and openly challenged my right to stop them much less talk to them. The fact that I was Black did not sit kindly with them, as like the Klan, they took a dim view of anyone who did not have white skin.  They challenged our actions in court under the misguided belief that our authority was not sanctioned by the U.S. Constitution…..and they always lost.  Our intelligence unit continuously monitored the Posse and its membership but we had never been able to initiate an undercover investigation on their group in the manner similar to that of the KKK.

Ken’s announcement of a possible merger of the two groups was therefore a significant turn of events in the investigation and held great interest for me personally and to my sergeant. The question was how could we in our current circumstance exploit this situation to our advantage and expand the scope of the investigation.

Ken told Chuck he was impressed with the viewpoints of the Posse.  He stated yesterday he had hosted some Posse members at his home and they, in turn, had invited him to attend a meeting they had scheduled for tomorrow, December 12th.  Ken added that he was allowed to take two additional Klan representatives with him and Bob the Klan Treasurer would definitely be one of them.  He said he was considering the second representative from among Tim the bodyguard, Joe his second-in-command, and Chuck and would let them know soon.

Ken continued he was hoping Fred Wilkens would be able to attend the Posse meeting because he wanted to show the film, “Birth of a Nation,” but Wilkens was not able to be there so that idea was canceled.  He suggested a second special meeting with the Posse on December 19th for the showing of the film with Wilkens present.  The importance of “Birth of a Nation” in relationship to the modern Ku Klux Klan cannot be understated.

Based on a novel by Thomas Dixon Jr., a North Carolina minister, the movie was released in 1915 by acclaimed director D.W. Griffith. In the early film age of short, silent slapstick comedies,” Birth of a Nation” was a 2 hour 45 minute panoramic epic that set film industry standards for its time.  Until the 1960s, was cited as the greatest American film according to the late movie critic Roger Ebert in a review of the film and its impact.  In fact for many years in the early 20th century, “Birth of a Nation” was considered the most popular film ever made and expressly held the widespread, generally acceptable views of White Americans.  In Ebert’s 2003 review of the film, he quotes the female star of the movie, Lillian Gish, acknowledging Griffith’s paternalistic reply to accusations that he was anti-Negro: “To say that is like saying I am against children, as they were our children, whom we loved and cared for all of our lives.”  Griffith was an unapologetic White Southerner of the 19th century whose movie reflected the attitudes of his peers who were unable to see Black Americans as fellow beings worthy of rights.

“Birth of a Nation” told a Klan version of history, a narrative of the legend of the Klan as the savior of the South during Reconstruction. The film plays on the heroics of the great Civil War battles, the stereotypes of Blacks as sex-crazed rapists and loyal servants to their White masters, the myths of Reconstruction, the Northern congressmen who wanted to punish the South for the war, the carpetbagger (northerners in the South after the war who were seeking private gain under the government’s reconstruction program), and power-mad Black Reconstruction legislators and soldiers.

The movie tells a love story between a Southern colonel and the nurse who tended to him.  As the suspense builds, the sister of the colonel leaps to her death to avoid being raped by a “lecherous black.”  With this outrage, the Ku Klux Klan enters the picture to rid the land of the scourge that had descended upon it.

Birth of a Nation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDiQWsENgnk

To pave the way for the widespread acceptance of the movie, Thomas Dixon, an old classmate of President Woodrow Wilson, arranged a private screening for him, his Cabinet and their families. It was reported that the President emerged from the screening very moved by the film, declaring it “…like writing history with lightning…my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.” (Note:  If true, this statement alone clearly established President Wilson as a Klan sympathizer, though some historical accounts alleged he was, in fact, an actual member.)

The movie went on to gross $18 million dollars ($409,140,000 in 2013 dollars). Its impact was so powerful that it has often been credited with setting the stage for the Klan revival of 1915.

William J. Simmons, the man who took the title of Grand Wizard and initiated the revival, recognized the propaganda effect of “Birth of a Nation” in the Klan’s arsenal and used it as a promotional tool to win recruits to the organization. Modern Klan leaders, including Ken, Wilkens, and Simmons’ successor as Grand Wizard, David Duke, still used the movie as a recruiting gimmick and provided their own personal narrative to their audience to rally them to the cause.

Despite its blatant racist depictions, only avowed White supremacists still claim any historical authenticity for the movie.  It is abhorrent to all but the Klan and the most extreme of bigots.  (Ku Klux Klan: A History of Racism and Violence; compiled by the staff of the Klanwatch Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, 6th Edition, 2011)

Ken told Chuck that an associate of the Posse Comitatus possessed an original KKK sabre and belt buckle belonging to the first Grand Wizard, General Nathan Bedford Forrest, and he wanted to buy them.  He added another good reason for combining forces with the Posse was that they offered a course for $65 on how to prevent paying income taxes.  He insisted it was unconstitutional to pay income tax and the course offered the forms and taught the correct way to fill them out to protest paying any type of taxes.  If the two groups joined forces Ken stated he was going to recommend all Klan members take the course.

At this point in the conversation Ken began to press Chuck on the fact he was, thus far, the only Klan member who had not recommended a person for new membership.

After Chuck indicated he would attempt to talk to a friend into coming for an interview, Ken said if Chuck wished to remain a “silent” member then he would conduct the interview as if Chuck were a new recruit himself.

December 11th proved to be a very productive informational day in the barely month-long investigation. It also proved to be the start of a slight change of direction in the scope of the investigation because I was personally contacted by an Air Force Sergeant assigned to NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command).

The Sergeant told me he had lived in several cities during his lifetime: Indianapolis, Chicago, St. Louis, and St. Petersburg, Virginia, and had witnessed Klan activity in a couple of them during the 1960s. He was fully aware of what the Klan was capable of doing to destroy a community and damage the people living there and wanted to do what he could to prevent them from doing the same in Colorado Springs.

Prior to joining the Air Force 18 years ago (1960) he had at different times been a “card carrying” member of both the Black Muslims and the Black Panther Party (Note: I was able to verify this aspect of his personal history.) and he was still in touch with members of both groups.  Approximately ten days ago he received a phone call from a Muslim member in Chicago, an associate of Louis Farrahkhan, who wanted to know about the “atmosphere” in Colorado Springs since the emergence of the Klan.

The Sergeant indicated the Muslim member wanted to know if the Black citizens of Colorado Springs would support a counter-demonstration led by a small group of Chicago Muslims against the Klan and if any “machinery” (weapons) would be needed.

The Sergeant claimed he told both groups the Colorado Springs atmosphere was not ready for such activity and suggested they not come to the city.  He felt the Black Panthers would take his advice; however, he believed the Muslims were prepared to come to the city about the same time as David Duke.  He added that if the Muslims did not demonstrate against Duke they would probably attempt to open a mosque (temple) in Colorado Springs.  (Note:  There were no so-called Black Muslim mosques in Colorado Springs at the time.)  He offered to cooperate with me in my investigation by introducing me to any Panthers or Muslims who might appear in the city.

On December 12th I received a report from uniformed patrol officers of the Colorado Springs Police Department regarding Michael W. Miller, a Fort Carson soldier. The officers had responded to a disturbance complaint at The Bunny Club, a popular bar frequented by military personnel. Miller, following an argument with bar personnel regarding an allegation of being short changed of cash, began cursing at the bar owner.  He pulled out a “business card” from his wallet and threw it on the bar and said, “I should firebomb this place.  I’ve done it before.”

The card bore the printed logo of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan with the address and phone number of the national headquarters in Metarie, Louisiana and the slogan, “Racial Purity is America’s Security, which became Duke’s campaign slogan for his first run at the Louisiana State Senate.”  Stamped on the left side front of the card was the name, “White People Org,” the same name as the corporation listed on the bank account for the KKK in Ken O’dell’s name.  The card also bore a P.O. Box #4771, the same P.O. Box number listed in the newspaper ad I responded to back in October.

When confronted by officers, Miller first denied putting the card on the bar then later said it wasn’t a crime to carry KKK cards and pass them out.  He also showed officers a card (#3860) issued by the State of Oregon which authorized him to buy explosives.  He told officers he was trained in explosives by the U.S. Army. Officers determined he was clearly intoxicated and removed him from the bar and turned him over to military authorities.

As a follow-up to this report I contacted Fort Carson Military Police/CID (Criminal Investigation Detachment) officials and learned that Miller was a known alcoholic, whose job was Reconnaissance and was in fact, trained in the use of explosives.

Miller’s First Sergeant—a Black man— said he was aware of his KKK involvement as Miller had flaunted that fact to him on several occasions. In fact, the Sergeant said Miller had  previously issued an implied threat to him by saying he had polished a .30-06 caliber round of ammunition engraved with his name and intended to present it to him as a gift one day.

When I asked what the Sergeant had done to discipline Miller for this obvious breach of conduct, the military authorities stated nothing.  The Sergeant apparently just laughed it off as “Miller being Miller.” His alcoholism continued, his KKK involvement continued, and his implied threats to the Sergeant’s life continued.  Miller continued being himself which, in the eyes of his First Sergeant--a Black man--was apparently “normal.”  There was total apathy with him and the military police officials as to the fact that this man—this soldier representing the government and people of the United States—was an avowed racist and member of the Ku Klux Klan, arguably the most racist domestic terrorist organization of its kind in the history of the country.

Also on December 12th I telephoned David Duke at his Louisiana headquarters regarding the status of my Ku Klux Klan membership card. Duke answered the phone and I explained to him that I was one of the new Colorado Springs chapter members.  He acknowledged that he had recently seen my application. I told him it had been nearly two months since I mailed my membership application to the national headquarters and still had not received my card. I was eager to get the card because I could not fully participate in any Klan activities until my membership had been officially processed and held the card in my hand. I was desperate to get involved in the ongoing efforts to reclaim the White race from the media dominance of the niggers and Jews, but because of Klan rules I was restricted from that participation. I expressed to “Mr. Duke” my frustration and asked if he could do anything to resolve the issue.

He told me to wait a minute and I heard the distinct sound of papers being shuffled in the background. After a few minutes or so he located my application with the membership fee attached. He apologized for the processing delay, stating there had been some administrative problems of late in the office and they had gotten backlogged. He promised to personally process my application and get it in the mail to me as soon as possible. I thanked him profusely and terminated the conversation.

On December 13th Ken phoned Chuck to update him on the Posse Comitatus. He stated the originally scheduled meeting had been postponed until later today and confirmed that Fred Wilkens would attend the meeting and Birth of a Nation would be shown. Chuck agreed to attend after Ken told him he had to meet the sheriff regarding an incident he had with a “nigger kid.”

Chuck told Ken about a friend of his that was interested in joining the Klan. Ken had been pressing all of the members to recruit three new members but had particularly stressed to Chuck that he had not brought forth any potential prospects, and perked up at this bit of news.  He said he looked forward to meeting Chuck’s friend and interviewing him for membership. They agreed to meet at 7:00 p.m. that evening at the Corner Pocket Lounge.

At 7:00 p.m., Chuck and CSPD Narcotics Detective James (Jim) W. Rose met with Ken at the Corner Pocket Lounge in Security, Colorado.  With Ken were Bob the Bodyguard and Tim the Treasurer. While Ken sat at a table with Jim, explaining the Klan, Bob, clearly trying to separate Chuck from Jim and Ken’s conversation, asked Chuck to shoot some pool with him. (Note:  Jim has agreed to have his full name disclosed for the telling of this narrative. Jim’s role in this investigation cannot be overstated. Although he was brought into it for the primary purpose of acting as Chuck’s back-up, we quickly realized that he had much more value as a secondary set of eyes and ears on those occasions when Chuck was not available. This allowed me to move the investigation along without much, if any, undue delay of direction. He shares equally in the success of our “sting” of David Duke and the Klan.)

During their game, Bob told Chuck that all of the soldiers he met at Ken’s house on December 8th had only been members of the Klan since the first of November.  He said the local chapter had approximately 24 members and most of them were military personnel.  He also indicated that the membership were in full support of Ken’s selection of him (me) as his replacement as local organizer.

Chuck again tried to deflect this subject by telling Bob he was not interested in the position.  A short time later Tim also joined the conversation about the local organizer position.  He, too, felt that Chuck was the appropriate person for the job “due to his position in the community.”  Tim said that when he discharged from the Army he would return to Boston to set up his own Klan “den” (chapter).

While Bob and Tim were busy with Chuck, Jim was busy in discussion with Ken and a White female named Carole who had shown up to meet Ken about joining the Klan. She was an independent truck driver who claimed her reason for wanting membership was that eleven years ago she had been assaulted by members of the Black Panther Party.  She told Jim and Ken that because of that incident she had been illegally carrying a firearm all those years—in the boot she was wearing—and had been waiting for the opportunity to join such an organization as the Ku Klux Klan.

In his sales pitch to Jim and Carole, Ken told them his most important project at the moment was “helping the poor, needy White families of Colorado Springs.”  He said he had received several calls from families needing assistance, but the citizens of Colorado Springs had not responded to his newspaper requests for financial assistance. An example of one of these requests can be seen in the following letter to the editor of the December 11th edition of the Gazette-Telegraph signed by Butch, listed as the Klan Press Secretary:

Ken said if necessary he would open up his own home to the needy White families for a Christmas dinner and he would also seek canned good donations from local supermarkets.

He then launched into a speech about the current philosophy of the Ku Klux Klan.  According to him, this “new” Klan was recharged in 1954 when they decided they no longer wanted their name connected with violence.

[Note: This claim ran contrary to the well-documented history of KKK violence from the 1954 year of Ken’s “new” Klan throughout the civil rights years, especially during the southern crusades under the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  In fact, according to the Klanwatch Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, between 1957 -- three years after Ken’s so-called recharged “new” Klan’s disconnection with violence -- and 1966, the Klan killed 14 people (Black, White, and Jewish/male and female) by beatings, gunshot, drowning, bombings and firebombings. What was their crime? Standing up for the struggle against racial injustice.  Many of these crimes remain unsolved.]

The “new” Klan, according to Ken, was now a political party and they hoped to soon run legal candidates in elections for U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, and various state races for Governor. It was, he said, David Duke’s hope to run in the next general election for President of the United States.  Ken’s view that the “new Klan was now a political party” was in keeping with the strategy pursued by Duke regarding the changing of the Klan’s traditionally held image as a bunch of ignorant pot-bellied, beer drinking, tobacco chewing good ole southern boys.  As expressed by the Klanwatch Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center in its 2011 report, “Ku Klux Klan:  A History of Racism and Violence,” in the chapter “Con Men and Thugs--The New Klan of the 1970s:

“Much of the Klan’s gain was due to an improved public image fashioned by David Duke.  A former neo-Nazi, Duke formed the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in 1975 and traveled the country soliciting radio and television appearances.  Duke was articulate, well-dressed and willing to conceal his extreme racism for the general public.  Soon journalists everywhere began writing about “the New Klan.”  Many of the recruits to the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan were people who wrote to Duke after seeing him on television. Klan groups that had been inactive for years also saw their membership growing…Duke and others tried to translate the newfound attention into political power with some surprising results but little real success.” (p. 35)

[Note: In 1979, Duke who while in college at Louisiana State University was known to be involved in the neo-Nazi movement parading around campus wearing a Nazi-like uniform.  He ran for a Louisiana State Senate seat as a conservative Democrat and won 26% of the vote.  In 1988 he did, in fact, run in the Democratic primaries for President and failed to get on the ticket.  He then sought to gain the nomination from the Populist Party and was successful. With his success he appeared on the ballot for President in 11 states and was a write-in candidate in a few others. Shortly thereafter he changed his political party affiliation from Democrat to Republican. In 1989, he ran and won a seat for Louisiana State Representative in District 89.  The following year he ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senator from Louisiana. In 1991, Duke ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Louisiana. In 1992, he made another unsuccessful Presidential primary run, this time as a Republican. In 1996, he made another unsuccessful attempt at a U.S. Senate seat. Finally, in a 1999 Special Election to replace U.S. Representative Bob Livingston, Duke ran unsuccessfully as a Republican against current U.S. Senator David Vitter.

It can be argued that all of Duke’s campaigns were successful in the sense that they gave him a vast public platform from which to spout his philosophical and racist ideological agenda. This, in turn, forced his campaign opponents to respond thus making for an often chaotic outpouring of Populist rants in support of Duke and Liberal responses against what they perceived to be neo-Nazi version of Adolph Hitler in a white robe.  It made for a lively discussion.  Had Duke not been on the ticket in these races much, if not all, of his topical agenda would probably have never been an issue for debate. The fact that he won an election as a Republican after failing twice as a Democratic candidate says a lot about the mindset 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.]

Ken further stated the Klan requested that all of its members become registered voters.  He noted this was the way Blacks gained political power over the years, by registering more voters to their cause and changing the political dynamic along the way.

Circling back to the topic of violence, Ken stated he was not against violent and/or physical reprisals towards the Klan’s enemies as long as the Klan name was not connected to such action.

[Note: This statement was typical of the contradictory nature of statements made by all of the Klan members I spoke with during this investigation. They stated they didn’t believe in violence and then advocate for it. They would caution against saying “nigger” in public but threw the term around like a baseball in private conversation. Their entire existence was a lie and they believed it to the fullest.  They were the truest of “True Believers.”]

To illustrate this violent/non-violent denial effort, Ken told an anecdote of a recent cross burning in the south Denver suburb of Aurora.  A high school there had been forced to bus Blacks into the school system.  According to Ken, during a football game at the school the Klan lit a large cross on a hill near the stadium though it was never proven they were responsible. [Note: I was unable to confirm this story as related by Ken.]

At this point, Ken gave Jim and Carole an application to join the Ku Klux Klan.  Jim completed his and gave Ken the $45 membership fee (from official CSPD funds) along with a Polaroid photo that had been previously taken in my office prior to leaving for the meeting.

Ken continued his personal testimony by acknowledging he was illegally carrying a handgun in his pocket and always carried one for protection.  He said he did this because the Klan expected a race war to occur prior to the 1984 general elections and he was preparing for it. He added that he had two shotguns, several rifles and pistols with ammunition for all of them on hand for the race war.

[Note: His expressed belief in an upcoming war between Blacks and Whites echoed that of Stokely Carmichael.  Neither offered an explanation as to why the 1984 general elections were central to the start-up of this expected war.]

Ken then brought up the fact that he was leaving Colorado for approximately three years and Chuck had been voted to succeed him as the local organizer. Upon his return to Colorado Springs, he said he intended to “raise hell.”

At this point Ken began talking about his meeting with the Posse Comitatus.  In an ironic twist he said he did not like the Posse because THEY were too radical and violent.  If their members, however, still want to become Klansmen, he said he could not stop them and, in fact, the Posse had services that could benefit the Klan.  He pointed out that the two groups combined would total approximately 50 members.

Ken continued, the Posse wanted the military Klan members to steal automatic weapons and explosives from Fort Carson and they would pay good money for them.  He indicated he did not want his G.I. members engaged in this type of activity but expressed no outrage at the very thought of a direct sneak attack (i.e., theft) for a weapons/explosives cache from a U.S. military installation which flew the flag he had taken an oath to defend.  He also said the Posse wanted to blow up some of the “queer” bars in town with hydrogen gas bombs filled with nails for a shrapnel-like maximum effect and seemed excited about the possibility.

Posse members, according to Ken, were building cave houses for $20,000 in the mountains west of Colorado Springs in preparation for a nuclear attack. They were also storing food and weapons for such an eventuality. In summation, he felt the only good thing the Posse had to offer the Klan was their course on how to evade income taxes.

The meeting ended with Jim on the road to becoming a new Klansman and providing me with a second undercover presence of eyes and ears in the group as well as a backup support for Chuck and vice versa.  Ken invited them to attend a December 20th joint meeting between the Klan and the Posse at which time the movie “Birth of a Nation” would be shown.

[Note: The contradictory nature of Ken’s reasoning was clearly on display again in his statement to Jim and Carole concerning the Posse Comitatus.  He wanted to accept the Posse as equals yet did not personally like them. This in spite of their request for the theft of a military arsenal of weapons and explosives, in essence a plot against the United States government, which some in his Klan membership were in a position to act on based on their jobs at Fort Carson.

The Posse’s declaration of wanting to bomb “queer” bars—there were two gay bars/bathhouses in Colorado Springs at the time, the Hide N Seek Room Tavern (512 W. Colorado Avenue) and Exit 21 Cocktail Lounge (2028 Seldon Avenue, between Colorado Avenue and the U.S. 24 By-pass)—did not strike him as alarming or in any way unusual in spite of his personal affirmation as the local Klan leader that they were a non-violent organization and did not condone such acts today as their forefathers did in the past.  In one of my personal telephone conversations with Ken he had expressed the same notion as the Posse regarding the bombing of “queer” bars.

For Ken, the Posse was nothing more than a means to an end in terms of expanding the reach of the Klan because of their ideological similarities (i.e., a belief in White racial superiority, especially regarding Jews and Blacks; a belief in ZOG—Zionist Occupied Government, that the Jews were behind a conspiracy to control the American government; a belief that government taxation was unlawful to American citizens and they were obligated to and within their rights to evade paying any taxes; and a belief that a racial war between Whites and Blacks was imminent and they should begin stockpiling weapons in preparation for the coming conflict); as well as their knowledge of how to exploit the government for tax purposes. Their marriage would have been a match made in hell for the citizens of Colorado Springs.]

Of further note, the Colorado Springs Police Department’s Intelligence Unit maintained a file on the Posse Comitatus and was well aware of their anti-government, survivalist ideology.  I, along with every member of our unit, knew their leader, Chuck Howarth. We spoke with him from time to time—rarely a cordial exchange— usually an anti-police authority confrontation that could easily escalate to deadly force.

When dealing with Howarth, we had to be on our guard because he had a fascination with guns.  He once questioned me during a contact I had with him about my personal .357 Magnum revolver, which I carried at the time, and how it compared to his preferred choice of a forty-five.  Every time I tried to change the subject to move on to my reason for contacting him, he kept on his soliloquy until I finally in as polite and respectful professional a tone as I could muster, tell him to be quiet about guns and move on to the purpose of my visit.  On his property he often had a handgun on his hip and, on one occasion when I went to question him about a matter in which his name had come up, I and the officer with me had to order him to remove that gun before proceeding with our questioning.  Was this constitutional?  At that point we were not concerned about constitutional issues but rather about our (and his) safety; he had made numerous threats against CSPD officers; we were not going to take any chances with him.  He removed the gun as “requested.”

One of the things Chuck learned from his conversation while playing pool with Bob and Tim were the tactics being used by the Klan to try and win public sympathy.  Using pseudonyms, members were writing letters to the editor of the Gazette-Telegraph newspaper with the specific intention of keeping publicity focused on the Klan. Tim admitted to being the “Carlos Gutierrez” in the attached letter which was dated December 13th.

On December 16th the anti-Klan group, People for the Betterment of People, held a protest march in downtown Colorado Springs with approximately 20 participants.  They walked on the eastside of Tejon Street from Vermijo Street. Marching counter to them on the west side of the street were Ken O’dell wearing a Klan robe and carrying a Confederate flag and his second in command, Joe Stewart, wearing a jacket with a KKK emblem.

At one point Ken gave brief interviews to the newspaper and television reporters, telling them they were not there to create confrontation. He even explained the presence of only two Klansmen as an effort to stress the non-violent aspect of the organization as well as to keep the identities of Klan members secret.

[Note: I personally monitored the march by walking alongside Ken and Joe close enough to hear any personal conversation they might exchange between them. Several times, I laughed to myself that the “Ron Stallworth” Ken often talked to on the phone was standing within three feet of him and he never realized the truth of the hoax being played out against him and his cohorts.  I was always cautious about the people around me, whether someone would recognize me and call out “Detective Stallworth”or “Ron Stallworth,” which would alert Ken and start him questioning matters regarding this Black cop’s name being the same as the Klansman he had personally selected to replace him as local organizer.  I did not say anything and made myself as inconspicuous as possible throughout the march. I was actually enjoying the paradox, that I, a “loyal and dedicated Klansman…” was standing three feet from the man who recommended me as his replacement.

One interesting exchange occurred during the march that struck home -- We were witnesses to a new day and attitudes toward the Ku Klux Klan.  While stopped at an intersection red light, a Black man holding his five-year-old son’s hand stopped beside me and was standing next to O’dell.  The son looked at Ken curiously, pointed to him and asked his father, “Daddy, why is that man dressed so funny?”

I started chuckling along with the others standing nearby when the father, looking directly at Ken and replied, “He’s just a damn clown, son.”

Ken and Joe glared at the father and those of us laughing as the light turned green and the march continued for a couple more blocks to its conclusion.

The leap forward in time hit me at that moment; the innocent question posed by the five-year-old Black child growing up in the Rocky Mountain region of 1978, instead of the deep south of 20-30 years earlier where White men dressed like Ken were not necessarily considered “out of place”.

The response of the father convinced us we were in the dawn of a new era.  For a Black man to openly refer to a robed Klansman as a “clown” in that earlier time would have been a futile and foolhardy statement of defiance, ignorance, or stupidity. Here in 1978 Colorado Springs, the father showed bold courage by openly challenging the white robed/Confederate flag symbolism and, while looking Ken straight in the eye, declared to his son and all those around, he was nothing more than a “clown.”  A few decades prior and the end result would probably have been a death sentence for the father.

Due to the long history of violent oppression at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan, to witness the meaning of a bold Black man facing off with a “clown” in white robes waving a flag representing a defeated institution was sweet music to our ears.

Chapter 4

In the interim, several interesting events happened in the course of the investigation to further it along.  First, I received a phone call from Ken inviting me to participate in a Klan cross burning ceremony.  He said he was still working out the details in terms of a date, time and location but he wanted me to be aware of the plan and ready to participate at the appropriate time.  I told him I eagerly awaited further news of the cross burning, in particular the location.  I asked if he had a specific place in mind to plant the cross.  He replied that planning had not progressed that far yet, but he assured me it would be at a strategic location in Colorado Springs where everyone, for miles around and in every direction would be able to see the flames and know that the Klan presence was alive and well in the city. He wanted me to be involved in the cross burning ceremony because it was a “deeply moving religious experience.”

Second, I had established contact with the RAC (Resident Agent-in-Charge) of the Colorado Springs FBI Office regarding any intelligence assistance the Bureau could provide me on the Ku Klux Klan. I was seeking general background information, in particular historical data of the group in Colorado.  As a police officer I knew that the FBI maintained a treasure trove of information on organizations and individuals though they did not like to acknowledge that fact, and I wanted what they had on the history of Colorado’s Klan past.

The RAC, a good friend who became a valuable ally in my investigation, had a colorful past as a federal government agent and, if his stories were to be believed, had a history of his own with the Klan.  He had a gift for gab and it was full of hyperbole so it was hard to separate the wheat from the chaff in his tales, not to mention he always punctuated them with the fact that the full nature of the information was still highly “classified” by the government. He had worked for the CIA for awhile before switching to the FBI back in the J. Edgar Hoover era and often regaled us with his James Bondian tales of clandestine work for “The Company” (CIA) and FBI.  We would only be given cursory information, enough to whet our appetite, then he would give us the gist of the story and more often than not a bellyaching laugh for all of us at his recollection of events, without revealing what he claimed was still “classified information.”

One of his tales concerned the 1964 murder case of three civil rights workers in Mississippi.  The three were reported missing and the FBI was sent to the rural Neshoba County to investigate only to find that the sheriff’s office was linked to the local Ku Klux Klan.  The agents were unable to talk to the White people in the community because of their sympathy for and fear of the Klan and hatred for federal government authority.  They were also unable to talk to the members of the Black community because of their natural fear of the Klan born out of generations of inbred terror.

The lead agent, a northerner, believed in following FBI investigative protocol and ran into a brick wall of silence.  His assistant, a southerner who knew the nature of the people because he had at one time been like them and understood southern culture, advocated an alternative “outside the box” approach to the investigation that violated protocol.  They eventually followed that approach and developed an informant who broke the case wide open, leading them to the bodies of the murder victims. The FBI ended up arresting several KKK members including the sheriff. The case was immortalized in the movie “Mississippi Burning” starring Academy Award winning actor Gene Hackman as the southern FBI Agent.

The Colorado Springs RAC told me he was part of the FBI team that worked that case and they were under direct orders from J. Edgar Hoover to solve it.  It wasn’t until they deviated from constitutional protocol, some of which are depicted in the movie or were composites of events that actually happened, were they able to secure the evidence which culminated in the arrests of the murderers of the slain civil rights workers.

I asked the RAC to help me through his government connections to obtain the history of the Klan in Colorado. He jokingly replied that the FBI regional headquarters in Denver did not have any information on the KKK.

I fired back that the FBI kept files on everybody and everything.  He shook his head, laughed, and walked away.

He came to the Detective Division several times a week and whenever our paths crossed I posed the same request, “Get me the FBI files on the history of the Colorado Klan.” Each time he would shake his head at me, smile and walk away, though I noticed that the outright denial of the existence of the information had stopped.

After a couple of weeks of this type of exchange —this game—the RAC approached me one day in my office and put a piece of paper in my hand which had the name and phone number of an FBI agent assigned to the Denver office.  The RAC told me Agent X was expecting my call (Note: Agent X is currently retired and living somewhere in Illinois. His cooperation in furthering this investigation and desire for privacy is respectfully acknowledged).  He then turned around and left my office without another word being said.

I asked who Agent X was and why he was expecting my call.  The RAC’s response was a simple smile and the words, “Make the call you bastard.”  No further discourse or explanation, just a deep air of mystery.  This, however, was not unusual for the RAC who, based on his professional history, often spoke in cryptic terms leaving the listener to ponder the underlying motivation and meaning of his statement and whether or not it was based on hyperbole or fact.

The next day I phoned Agent X who said he heard about my “rather unique” investigation.  He laughed at the hilarity of the hoax that I had been perpetrating on the Klan members and their mindless stupidity at falling for the antics we had unleashed.  He congratulated me on the valuable intelligence information that was pouring in as a result of the investigation.  Before I could explain what I was in need of he told me to come to his Denver office the next day. No further details were offered on his part and our conversation ended.

The next afternoon I finally met Agent X.  He escorted me to a conference room and told me to have a seat at the large rectangular brown wooden conference table.  He left me alone for about three minutes and when he returned he was carrying a couple of pencils and a legal pad in his left hand.  In his right hand was an expandable folder, approximately six inches wide filled with papers. These items were placed on the table in front of me with instructions that I could look at anything in the folder and write down notes, but absolutely no copies of any of the material was allowed out of the room.  He told me to take my time and then left me alone.

Inside the folder was a treasure trove of data on the history of the Ku Klux Klan in Colorado.  Many of the sheets of paper were yellowed with age and dated back to the 1920s. It was a virtual time capsule on the Colorado Klan: how and when they formed (1921), their first Grand Dragon, a physician named John Galen Locke, and their activities such as bombing the home of a Black mail carrier who had moved in a White neighborhood, burning a Black A.M.E.—African Methodist Episcopal—Church to the ground, boycotting Denver’s Jewish businessmen and excluding them from membership into specific clubs such as the Masons and physical threats to Jews and Catholics.

By 1923 it was estimated that the Klan in Colorado had approximately 30,000-45,000  members, half of whom lived in Denver. There were also chapters in Canon City, home of the state penitentiary; Boulder, home of the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs; and, Pueblo, about 35 miles south of Colorado Springs. Once established, the Klan made a grasp for political power.  They took control of the state’s Republican Party and selected virtually all of its candidates in the 1924 elections.  By 1925, the Colorado State Senate and House of Representatives were a majority of Klan members elected through the Republican Party.

What immediately leaped out of the yellowed pages at me was the name of one of their candidates, Benjamin Stapleton.  He was elected mayor of Denver and served from 1923-1947. He was the major force behind a project which later became the Denver Municipal Airport. In 1944, the airport’s name was changed in his honor to Stapleton International Airport.

Several key members of his mayoral staff were also Klan members. So committed was his relationship to the Klan that irate voters called for his recall after learning of his Klan sympathies which he withheld during the campaign. His response to their recall effort was delivered at a Klan rally:

“I pledge to work with the Klan and for the Klan in the coming election,

heart and soul, and if I am elected I shall give the Klan the kind of administration it wants.”

Stapleton won the recall election on the strength of the large Klan voter turnout and their influence on the Denver populace. Jubilant in their victory, Klan members held a cross burning ceremony.

In the November general election other Klan-supported candidates swept to victory. The governor, Clarence J. Morley, was a Klansman, the two U.S. Senators Rice Means and Lawrence Phipps had strong Klan connections, and the Klan held the lieutenant governorship, state auditor, and attorney general offices. Another Klansman, William J. Candlish, was selected by the Grand Dragon to be the Chief of Police for the Denver Police Department and was officially apponted by Mayor Stapleton. In addition, Klansmen were seated on the Board of Regents for the University of Colorado and the State Supreme Court.  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. (Afro-Denver Magazine, Vol. 6, Number 2, Feb., 1980 and Denver magazine, February, 1980)

I sat at the conference table for close to two hours fascinated by what I was reading, taking as many notes as I could because of the vast richness of the information.  I was literally reading about and seeing images of ghosts who had changed Colorado society, some for the better because of their politics, others in a negative way because of their social leanings. A thought kept going through my mind: I wonder how many people who fly in and out of Stapleton International Airport know that, in their own way, they are paying homage to a past leader of the Ku Klux Klan. I had frequented the airport on many an occasion and up until that very moment had no hint of its historical connection to the Klan.

Much of the Klan’s approach from a half century earlier was being, or trying to be, revisited by today’s generation of Klansmen. Their takeover of an entire capital city, Denver, and state government was the precursor motivation behind Ken O’dell’s talk of the Klan becoming a political party and of registering Klan members to vote.

I recorded several pages of notes from the file that Agent X reminded me with a smile that I had not seen.  He cautioned me that my use of any of the information I had just discovered could not refer back to the FBI because the file did not officially exist. I acknowledged his concerns and then returned to my office in Colorado Springs.

[Note: As I had stated earlier to the RAC in Colorado Springs, the FBI kept files on everybody and everything. If they, however, do not have any such information, rest assured they have the resources to obtain it and, when necessary, will move heaven and earth to get it.

When I first approached the RAC about getting information from the FBI on the KKK I had no prior knowledge that such a file existed in the Denver office.  But knowing that the Klan has been referred to as a “domestic terrorist” group, that the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover had been actively involved in the investigation of the Klan during the height of the civil rights movement under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, and that in all likelihood any information that they would have gathered in those years would still be archived, I had played a “hunch” that such information probably existed. Getting them to admit its existence was the tricky part because the FBI is well known for being “tight-lipped” about its vast source of file information, past and present.  It was acquired only by the good graces of my relationship with the RAC who still lives in Colorado Springs and is nearing 80, and who still tells tales of Titanic proportions — I love and respect him dearly

Why was the information made available to me?

This is pure speculation on my part as to why that “mysterious” file on the Klan that did not exist, suddenly appeared for my perusal.  My personal relationship with the RAC was important, but the federal connections to the Klan we uncovered via the Army (Fort Carson) and Air Force (NORAD) — most likely had a major influence on the “cooperation.”]

A day or two after my return from Denver, I received a package at my office from a congressional investigator with the U.S. House of Representatives.  Inside the package were four volumes of “Hearings on Activities of Ku Klux Klan Organizations in the United States of the House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities of the 89th Congress (1965-66).”  It contained an entire “official” history of the Klan based on a federal government inquiry during the height of the civil rights movement including witness testimony and official Klan documentation. It provided good background information on the Klan to help me further understand the organization and the type of people attracted to its ideological brand. Unbeknownst to me the Colorado Springs RAC had contacted some of his Washington sources and they forwarded the volumes to me.

I established contact with the Executive Director of the Denver-based Jewish group, Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith (ADL). ADL is an organization dedicated to monitoring and combating White supremacist or any other group that supports a belief in racial superiority and dominance, in particular those that are anti-Semitic.  When I told her of my investigation and of the information support I was seeking, she was at first amused by it all and then pledged to assist me in any way possible with any ADL resources out of the Denver office and, if necessary, from their national offices in New York City.  I, in turn, agreed to keep her informed on a regular basis as to any new developments in the investigation.  From that point on I began receiving ADL material on the Klan, all of historical value and some intelligence because of their network of sources.

This was another example of “outside the box” thinking. In general civilians, unless directly involved in an investigation and have a need to know specific details, are kept out of the loop of the official actions being taken by police investigators.  In this case I made the decision, based on past history of the Klan’s attitude and relationship with America’s Jewish community, that Mrs. Z and the ADL could be a valuable ally. (Note: Mrs. Z has long since passed away, but I will be eternally grateful for her unflinching cooperation by allowing me to occasionally access ADL information on individuals). I therefore kept her regularly informed of events with some details that I, on occasion, chose to withhold, and she, in turn, kept forwarding me ADL literature on the Klan, both in Colorado and nationally, so that I remained abreast of any new trends.

On the issue of “new trends,” on occasion Mrs. Z would ask me if I could ask my Klan “sources” a question about this or that issue, something which the ADL in Denver had developed information on or been asked by other ADL offices around the country to check into regarding the Klan.  I would then place a telephone call to either Ken O’dell or Fred Wilkens or both and steer the conversation to that particular issue.  I would relay their response and on a couple of occasions phoned David Duke and spoke with him and he unwittingly, cooperated with his arch enemy -- an organization he more than once told me he despised -- by giving me an answer to their question.  She was an elderly lady and would often exclaim, “My, oh my, what fun,” and there were moments when it was.  She derived great pleasure in knowing that the Grand Wizard of the KKK was “cooperating” with an ADL inquiry/investigation.  She loved the intrigue of being a part of our “sting” against the Klan and enjoyed receiving periodic updates on newly obtained information.  May she rest in peace.

The fourth and perhaps most intriguing development in the investigation to those familiar with it concerned my telephone conversations with the Grand Wizard, David Duke, himself. I first called him on December 12th at the Klan national office in Metarie, Louisiana to ask about the status of my membership card. My calls, usually on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, became more personal in tone. Always at the forefront of my mind was intelligence gathering on the Klan, its members and activities.

For example, in separate conversations Duke told me of planned Klan marches in Los Angeles, Kansas City, and other areas of the country.  In the conversations he would provide details as to their rally point, specific objectives of their rally, planned counter-response measures which were always violence-based in spite of their claim to being a non-violent group, and efforts against police response. As soon as possible after such conversations I would call the particular law enforcement agency in that city’s jurisdictional area and alert them to Duke’s information. Several times in follow-up conversations Duke would convey his surprise at how well prepared certain police agencies were to the Klan’s presence, almost as if they knew beforehand what was going to happen.

I would call Duke at the request of other agencies from around the country including the FBI, who, by policy as a result of fallout from post-Watergate reforms, were forbidden from addressing the activities of the Klan or any group unless events indicated a violent or conspiratorial threat; agency representatives investigating subversive groups from an intelligence perspective learning of the undercover investigation into Duke’s organization would break out in side-splitting laughter after finding out specifics of the investigation -- a Black cop pulling off an undercover “sting” of the Ku Klux Klan.

A couple requests came from the New Orleans Police Department who had been unable to successfully penetrate Duke’s organization with an undercover officer or an informant. These opportunities opened the door for me to expand my line of questioning in different directions. Sometimes my conversations with David Duke were light, personal discussions about his wife, Chloe, and their children. How they were doing and what was going on in their lives. He always responded with cordial enthusiasm like the proud and loving husband and father he was. He was more than willing to share tales of the beauty of their being.  As a matter of fact, when you took away the topic of white supremacy and KKK nonsense from discourse with Duke, he was a very pleasant conversationalist.  He seemed like a “regular” guy.  Once that topic entered the margins of Klan ideology, however, Dr. Jekyll became Mr. Hyde and the monster in him was unleashed. He once told me that his wife was a partner in his Klan experience and his children were being raised in the Klan world under the tutelage of the Klan Youth Corps.

At times, my conversation was educational with a racist comical tone to it.  I once asked “Mr. Duke,” everyone referred to him respectfully as “Mister,” if he was ever concerned about some smart aleck “nigger” calling him while pretending to be White.  He replied, “No, I can always tell when I’m talking to a nigger.”  I asked him how he could tell, he said the following. “Take you for example.  I can tell that you’re a pure Aryan White man by the way you talk, the way you pronounce certain words and letters.”

I asked him to be more specific and he said, “A white man pronounces the English language the way it was meant to be pronounced.  For example take the word ARE or the letter R.  A pure Aryan like you or I say it the proper way, ARE, whereas a nigger would pronounce it ARE-UH.  Niggers do not have the same intelligence as the White man to properly speak English the way it was meant to be spoken. Whenever you talk to someone on the phone and are unfamiliar with them, always listen to their speech pattern for a short while to determine how they pronounce certain words.”  He never told me those other words.

I replied in as flattering a tone as I could muster without laughing or getting sick, “Mr. Duke, I want to thank you for this lesson because if you had not brought it to my attention I would never have noticed the difference between how we talk and how niggers talk.  From now on I’m going to pay close attention to my telephone conversations to make sure I’m not talking to one of “them” (a nigger).”

He seemed humbled and pleased by my fawning over his gracious nature in sharing his knowledge and “wisdom.” He told me he was glad to help and hoped this lesson was beneficial.  From that point on, whenever I spoke to Duke on the phone I always found a point in the conversation to inject a question that incorporated the word ARE in it except I would pronounce it like a “nigger,” ARE-UH. This was my symbolic way of sticking a finger in Duke’s eye and an extended middle finger in his face to show him that this high school educated Black man with only 20 college credits was smarter than he, a college graduate with a Masters Degree. My use of the ARE-UH was my way of playing with his head and having a little fun at his expense.  He never picked up on the fact that one of his pure Aryan White Klansmen was speaking English like a “nigger” and was, in fact, a proud Black man of African descent.

[Note: Duke’s assessment of Blacks’ use of language was interesting in that he was only partially right.  Some Blacks from the South do, in fact, pronounce the word ARE in the manner in which he described. An example was my late mother-in-law. She was born and bred in Alabama,  a graduate of Alabama State University with a Masters Degree in Business, and was a retired head of the Business Department at a Colorado Springs high school.  She was proactive in her A.M.E. (African Methodist Episcopal) Church and Black community affairs yet throughout my 30-year experience with her she pronounced the word ARE exactly as described by David Duke.

The racial fallacy in his argument is that this pronunciation was (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 was more of a regional reflection of cultural linguistic upbringing.  In other words, his logic was extremely flawed and unsubstantiated by facts.

Another significant factor about this particular conversation was Duke’s freewheeling use of the pejorative, NIGGER.  He was publicizing himself at the time and being reported by the media as being the “new face of the modern Klan.”  He was not the stereotypical, uneducated, pot-bellied, tobacco chewing/spitting, beer guzzling Klansman of movie lore.  David Duke was a respectable looking, always appearing in public in a suit and tie; only wearing his Klan robe for ceremonial private purposes, educated holding a Masters Degree in Political Science from Louisiana State University and well spoken (excellent debater) “new” Klan leader. His image and public persona reflected that of his Klan organization. He and they did not use NIGGER in public, but freely threw it out among themselves in private.

In a sense, that symbolic “finger in the eye” and an “extended middle finger in the face” was delivered to Duke two months after my retirement from law enforcement in 2005.  One of the major Utah newspapers, The Deseret News, did a story about my 32-year career in law enforcement, the last 20 in Utah where my name was made working the street gang issue.  The reporter asked what was the most significant thing that happened over the course of my career and I told her of the Klan investigation.  The headline of her story which appeared in the January 12, 2006 edition of the paper was “Black Sergeant was Loyal Klansman.”  Within 48 hours, the story had gone viral over the Internet and I received inquiries from various people from across the country. Dan Abrams of MSNBC interviewed me on his syndicated TV show, and the Black publication JET magazine (May 1, 2006) did a brief story based on the Deseret News article which included a photo of me holding my Klan membership card.

Perhaps the most intriguing inquiry I received came from a Hollywood producer.  She had read the Deseret News article on the Internet and, after a series of phone calls, finally made contact with me.  She said she found the story of my “sting” of the Klan fascinating and felt it would be a good “made for TV” movie.  When she found out I did not have an agent representing my legal career interests she offered to put me in touch with her agent, the William Morris Agency, LLC.

A few days later I met with them in his Beverly Hills office and, after hearing the story agreed with her that it had potential to be adapted into a “made for TV” movie.  He offered a contract, which I agreed to only after first having my lawyer look over the details.  A few days later, a contract came to me in the mail. My lawyer reviewed it and suggested a couple of minor changes which I passed on to the agent.  I signed the revised contract and sent it back and then waited. Not hearing back from the agent after a month, I contacted the producer.  She said I should have heard back from him by now and would make some inquiries.  That was how I learned that the agent had experienced a “mid-life crisis” and suddenly decided to leave the company, thus leaving his business contracts such as mine in limbo.

I also found out that the delay in hearing back about my contract was partly precipitated by the agent’s secretary who was a law student studying for the bar exam.  Apparently while he was in crisis, she was not tending to business like she should and pending contracts like mine were not properly vetted within the company. As a result, my signed contract and others languished for months and were ultimately voided.  I was the victim of that secretary’s failure to do her job and move the paperwork through the process in a timely fashion.  I now knew the meaning of that old-time phrase, “That’s show biz.”

The Deseret News story picked up steam and the news media and talk show circuit were clamoring for my attention; news stations from Washington DC, Louisiana, Los Angeles, and Denver phoned me for interviews on the story.  A radio talk show in Canada even called for an interview as did NPR (National Public Radio, titled “How a Black Cop Joined the KKK”).  I unfortunately also learned about the politics of the television talk show circuit.

I was first contacted by a producer for the Montel Williams Show and agreed to appear on his program.  Within an hour, a producer for the Tyra Banks Show phoned and asked that I appear on her show. Again, I agreed.  Both producers said they would get back to me with the details and made no other demands.

About two hours later, a producer for the Oprah Winfrey Show phoned and said that Oprah had read my story and was “considering” putting me on her show, but could not give me a definitive date as to when.  I told the producer I was interested.  She said good and then asked if I had appeared on any other talk show or agreed to appear on any other show because Oprah only wanted exclusive stories. She made it clear that if I had done or committed to any other talk shows then the offer to appear on Oprah would be withdrawn.

I immediately began thinking about the potential publicity aspects that would result from these three opportunities before me.  Montel Williams had a much bigger viewership than Tyra Banks, but Oprah was…well…OPRAH!  Her influence in the entertainment industry was well known and I figured if my story was going to have any legs then an appearance on Oprah’s show would better serve me than an appearance on Montel’s and Tyra’s combined.

So I lied to Oprah’s producer and told her I had not committed to doing any other shows and was free to do hers.  She said she would be in touch with me.

I then called the producers of both Montel’s and Tyra’s shows and told them that something had unexpectedly come up and I would not be able to appear on their programs.  They thanked me and hung up.

About two hours later, Oprah’s producer called me back to tell me that Oprah had decided to go a different direction and my services would no longer be needed. My failure to stick to my original commitments backfired on me. Welcome to Hollywood talk show politics.

One inquiry that turned out to be a very positive experience came from Leonard Pitts, Jr., the nationally syndicated columnist for the Miami Herald newspaper. Mr. Pitts asked about the validity of the story and I assured him that it was, in fact, true. I quickly recalled the story and he laughed, especially at the part about the lesson from David Duke about the way to determine whether an unknown voice on the other end of the telephone line was a “nigger.” I could hear a “clicking” sound on his end of the phone line and asked him what he was doing. He replied that he was typing his next column. Below is that column, “Public Servant Retires after Giving KKK a Black Eye.”

[Note: On a more personal note as to the follow-up of the Deseret News article, on January 22nd I received a telephone call from the Salt Lake City office of the FBI. An agent who knew me from my active days in Utah law enforcement was giving me a courtesy call to let me know I should consider taking precautions concerning my life. He explained that one of their agents in one of their Maryland offices was monitoring ultra-conservative right wing hate group sites on the Internet and had spotted an item on one of their web sites, Overthrow.com titled, “David Duke’s Black Klan Leader.” The Maryland agent passed the information to his Salt Lake City counterpart who, in turn, was notifying me that I was being talked about in the world of White racist, hate-filled fanatics for making a fool of David Duke. The article tried to be intimidating toward me in the sense that it included personal history information about me, all of which (with the exception of my name and my wife’s name who had passed away two years earlier) was incorrect. The Salt Lake City agent stated his supervisor had told him to contact me so that I could take any necessary life-saving precautions in case one of these White supremacists groups tried to “harm” me. I thanked him for his considerate call and did, in fact, initiate precautionary measures which I continue to follow.]

[There were other Internet responses to the Deseret News article.  For example, one White racist site, “Tightrope,” had a conversational thread devoted to “Nigger joins the KKK.”  Another, “Godlike Productions” created a blog titled “KKK and the Black Klansman.”  One of my favorites was a site called “Cracked.com” which advertised “The six Most Hilarious Undercover Operations Ever Pulled Off.”  The article listed my investigation as #5.  Titled, “A Black Guy Goes Undercover in the KKK,” it made a mockery of David Duke and the other Klansmen caught up in the “sting,” though getting some of the facts wrong, citing:

“The Case:  With a whopping 6.56% African-American population, Colorado Springs, Colorado, is whiter than a John Mayer concert.  However, that didn’t stop the KKK from placing an ad in the newspaper back in the late 1970s when the percentage was probably even lower looking for people in the area to start a local chapter.  We at Cracked aren’t exactly criminal masterminds, but at least when we’re thinking of starting up an illegal underground crime organization, we have the presence of mind not to announce it in the Denver Post.  In a twist that should have surprised nobody, the Klan got a call from undercover cop Ron Stallworth.  The KKK isn’t known for its hospitality, so Stallworth knew he would have to put on a good show if he was going to gain entry into their club. In his conversations with other Klan members he made a point of throwing a bunch of racial slurs into his speech, and complained that his sister had recently been dating a Black man. Seeing as guys in the Klan are already sensitive to the issue of losing dates with their sisters to other dudes, they were sympathetic to Stallworth’s story and got along with him immediately.  In fact, he became one of their most valued new members, often conversing with David Duke, former Grand Wizard of the Klan who later ran for President.  Not President of the Klan, President of the United States. As things started getting organized in Colorado Springs, the chapter needed a leader, and they turned to their good friend Ron Stallworth to take on the role. However, the group faced one big, Black problem.

The Stupidity:  This is Ron Stallworth (a picture of me was displayed). Stallworth, looking like a cross between Isaac Hayes and Shaft, successfully posed as a “pure Aryan, white man” who had a serious grudge against anyone with skin darker than that of Edgar Winter. Because the vast majority of his conversations with the Klan occurred via telephone, they never caught on to the act.  On occasion, Stallworth’s presence was requested, in which case he would send a White officer in his place.  They never figured it out.

During his talks with David Duke, Stallworth would ask him if he was ever afraid of being infiltrated by a minority.  Duke reassured him, stating that he always knew when he was talking to an African-American because Black men ‘pronounce words and letters a certain way,’ unlike Stallworth, whose creamy vanilla voice could belong only to a pure member of the master race.”

In one of my conversations with Duke, we talked politics and he told me of his intention to run for elective office in the near future.  He explained that only by changing the political landscape through the ballot box could the Klan hope to change conditions in America more beneficial to the White race.  He would run for a Louisiana state office first but eventually would take a shot at the Presidency.

[Note: It is interesting to take a closer look at Duke’s political leanings in 1978-79. Though he listed himself as a conservative Democrat at the time, he did not change his party affiliation to Republican for nearly ten years. Much of his political thinking, as in his world in general, revolved around the issue of race. In that world Whites were more intelligent and overall more superior to Blacks and other minority groups.  He believed that the White race was the defender of America’s virtue and its values and the Klan was the physical embodiment of that defense.       His views were more suited for an America that existed during the years of the Eisenhower presidency (1953-61), a period in which White dominance in America was the norm and the Klan literally ruled communities across the South.

That era, which included Wisconsin Senator Joe McCarthy and his crusade against communism, was one of an attitude of “cultural elitism” on the part of White mainstream.  That attitude was very notable in the attack back then against Rock’n’Roll, the new form of music which was emerging from the roots of Black culture and being widely accepted by White youth. The Klan played key roles in denouncing this emerging trend and tried to suppress its continued influence among White youth.

As I reported in my book, “Bringing the Noise: Gangster-Reality Rap and the Dynamics of Black Social Revolution (Police & Fire Publishing, 2012): “With this social structure in place -- McCarthyism, Jim Crow segregation, failure to acknowledge the basic humanity of Black Americans, and the quest by the White mainstream to stifle creative art that did not fit their concept of moral right -- the Ku Klux Klan, White Citizens Councils, and other such ‘defenders of the faith’ were aptly armed in their war to save American virtue….” (p. 117)

In the midst of this new cultural war, the White warriors of the time sought to use every tool at their disposal to prevent the White man from being pulled down to the level of the Negro.  The White cultural elitist resorted to demagoguery of the issue by referring to the music and its originators as “aborigines,” “…music of the heathen in Africa,” “cannibalistic and tribalistic,” “savage, illiterate and vicious,” and that it would stir “[White] teens listening to rock…to [participate in] orgies of sex and violence (as its model did for the savages themselves].”

(p. 120-122)

That thinking from over a half century ago, that political perspective and the words used to describe an emerging cultural trend which ran contrary to the White mainstream of the time, found a rebirth in the actions and words of the modern conservative movement.

Chapter 5

On December 20th Jim (Detective Rose) received a phone call from Ken to check for assurance that he and Chuck would be at his house at 7:00 p.p that evening for a showing of “Birth of a Nation.”  In addition, he wanted their help moving lumber that was intended for the construction of crosses for burning ceremonies. He explained that one of the crosses was going to be 30 feet high and burned in Denver soon.

Ken said that within a week the Colorado Springs chapter was going to burn a cross on a hill near the intersection of Hancock and Delta, a strategic highly populated thoroughfare. He also revealed that Fred Wilkens would be attending the meeting. Ken informed Jim that he and Chuck would be personally nationalized, meaning sworn in as official members of the Ku Klux Klan by David Duke in January during his visit to the Colorado Springs area. (Note: Within the Klan, this was considered a very high honor, being personally inducted into the organization by the Grand Wizard).

Ken continued stating he had met an elderly man who had been an active member of the Klan in the 1920s and 1930s.  He said he confirmed this man’s Klan past because he knew the “secret handshake” of the Klan. It was this man’s intention to reactivate his membership and help the Colorado Springs chapter grow. Ken closed by stating that Jim and Chuck would be taught the secret Klan handshake after they had been nationalized by David Duke.

Also on this date, I received a phone call from an agent with the Office of Special Investigation (OSI) at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs regarding a Black airman (rank of E-5) assigned to NORAD.  According to the agent, this individual was attempting to organize armed anti-Klan activity among Black military personnel. The agent said the individual had a reputation for being extremely militant and has even talked about methods for taking over NORAD and some of his takeover talk was quite feasible.  To the best of my knowledge no action was ever taken against this individual for his statements of mutiny.

At 7:00 p.m. that evening, Chuck and Jim attended the joint meeting between the Klan and the Posse Comitatus held at a Westside Colorado Springs residence.  The purpose of the meeting was for leaders of the two groups to exchange ideas on maximizing collaboration.

Representing the Klan were Fred Wilkens and David Lane, the Denver organizer and an attorney who said he represented the Klan in the greater Denver area.  This was the first time we had encountered David Lane other than seeing his name referenced in an occasional media story on the hate movement in Colorado. Also representing the Klan was Donald Black, the Alabama State Organizer/Grand Dragon who was a close associate of Duke’s and had been visiting Wilkens, his counterpart in Colorado. He agreed to accompany him to this meeting, though we did not know if it was to support Wilkens or if he was in Colorado on behalf of the national office of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan on orders from Duke. Also from Denver was an individual representing the American Nazi Party.

[Note:  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.  He was unsuccessful in sustaining the “respectable” image initiated by Duke.  According to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Klanwatch Project, about a year after Black assumed control of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan he was arrested along with other Klansmen and neo-Nazis for attempting to overthrow the government of Dominica. Years later, after Duke and his wife divorced, Black married her and they founded the Internet’s first hate site, Stormfront.org]

This meeting was the first time we learned of a link between the Klan and the American Nazi Party in Colorado Springs. Also in attendance were the Colorado Springs Klan members Tim, Joe, and new prospective members, including the elderly man who had supposedly been a Klansman in the 1920s-30s. Representing the Posse was its leader, Chuck Howarth, and several other members. The attorney took control of the meeting by urging the Posse to become more actively involved in White racist groups in Colorado.

Ken told Wilkens he had recruited 38 prospective Klan members in the Colorado State Penitentiary, which was never confirmed. He asked Wilkens if he had accomplished anything regarding the circulation of the Klan newspaper at Fort Carson. Wilkens replied that the military authorities had not yet contacted him regarding the request to circulate The Crusader on base.

Donald Black then introduced the film “Birth of a Nation” to the audience.  At intermission, the Denver contingent announced they were going to leave; however, before they did the attorney gave his “closing argument” for uniting the two groups by stating, “All White groups must unite in order to be successful in their efforts to obtain White supremacy.” He urged everyone present to join the local Ku Klux Klan.  He ended his statement with the Nazi greeting, the raised right arm with hand open, palm down, and a hearty “Sieg Heil.”

[Note: Mrs. Z at the ADL was very interested in this meeting when I relayed the events to her and the attorney’s particular role in it. She indicated to me that she would be notifying her headquarter office in New York City with the information because they would be very concerned by this attempt to merge the Klan with the Posse Comitatus. She further indicated that my investigation had uncovered something that they had not previously been aware of.]

After their departure, the second half of the film was viewed by the Colorado Springs residents.  After the showing, Posse leader Chuck Howarth ordered 24 copies of the Klan newspapers for his members. The meeting ended shortly thereafter. It was Jim’s opinion that the Klan and Posse leaders had been receptive to their respective philosophies and a follow-up meeting was set for a future date in Denver.

On January 2, 1979, my Ku Klux Klan membership card was delivered by the U.S. Postal Service to Ken’s residence. Jim met with him to pick it up and it was later given to me.  I’ve carried that card in my wallet since that date as a memento of a unique chapter in my law enforcement career.  I also carry it as a reminder of the theme song of the civil rights movement, “We Shall Overcome.”

While at Ken’s home, Jim was told that he and Chuck should arrive at his house at 1:30 p.m. on January 7th to be “nationalized,” officially inducted into the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan by David Duke, who would arrive in Denver the day before.  He explained that 15 members from Colorado Springs would be going through the “nationalization” ceremony. He also indicated that Fred Wilkens was scheduled to be at his home later this evening to discuss the details of Duke’s visit. Ken further stated that he and a local television station had gained permission from Fort Carson authorities to interview White people on the base regarding prejudice against White soldiers.

The meeting ended with Jim returning to the police department with my membership card, which I immediately signed.  The part of the card which grabbed my attention was the backside with its “six pledges” concerning the “Personal Code” of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

The pledge that captured my attention and drove me, Jim, and Chuck into a fit of laughter was #5: “I Pledge:  to never discuss any Klan affairs with any plain clothes officers on a state, local or national level.”

Our laughter was fueled by the fact that every Klan member we had personally encountered, either by phone or in person -- up to and including the Grand Wizard himself -- had violated this pledge numerous times with more violations to come.

After receiving the card, I placed two calls:  The first to Ken and the second to David Duke. I thanked Ken for having my membership card delivered to me. He was gracious in his response, but explained that though my membership had been registered with the national office in Louisiana, it would not be finalized until I had gone through the nationalization ceremony.

Ken went on to explain that a Denver area location had been reserved for the ceremony and following that, “Birth of a Nation” would be shown.  He said the location had a seating capacity of 150 and 113 invitations had already been sent to Denver area residents to come witness the ceremony and to celebrate Duke’s visit, adding they expected to fill all 150 seats because in addition to the ceremony and film, Duke would be giving a speech.

He continued that once Duke’s Colorado Springs visit was concluded he wanted the local membership to hold a cross-burning ceremony. He explained how on either the 11th or 12th of January a hole would be dug in the ground and a cross doused with kerosene would be placed in it somewhere in the Sand Creek area (east) near Academy Boulevard, which is in close proximity to Interstate 25 and thus highly visible to passing motorists.

Igniting the cross, he said, would be accomplished by using a “matchbook” fuse, a method he once saw done in a movie:  It entailed placing a book of matches at the base of the cross and sticking a lit cigarette – burned down until it had about two minutes left -- in the matchbook.  When the lit end made contact with the matches they would ignite and, in turn, ignite the cross.  By lighting the cross in this way, Ken explained, it would give them time to put some distance between them and the burning cross before the police arrived on the scene in response to citizen complaints. [Note: With this last statement, Ken was unwittingly acknowledging that the cross-burning ceremony was in fact an illegal act warranting police action.]

I asked Ken if wearing a hooded robe was required for those being nationalized. He replied that it was not mandatory; however, if I had one I should wear it as it helps promote a sense of Klan pride.  We did not purchase a Klan robe from the national office because the police department would not authorize the $40 of funds. After telling me Duke would be in Colorado Springs on January 10th, our conversation ended.

I then placed a phone call to Duke down in Louisiana.  I thanked him profusely for approving my membership into “his” Klan and told him how proud I was to finally have my membership card.  He cordially accepted my words of gratitude and said he looked forward to my continued participation as a Klansman. When I asked him, he confirmed his visit to Colorado Springs would occur on the January 10th. He said he heard positive things about me from Ken and Wilkens and he looked forward to meeting me when he arrived. (Note:  The next day I confirmed with Continental Airlines that a reservation had been made for a “Mr. D. Duke” departing from New Orleans Airport to Stapleton International Airport on January 6th.  A return flight had been confirmed for January 13th.  I was playing a hunch and at that time, Continental Airlines was one of the major airline carriers in the country. In that pre-9/11 era doing such a background check was not too difficult for a local police officer, although I did have to jump through a few hoops to eventually acquire the information.  It gave me and my colleagues a more definitive answer as to Duke’s arrival/departure plans and allowed us to strategize accordingly.)

On January 4th, in preparation for David Duke’s visit to Denver for the nationalization ceremony and the resulting media blitz and anti-Klan community protests that would inevitably follow, a strategy meeting was held at the Denver Police Department. Jim and I, along with my Sergeant Ken Trapp, represented the CSPD.  [Note:  Sergeant Trapp was a wonderful supervisor, mentor and friend.  Initially he had his doubts about whether or not I could successfully pull off this “sting” but he gave me his full support without any subsequent hesitation or reservation—at every stage, especially when I ran into conflict within my own department, such as the incident with the narcotics lieutenant over the use of Chuck to pose as my undercover alter ego for face-to-face meetings with the Klan.  When I  wanted to go over Arthur’s head and take the matter up with the Chief of Police, Sergeant Trapp did not bat an eye. He said, “Let’s go,” and we marched off together to the Chief’s office. He let me do most of the talking, only interjecting supporting comments when he thought it necessary to do so. That was how Art was compelled to cooperate with me in providing Chuck and other assistance (i.e., later Jim and surveillance back-up) as needed. Without Sergeant Trapp’s support at this critical stage, this investigation would never have gotten off the ground.

He did, however, have one doubt about the investigation from the very beginning shared by several others within the department as well, which he expressed to me just prior to our march to the Chief’s office. He said it was likely to come up and I needed to have an answer for it.  What was that doubt? Sergeant Trapp said the Klan members I would be talking to would eventually figure out that I was a “Black” man because of the way I talked; my speech pattern would give me away as being a “Black” man.

For the record, Sergeant Trapp did NOT, in my opinion, have a racist bone in his body.  He was one of the kindest, most soft-spoken, decent men I had ever encountered in my law enforcement career and I considered him to be deserving of the highest compliment one police officer can give another:  He was “A DAMN GOOD COP!”

In spite of this, however, he was what the youth of today would call “old school” in his thinking, part of a different generation. Born in 1935, he grew up in the small Colorado community of Monte Vista (2000 Census population of 4,529; 63.08% White and 0.38% Black), located in Rio Grande County, southwest of El Paso County Colorado Springs.  His experience as a street cop dealing with Black pimps, prostitutes, drug dealers and other dregs of street society whose actions tend to reflect negatively on the race as a whole was the basis of his statement to me regarding “…talking like a Black man.” In his experience dealing with the people I’ve described the overwhelming majority of them spoke in what can best be called a “street dialect” filled with a lot of expressive and explicit references to male-female anatomy punctuated with a verbal volley of profanity, an expressive style of talking, unique to their community. When working undercover among them, I often lapsed into that jargon as a means of making myself more acceptable to their community and in some cases that capacity proved essential towards my ability to get into their good graces for a successful investigation.

Though Sergeant Trapp wasn’t a racist, his statement to me was, in fact, a racist statement and I challenged him on it. I asked him to explain to me what a Black man talked like.  He was taken aback for a moment and then said, “You know, shucking and jiving and saying ‘fuck you’ and ‘motherfucker’ all the time.”  I immediately burst into laughter at the incongruity of his statement as to its meaning and how that meaning concerned me in the context of the potential success of this investigation.

To offer a lengthy explanation from the book “Cool Pose:  The Dilemmas of Black Manhood in America” by Richard Majors and Janet Mancini Billson:

“Shucking is a unique form of communication masking, Black males have used successfully since slavery -- a communication style that conforms to racial stereotypes yet cognitively rejects them at the same time. Stanback and Pearce define shucking as talk and physical movements that construct a temporary guise or façade designed to accommodate The Man.  Shucking produces, in the moment of an encounter, whatever appearance The Man would find acceptable. Kockman says the function of shucking is to work on “members of the establishment” in a way that will result in the Black male gaining some advantage.  It is a defensive performance that promotes a stereotypical image that is bought by the audience but disbelieved by the performer.  In this sense, shucking is another form of Black acting.” (P. 63)

The term “jive” on the other hand is defined as “glib, deceptive or foolish talk.” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2004 paperback edition)

Sergeant Trapp and others in the department who had shared this thought with me were essentially saying I would not be able to successfully communicate with these Klansmen over the phone. Being a Black man, I would ultimately “shuck and jive” during my conversation thereby giving away that I was in fact a “Black” man; I would, in essence, somehow give in to the urge to say “fuck” and “motherfucker” and any Klansman I might be speaking with would immediately know they were talking to a “Black” man.  In many respects, Sergeant Trapp’s argument was the opposite side of that presented earlier by David Duke in his “ARE-UH” comment to me regarding how to identify when an unknown voice on the phone was a “nigger.”

After I stopped laughing, I defied Sergeant Trapp to point out any aspect of my speech pattern that fit his claim of “what Black men talk like.”  We stared at each other for what seemed like a long period of time, but in reality was probably only a few seconds, me smiling the entire time in open triumphant defiance, before he finally started smiling too and stated that he saw my point.  It was then that we marched to the Chief’s office and took up the issue of Arthur’s refusal to cooperate with me.

Sergeant Trapp, based his comment on his life experience growing up in a small town with virtually no encounters with Black people or Black professionals, he routinely dealt with what can only politely be called the lower class of Black street society. He was fixated on a stereotype that had become a part of his thinking, not to mention that the police department had been predominantly White for a good portion of his career. My belief is that had he not had to confront that stereotype until that moment between us, his viewpoint would have never changed; however, once he did and the truth was pointed out he quickly accepted it and the bond we forged up to that point was made even stronger.  We worked very well together, but there was one problem we had to overcome.

Sergeant Trapp was in the office when I made the first telephone call initiating contact with the Klansmen and from that point on, when I would converse with them he would literally be red-in-the-face, practically falling out of his chair with bellyaching laughter listening to my end of the conversation pretending to be a “pure White Aryan racist.” When my telephone con would be directed at David Duke, Sergeant Trapp’s ability to maintain his composure would be especially lost due to laughter, sometimes to the point of having to temporarily flee the office because he was on the verge of choking. This was particularly true when I would recite the litany of racist buzzwords to support my White racial supremacist bona fides. Seeing him doubled over in laughter would, in turn, cause me to lose my composure and I, too, would be overcome with laughter at his antics. Many a time we were like a comic duo on a Saturday Night Live skit.  Both of us fighting to maintain our self-control; one of us (him) losing it while the other (me) fought to maintain it before finally succumbing to his (Sgt. Trapp’s) out-of-control antics and then we both would be doubled over in laughter over the ridiculous nature of the situation. Many a time I had to place my hand over the phone speaker to conceal the laughter in the room because we both were, literally, out of control as a result of the gullible and naïve ineptitude of the Klansman I was speaking with at the time.  This was an extremely serious subject with high adverse risk potential to Colorado Springs citizens, but there were moments of extreme hilarity that could not be ignored for what it was.  That emotion had to come out, and between Sergeant Trapp and me it often came out during my phone conversations in the form of side-splitting laughter.

Unfortunately, Sergeant Trapp died of cancer in 1981. I visited him in the hospital about a month before his passing and thanked him for his friendship and all the support he had shown me during the time we had worked together.  I punctuated it by telling him that I loved him.  He said the same back to me (cops do not talk like this to one another; so to express such a thought is a major emotional revelation).  Those were the last words we said to one another before I left his bedside.  I was privileged to give a eulogy at his funeral.  I miss him.  May God Bless and keep him in His arms.

Representing the Denver Police Department at the strategy planning meeting was their Intelligence Sergeant and one of their detectives. A detective from the Lakewood Police Department was also present as was an investigator from the Colorado Attorney-General’s Organized Crime Strike Force.  It was quickly revealed that one of the unknown attendees at the December 20th meeting between the Klan and the Posse in which “Birth of a Nation” was shown was the leader of the Posse Comitatus in Lakewood.

I offered the Denver Police Department the opportunity to have a more active role in the investigation by getting one of their intelligence detectives undercover into the Klan.  In that way their officer would be able to monitor activity in the local hate group movement in the same manner that we were doing in Colorado Springs.  The Denver Sergeant agreed to my offer and said he would have a detective available for our insertion into the group at the upcoming meeting with David Duke.

[Note: I had an ulterior motive to my offer to include a Denver undercover officer into the investigation. By doing so I would then have three sets of eyes and ears into the Colorado Klan and it was my belief that we would--intelligence wise--have the Ku Klux Klan sewn up and perhaps open doors for further penetration into Colorado’s hate movement groups.]

As a result of this meeting, all of these agencies committed a total of seven surveillance officers to provide back-up coverage to Chuck and Jim during the nationalization ceremony.

[Note: It should be evident that the participation of Denver and Lakewood Police Departments and the Colorado Attorney-General’s Office demonstrated the seriousness with which law enforcement took the potential risk factors of Duke’s presence, the combined Denver and Colorado Klan chapters, American Nazi Party, Posse Comitatus, and outlaw motorcycle gang members who also subscribe to White racial supremacist rhetoric and who were expected to attend in celebration of Duke.  This was shaping up to be a conclave of the Colorado hate group movement with David Duke as the central figure.  To the best of my knowledge, nothing like this had ever happened before in Colorado law enforcement, at least during my employment, and no stone was being left unturned to provide protection to our people. It was also the first time the Attorney-General’s office got involved in the racist hate movement (again, to the best of my knowledge). This was in part due to the Organized Crime Strike Force, dominated and supervised by Denver officers. Other departments throughout the state participated in the strike force as deputized attorney-general investigators. My supervisor, Robert C. Cantwell, later became Chief of the Denver Police Department.  When he retired, the governor appointed him to head the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and later the Colorado Department of Corrections.]

By January 6th the media was aware of Duke’s imminent visit to Colorado Springs and the protest groups began to respond accordingly.  The Gazette-Telegraph newspaper reported one such meeting, at noon, in Acacia Park in the heart of the downtown district involving about 20 people. The anti-Klan protest group involved was “People for the Betterment of People.”  A second group by the name of “Citizens for the Reform of Prisoner’s Rights” showed up in a form of solidarity to publicize their particular cause. They met at the park at the corner of Tejon and Nevada Avenue and marched a few blocks. Walking across the street from them in full view of everyone were two Klansmen countering their protests.

The Denver chapter of the Committee Against Racism (CAR) was scheduled to participate in this demonstration; however, they were unable to make it from Denver.  Their secretary, Marianne Gilbert, a faculty member at Denver University, gave an interview to the newspaper reporter in which she said, “The Ku Klux Klan is a vicious organization, and must be smashed.  Whatever it takes should be done.”

[Note: This demonstration, like others, was a complete failure in the sense that it drew an attendance of only 20 people.  For a community that, according to some media reports of the time, was in the throes of outrage over the Klan’s presence and Duke’s upcoming visit, the presence of 20 protestors was a paltry number. The group “People for the Betterment of People” in all likelihood meant well but like other locally formed protests groups lacked true leaders with organizational and rhetorical skills with the capability to rally supporters to a cause.  This happened on more than one occasion during the course of this investigation. A small group of citizens expressed their outrage over the Klan’s antics yet the overall community response remained tepid.

A group like CAR (Committee Against Racism, sometimes referred to as INCAR, International Committee Against Racism) on the other hand was the direct opposite and posed more of a threat to groups like the Klan and law enforcement. CAR and its parent organization 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.

This particular demonstration further showed what I considered to be media complicity in promoting the Klan agenda.  The media decision to cover this obvious “no news” event of 20 people gathering at a city park and walking down the street became news when the reporters chose to interview people and give them a forum to express their views.  The opportunity to voice their opinion, unsupported by facts of any kind, to support their strong, personal moral conviction regarding the Klan merely poured fuel on a smoldering flame.

The two Klansmen who joined the fray by walking the route of the protest were completely ignored by everyone, including the media representatives present. I watched one of them walk up to one of the reporters and ask him if he was looking for a story. When the reporter said yes, the Klansman told the reporter to follow him to his pickup truck. Once there the Klansman put on his robe and the interview began followed by the march. Other media members observed this and rushed over to the Klansman and stuck microphones and cameras in his face like the maddening rush of paparazzi today. It was a feeding frenzy, a news-making event eminating from the actions of the media itself.

The media all too often unwittingly(perhaps) creates the very news it reports because of their zeal to get a story.  This only benefits the person or subject being covered and gives them or it a power they do not deserve.

Chapter 6

On January 7th, Chuck and Jim went to an apartment building in Lakewood -- the residence of Fred Wilkens -- to participate in the nationalization ceremony for formal induction into the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Other members from the Colorado Springs chapter were supposed to meet them there; however, when they were escorted to a different room by a member of a Colorado Springs biker gang, they found 11 people present including some from Colorado Springs. At this time they were formally introduced to David Duke and David Lane, the Klan organizer for the Denver area. They noticed that T-shirts with the inscription “White Power-Ku Klux Klan” were being sold and they both bought one. They were told that everyone would be going to a local Denny’s restaurant for lunch before proceeding to the meeting location (Note:  Surveillance units provided backup coverage for the officers throughout this encounter and for the remainder of their stay with Duke.)

At the restaurant, Chuck and Jim learned the meeting would be held at Grange Hall in Wheatridge, a city on the north border of Lakewood, 3130 Youngfield Street.  Jim slipped away from the group and placed a phone call to a Denver Police Detective regarding the location of the meeting. The detective was told to be there so he could be inducted into the Klan. Jim and Chuck then left the restaurant enroute to Grange Hall.

By the time they arrived, Ken was there along with the Denver detective.  Ken was helping him complete the Klan application form and was being paid the membership dues. With this application, a total of 12 people were going to be nationalized as Klansmen (eight Colorado Springs and four Denver, including one Denver undercover officer).

The ceremony was approximately sixty minutes long, officiated by David Duke, David Lane the Denver organizer, Ken O’dell, and Joseph Stewart, Ken’s second-in-command. Duke wore his Klan robe representative of his position as the Grand Wizard and each of the others were also clad in their respective Klan robes. It was a solemn occasion under candlelight that began with the Pledge of Allegiance. Throughout the evening, each presiding official read a portion of the ceremony. Among the first things the inductees had to do was answer “yes” to the following ten questions:

1)       Are you a White, non-Jewish American citizen?

2)     Is the motive prompting your ambition to be a Klansman sincere and unselfish?

3)      Have you ever been rejected, upon application, for membership in the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan?

4)     Do you believe in the Constitution of the United States?

5)     Are you in favor of a Whiteman’s government in this country?

6)      Do you believe in the right of free men to rebel against government tyranny?

7)               Do you believe in Racial Separation?

8)              Do you believe in the right for our people to practice the Christian Faith anywhere they assemble, including prayers in schools and public facilities?

9) Will you faithfully obey our Klan Constitution and regulations?

10)              Are you willing to dedicate your life to the protection, preservation, and advancement of the White Race?

Questions 4-10 bear closer scrutiny.  First (#4), the inductees were asked if they believed in the Constitution of the United States, but by #6 they were asked to accept the right to rebel against that very government.  In between (#5), they were asked to favor a “Whiteman’s government” in the country. What exactly constituted a “Whiteman’s government” and how was it different from that of the government which we subscribe to as citizens under the U.S. Constitution which they were asked to believe in according to #4?  By #7, the inductees were clearly asked to disavow and reject the concept of racial/ethnic diversity which has long been the fibers holding together the American quilt.

In #8, Duke does what most demagogues have been known to do and that’s invoke religion, “the Christian Faith,” to justify his position and that path he was asking those kneeling before him to follow. After asking the inductee in (#4) if they believed in the Constitution of the United States, by (#9) they are asked to essentially disavow that belief and “faithfully obey our Klan Constitution and regulations.” This was punctuated in exclamatory fashion in #10 by asking that the Klan become the life mission of each inductee.  In this, single-minded devotion to “the cause” was being asked.

At a certain point in the ceremony, the inductees were asked to kneel and pray as Duke sprinkled “holy water” of purification on them and recited the words: “In body, In mind, In spirit,” resembling the blessing used in the Catholic church, “In the name of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit.” (Note: It is ironic that the KKK would co-opt a section from the Catholic service, a faith that they have historically held in disdain, for one of their most sacred ceremonies.  It is one of their many blatant hypocrisies.)  That prayer went:

God give us true Whitemen!  The Invisible Empire demands strong minds, great heart, true faith and ready hands.

Men whom the lust of office does not kill;

Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy;

Men whom possess opinions and a will;

Men whom have HONOR; men who will not Lie;

Men who can stand before a demagogue

And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking!

Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog in public duty and private thinking;

For while the rabble, with their thumb-worn creeds,

Their large professions and their little deeds,

Mingle in selfish, strife, Lo!  Freedom weeps

WRONG rules the land, and waiting justice sleeps.

God give us true Whitemen

Men who serve not for selfish booty.

But real men, courageous, who flinch not at duty;

Men of dependable character; men of sterling worth;

Then wrongs will be redressed, and right will rule the earth;

God give us true Whitemen!

Following the prayer and a few other nonsensical words about the meaning of being a Klansman, each inductee was required to repeat the Klan Oath which is considered TOP SECRET.  Next is a copy of the entire nationalization ceremony as used by David Duke to induct Chuck and Jim. A copy of the ceremony was surreptitiously obtained by one of my new inductees without Duke’s knowledge.  It was a surreal moment as I monitored the activity via the wireless transmitting device from the privacy of my undercover police vehicle.

At the conclusion of the ceremony the forty people present stayed for a viewing of “Birth of a Nation.”  Chuck noticed that the Posse Comitatus brought a metal detector to the meeting to prevent any visiting attendee from entering the premises carrying a gun. One individual was, in fact, caught with the aid of the device and turned away.  Jim and Chuck posed for a couple of photographs with David Duke. Duke autographed one of them, “To Rick Kelly, White Power Forever.” (Note: “Rick Kelly” was Jim’s undercover name)

Photo of CSPD Detective James Rose (left) with Grand Wizard David Duke (right)

at the home of Chuck Holwarth

Following the Klan nationalization ceremony on the far right, CSPD Detective James Rose; (middle) CSPD Detective Chuck (AKA Ron Stallworth); Grand Wizard David Duke (standing next to cross); three unknown Klan inductee’s (standing to left).

Approximately two weeks later, I received a package in the mail from David Duke’s national Klan headquarters in Louisiana. Inside the package was my “Certificate of Citizenship” signed by Duke validating my membership in the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

On January 8th Chuck received a call from Ken requesting he go with him to Denver to help provide security for David Duke during his personal appearances. He received word from Fred Wilkens that at one of Duke’s appearances there had been about 20 demonstrators shouting anti-Duke/anti-Klan slogans.  Ken felt the Klan should respond in kind, and show force in numbers at Duke’s next appearance.  He said he had already enlisted the aid of several of the Klan’s “biker friends” and that if Chuck were to accompany him the next time Duke came under fire it would turn out to be an “ass--kicking match.”  Chuck told Ken that due to his job he did not think he would be able to make the trip.  The conversation was then terminated.

On January 9th I telephoned Ken at his residence and told him I heard there was an anti-Klan demonstration planned for Duke’s appearance at the KKTV studio in Colorado Springs on the 10th at 6:00 p.m.  This demonstration was not a secret; the information was floating in the public sphere and I was seeking information as to what, if any, response the Klan had planned on Duke’s behalf.  Ken replied that he wanted a maximum attendance from the local membership tomorrow. He was going to call the police department to ask for police protection for Duke to help prevent any open display of violence by demonstrators. He then revealed that Duke would have a scheduled luncheon with local membership and the Posse Comitatus at the Bonanza Steakhouse, 1850 N. Academy Boulevard. Following that, Duke would make an appearance on KRDO-TV and at 6:00 p.m. would appear on KKTV to debate a “nigger” professor from the University of Southern Colorado.  Ken added he expected Channel 9 News from Denver to also cover Duke’s Colorado Springs appearances.

About a half hour after my conversation with Ken, he telephoned the night shift commander of the police department and identified himself as the local organizer of the Ku Klux Klan. He explained to the lieutenant that David Duke had three scheduled visits in Colorado Springs the next day and was receiving death threats due to his position as the national leader of the Klan.  Ken requested police protection for Duke during his time in the city, between 12:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.

The lieutenant told Ken the request would be routed to the proper section within the department.  The lieutenant forwarded Ken’s request to me in the Intelligence Unit because among our occasional assigned duties was “V-I-P/Dignitary Protection.” That usually entailed elected officials, current and former;  I twice worked on the security protection detail for former President Gerald Ford, a truly warm and wonderfully kind-hearted, concerned man that bore no outward attitudinal trappings of the office he once held.  He was a true gentleman and the quality of his political ethics is something that is sorely lacking in today’s political discourse. I fondly remember the minimal time I had in his company and how humble he was to those assigned to his protection. I must confess to shedding a tear or two at the news of his passing in 2006 and while watching his funeral on television. I passed on the lieutenant’s information from Ken to my Sergeant and forgot about it.

Later on the 9th I received a phone call from one of the protestors I had met at the Acacia Park demonstration. He stated the group he was associated with, Coalition Against Racism and Sexism, had changed its name to the Anti-Racism Coalition (ARC).  He said the Denver-based Committee Against Racism (CAR) and the Colorado Springs group People for the Betterment of People would all be gathering downtown at the Guiseppe’s Depot Restaurant on January 13th and march to Acacia Park, about a half mile away for a rally against the Klan. I was invited to attend.

January 10, 1979

The big day everyone had been anticipating since the start of this investigation had finally arrived.  David Ernest Duke, Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, was meeting his entourage of Klansmen at the Bonanza Steakhouse.  Their meeting was scheduled for noon; however, early that morning I was summoned to the office of the Chief of Police.

The Chief explained the department had received several threats against Duke’s life during his Colorado Springs visit and did not want anything to happen to him while in “his” city.  In the latest twist of fate in this investigation, the chief said he wanted me, Ron Stallworth official card carrying “Black” member of the Ku Klux Klan to act as Duke’s personal security detail while he was here. Because we had two officers undercover with the Klansmen the chief felt that I alone would be sufficient; if anything of serious consequence broke out the two officers could, out of necessity, break their cover and come to my aid. Meanwhile, the Chief had alerted our day shift commander of Duke’s appearances and the uniformed patrol officers working the particular areas would be extra attentive to those locations and the actions of any anti-Klan demonstrators who might be in the area.

I pleaded with the Chief, “Placing me in this position could compromise the case because this whole investigation revolved around the Klan’s understanding that “Ron Stallworth” was one of their White members, not a “Black” cop.” I pointed out that I could run into somebody during the course of this detail who could reveal my name and thus throw everything into confusion, not to mention the potential risk factor to Chuck and Jim; And Posse Comitatus was part of this entourage and most, if not all of them, would be armed.

He understood my concerns but felt the threats were serious enough to warrant this special request; plus there was no one else available at the time and due to my connection to the case he felt I was the best person under the circumstances.

I was not pleased with the Chief’s decision.  The risk of Chuck and Jim’s undercover identities being compromised in the event a serious incident against Duke happened and it warranted my needing their assistance was, in my opinion, too great. I reluctantly left his office with my marching orders to protect the leader of the Klan.

At the noon meeting at the Bonanza Steakhouse I was surrounded by Klansmen, an uncomfortable moment for any Black man. Present were David Duke, Fred Wilkens, Ken O’dell, Joseph Stewart, Chuck, Jim and several other local members.  Also present was Posse Comitatus leader Chuck Howarth and several of his membership. The significance of this event in the eyes of these individuals was evident by the fact that several of them brought their wives to the luncheon. To them meeting Duke, sharing a meal and a personal moment with him, was akin to a patriotic American sharing similar time with the President of the United States. They were literally in awe of being in Duke’s presence and they basked in what they perceived to be his glory.

Chuck and Jim were surprised to see me physically present in the reserved meeting room with them. I gave them a non-verbal signal to let them know everything was alright. They appeared to relax as I made contact with Duke. Ken and several of the Klansmen along with Chuck Howarth gathered around to hear what I had to say.

I extended my hand to Duke -- addressing him as “Mr. Duke” -- which he took and shook in the Klan manner, the index and middle finger extended along the inside wrist while pressing the tips of the fingers into the flesh as the hand is pumped.  I later learned this was the Klan’s “secret” handshake.  I introduced myself as a detective with the Colorado Springs Police Department. At no time did I offer a name, not even one of my undercover names (I had two). I was a little apprehensive at first about Ken, Fred, and Duke hearing my voice for an extended period, thinking it might trigger something in their memory from our many telephone conversations, but they never recognized it.  My apprehension quickly gave way to a renewed sense of confidence that these three individuals and their followers had been completely hoodwinked, bamboozled to the point of incompetence.

I told “Mr. Duke” that we (CSPD) had received threats against his well-being. I deliberately avoided telling him they were death threats. I told him they were serious enough to warrant my being assigned by the Chief of Police as his personal security officer during his stay in the city.

(Note: I noticed that upon hearing this news Fred, Ken and several others began smiling.  I could not tell if they were smiling out of relief that the threats against their leader had been taken seriously to the point of the police department taking official action on his behalf, or if they were smiling at the incongruous spectacle before them: A “nigger” cop being responsible for the personal safety and welfare of their leader, the Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Whatever their motivation, it brought smiles to their faces. I must confess that I, too, was chuckling on the inside because it just lent further credence to the hoax in which they were unwitting participants.)

To his credit, Duke was very thankful for the police department’s consideration for his well-being and generously expressed his gratitude for assuming that responsibility.  I made it very clear to Duke that I did NOT agree with his philosophy or political ideology regarding Blacks, Jews, and other minority groups, but that I was a professional as far as my job performance was concerned and I would do everything within my means to insure his safety while in my city.

His reply was polite, simple and direct, “That’s fine. I understand and I appreciate your help.”  That appreciation was echoed by Ken O’dell and Fred Wilkens.

While all of this was taking place, Chuck Howarth merely stood by and glared at me. He was one of my main concerns about having my identity as the “real” Ron Stallworth compromised, because I had previously contacted him on at least two occasions, though I could not recall whether I had ever given him my name or not.  As it stood, I believe he recognized me from one of our previous encounters. I was, after all the only Black detective in the department at the time, but he apparently did not remember my name, if he ever knew it, and thus the undercover hoax Chuck, Jim, and I were perpetrating on the Klan remained intact.

I then asked “Mr. Duke” for a favor. He cordially agreed to my request without first asking what it was.  I was carrying a Polaroid camera, “Mr. Duke, no one will ever believe me if I tell them I was your bodyguard. Would you mind taking a picture with me?”

He, Wilkens, and Ken smiled at my request and agreed to pose for a photograph.  I then asked Wilkens if he would appear in the photograph with me and Duke and he also agreed.  In the latest display of mockery, I gave the camera to Chuck, the “white” Ron Stallworth, and asked him to take the picture. Both he and Jim could barely contain themselves at my brazen display of contempt at the Klansmen’s expense. 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 despise, who in this case was acting as his bodyguard, and the photographer was the undercover officer I placed in the group whom they all knew as me:  Ron Stallworth.

I stood between the two Klan leaders, Wilkens on my left and Duke on my right, and placed my arms around their shoulders. Wilkens thought it was amusing, laughing at my antics and seeing the obvious humor and perhaps publicity propaganda that could be gleaned from such a shot.  Duke, however, did not see the humor in my actions.  He stepped back while pushing my arm away from his shoulder and said, “I’m sorry, but I can’t be seen in a picture with you like that.”  Wilkens then stopped laughing, but maintained a smile on his face. I replied, “I understand; excuse me for a moment.”

I walked over to Chuck who was still holding the camera and, while pretending to deal with a matter pertaining to the camera, whispered to him, “When you hear me say three, snap the picture.”  I walked back over to Wilkens and Duke and resumed my position between them except this time my hands were clasped down by my waist. We all smiled for the camera and I counted “1-2-3.”

A fraction of a second before the count of three I raised my hand and once again placed my arms on the right shoulder of Wilkens and the left shoulder of Duke.  At that precise moment, Chuck took the picture before Duke could react.

Duke immediately bolted from me towards Chuck as if he had been reacting to the starter’s pistol in an Olympic sprint event. I, however, had been a sprinter in school and my reaction time was a split second faster; or could it be because I was a Black man and had “natural” speed according to the genetic theory spouted by Duke in his rhetorical musings on White superiority.  We both were headed for a common goal:  Duke wanted to snatch the camera from Chuck in order to destroy the picture which he viewed damaging to his image; I, on the other hand was not going to let him have MY camera or destroy MY picture.

Duke reached for the camera in Chuck’s hand but I was a split second faster. I actually got possession of the camera a fraction of a second before Duke.  He then reached toward me to take it out of my hand and I looked him in the eye with the coldest, most intimidating gaze I could collect and told him, “If you touch me I’ll arrest you for assault on a police officer.  That’s worth about five years in prison.  DON’T DO IT!”

Duke stopped dead in his tracks. The smile that had been on the face of Fred Wilkens faded.  David Duke glared at me with the most intense look of anger and contempt imaginable and I mischievously smiled at him with the camera in my hand. At this particular moment on this particular issue, the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan clearly realized that he was a defeated man at the mercy of “something” (not “someone”) he hated most --  a savage, simian-like in his and the Klan’s mind, intellectually inferior “nigger.”  The difference, though, was in this instance this inferior creature carried a badge and had the force of the law behind him and was willing to use it to make his point.  I had no doubt that when Duke backed off from trying to snatch the camera from my hand after hearing my warning, he knew I meant what I said and so did his followers.  I, personally, reveled in his and their mental smack down.

[Note: Over the years I have been asked if I really would have arrested Duke had he made a further attempt to grab the camera from my hand and touched me in the process. The answer, without any hesitation or reservation, is YES!   To put a historical context on this moment I must go back about 14 or so years (circa 1965).

During that time in the Southern states people like David Duke and his followers were terrorizing people like me and those who were supportive of and trying to help people like me.  Blacks and their supporters of every religious and racial stripe were merely exercising their rights as American citizens under the:

4th Amendment:   (unreasonable searches & seizure and no warrants or arrests can be issued without probable cause)

5th Amendment:  (no one can be deprived of life, liberty, or property without “due process” of law—this was initially applicable only to the federal government)

6th Amendment:  (guarantees a trial by jury, a public trial, the right to confront witnesses, and the right to a lawyer at various stages of criminal proceedings)

8th Amendment:  (prohibitions against excessive bails and fines and cruel & unusual punishment)

13th Amendment:  (elimination of slavery and involuntary servitude), and

14th Amendment:  (made the 5th Amendment right of “due process” applicable to those in all 50  states)

These basic rights were historically denied Blacks and others deemed objectionable to the Klan and they were forced to live in constant fear of reprisal for standing up for what they deemed their inherent right as freedom-loving American citizens. This social environment, more often than not, psychologically and sometimes physically castrated Black men, reducing them to a level of “nothingness” in the eyes of their loved ones. If they were not being mentally and physically castrated they became the “Strange Fruit” of trees, victims of lynching as sung by the late, great Black female blues singer, Billie Holiday:

Southern trees bear a strange fruit

Blood on the leaves and blood on the root,

Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze,

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant South,

The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,

Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,

Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,

For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,

For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,

Here is a strange and bitter crop.

(Billie Holliday, 1939, Commodore Label, Written by Abel Meeropol)

During that period even before the Klan and its leaders like David Duke, with their belief in White racial superiority, routinely denied Blacks their basic sense of humanity. For example, regardless the age of the individual Black man or woman, from 21-91, or their educational background, they were never treated with the dignity and respect due their seniority and educational attainment. This was especially true of the White young toward their Black elders. Blacks would never be referred to as a “Mister, Miss or Mrs.,” much less offered a polite “sir, ma’am, or madam.”  Instead, they were forever nothing more than “boy” and “girl (gal).” This was a deliberate effort to debase and delegitimize the Black man and woman as “men and women,” as adults. At best, they were seen as children that needed looking after; at worst, they were no better than any four-legged animal.

In the Bible, Genesis 1:26, God said, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness: let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (New King James Version, 1994)

To the David Dukes of the world and their sympathizers, THEY exist in God’s image and Blacks are among the animals for which they were given dominion over. The Klan and other White supremacist groups often invoke biblical references in their pronouncements to lend credence to their particular ideological brand. This was evident in the words of the nationalization ceremony. Throughout its history, the Ku Klux Klan used the Bible to justify its purposes while at the same time, paradoxically, using the historically Christian nature of Blacks to convince them to succumb to the Klan’s claim of dominance and control.]

This was the historical context which governed my thoughts and actions as the drama over the “camera showdown” played out.  This was why David Duke found himself in a defeated position and somewhat deflated over the issue of my possession of the camera. (Note: That picture was developed and framed, but unfortunately buried in a box among a mass of boxes that have accumulated over 35 succeeding years and four relocations across the western United States.) I, on the other hand, reveled in the fact that for one very brief moment, when Duke lost control of the camera he so desperately wanted, and I threatened him with arrest, prosecution, and a possible prison sentence, his control over his world was temporarily turned upside down.  He realized that he and his followers were NOT in control, but that this “intellectually inferior nigger” with a badge held the immediate future in his hands.  He may have viewed himself as being “God-like” in his image, but this “animal” (me) held dominion over him and his followers even if for a brief moment.

I couldn’t help but reflect on all of my spiritual ancestors over the link of time:  Black and White, Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish, who had fought and struggled so bravely against the brutality of the Ku Klux Klan over the years. They had lost because they had not been in a position of dominance and control in which I currently found myself. I reflected on those involved on the “front lines” of the civil rights struggle: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his primary advisor Dr. Ralph David Abernathy; Congressman John Lewis of Georgia, who had his skull cracked open by police officer sympathetic to the Klan, and others who had been subjected to unwarranted arrests based on the Jim Crow laws of the time justifying segregating Blacks from Whites; physical beatings, sometimes at the hands of police wielding night sticks; assault from high pressure fire hoses and German Shepherd police dogs that were employed by Birmingham, Alabama Police Commissioner Bull Connor against peaceful, non-violent civil rights marchers; rape of women, victims of late-night sniper attacks, and bombings. These were scenes I was accustomed to seeing, daily, in my youth on the evening news.

I reflected on that April 4, 1968 day of my freshman year at Austin High School in El Paso, Texas when the principal announced on the intercom that Dr. King had been killed in Memphis, Tennessee. I remembered the hush that came over the entire school, even as we were dismissed early from classes to go home and avoid the unknown anticipation of what might happen in the aftermath of his death (there were no riots in El Paso). An eerie almost deathly silence enveloped the entire student body of approximately 2,000 as they transitioned from classes to their lockers and then out of the school doors.  The primary discernible sound was of girls sobbing and the hushed musings of “I can’t believe it” or “Oh my God, what now?” I, along with two of my friends, went to the house of one who had a reel-to-reel tape recording of Dr. King’s now famous “I Have A Dream” speech. We sat in the den of his house and listened several times to that sonorous voice that haunts our consciousness to this day echoing, “Free At Last, Free At Last, Thank God Almighty We Are Free At Last!”  By the third time of listening to his speech, we all had tears in our eyes at the reality of what had happened to change the course of our collective “Black” reality.  We also pondered where we, as a people, would be going from here without Dr. King’s voice to guide us.

These were the thoughts that ran through my mind in that encounter with David Duke. I felt a sense of connection to those many “strange and bitter fruit” hanging from the trees over the decades because of the un-God-like atrocities perpetrated on them; and all of the forgotten others by the overbearing control and dominance of the Klan and the likes of the David Dukes of generations past. In this instance, however, the positions were reversed. I owned the moment, not the Grand Wizard and his Klan supporters. I held dominion over David Duke and he clearly did not like it. In essence, he had assumed the role of the “nigger” in this situation and I was his “massa” (master) with a badge and the force of the law to back me up.

Duke continued to glare at me with the most intense look of anger, contempt, and maybe even hatred I had experienced up to that time. I had arrested pimps, prostitutes and drug dealers and put them in jail and prison for a number of months and/or years who had not spewed the visual vile I received from David Duke. I believe if he could have demonstrated the depth of his humiliation in the form of violence and gotten away with it he would have. Without saying a word, he turned and walked away followed by Wilkens, Ken, Chuck, Jim and the rest of his entourage. For the rest of his stay in Colorado Springs, David Duke did not say another word to me, the Black man he was beholden to for his life while in Colorado Springs.

The luncheon was held while I sat off to the side observing. Duke made some typical White racial superiority comments to the combined Klan/Posse gathering.  I was in view of him and his audience and I did not try to hide my amusement at his claims of racial superiority/Black inferiority as he and his listeners completely tried to ignore that his claims had been shattered minutes ago by a so-called “inferior Black.” (Note: At no time did he say the pejorative “nigger” in any of his comments because he was putting on his “public” face representative of the “new Klan.”)

After the luncheon, the group traveled to the KRDO-TV studio where Duke was interviewed.  From there they caravanned to Posse leader Chuck Howarth’s house for a “summit” meeting.  While they were inside, I sat outside in my car providing protection.

Duke and Howarth conversed quite freely about their respective groups’ activities.  Howarth, in particular, eagerly spoke about actions the Posse had recently undertaken; he told Duke that they (Posse) were behind the recent attempt to recall Colorado Springs Mayor Larry Ochs and the charter amendments limiting the powers of the city council, both of which were soundly defeated by the voters. Howarth claimed that because of these efforts his home had been firebombed on two occasions.

Howarth went on to explain to Duke that the Posse Comitatus is a posse in peacetime.  In a moment’s notice, however, they could “change patches” and become a militia.  He said he had a Posse leader in each of the 64 counties of the state, thus implying that he was the state leader, which was never verified.

Howarth then went on a racist survivalist rant, he was certain there was going to be a famine soon and those prepared would have to take up arms against those not prepared.  He further stated the minorities were not preparing themselves for this calamitous event and as a result the White Aryan race would be the ultimate survivors and impose their will on the rest of society. Howarth indicated he wanted to contact the Klan two years ago when he first saw their newspaper ad but was afraid to act because of his fear that the ad might be a “plant” by the FBI.

While at Howarth’s home, Chuck and Jim managed to surreptitiously confiscate Fred Wilkens’ copy of “The White Primer:  A Dynamic Racial Analysis of Present Day America From the Viewpoint of The White Majority.”  It was reportedly published by a C.W. Bristol.  I checked that name through as many police data bases -- both in-state and out-of-state -- at the time and could find nothing on the name.  A New Orleans intelligence detective told me C.W. Bristol was a pseudonym used by David Duke, though I was never able to confirm this.  The 96-page book was sold by Duke’s national offices and it was advertised in the Klan newspaper, The Crusader. I later learned The White Primer was written by George Lincoln Rockwell, founder of the American Nazi Party.

[Note: This was yet another incongruity in the Ku Klux Klan and among most other White supremacist groups. They profess to subscribe to the highest ideals of Americanism -- celebrating the U.S. Constitution and hailing the American flag in the process -- yet they rank among their pantheon of heroes the likes of Adolph Hitler while singing the praises of the National Socialist movement (Nazi Party) he founded and led the world to the brink of destruction over 60 years ago. Listed in that pantheon is George Lincoln Rockwell, a decorated American World War II and Korean War Navy Commander who founded the American Nazi Party. The KKK salutation is even a reflection of the Nazi influence (a raised right arm, palm down, similar to that of the Nazi salute seen so often in newsreel footage of Nazi soldiers).]

“The White Primer” is Rockwell’s manifesto on race relations in America; why Blacks are inferior to Whites and are, in general, closer on the genetic scale to monkeys, and why Jews are inherently crooked with Blacks acting as their stooges to exploit White providence.  Both are responsible for destroying America and bringing down the White race.

When he discovered his copy of “The White Primer” was missing, Fred Wilkens frantically paced the house in search of it, asking people if they had seen it.  He never realized that one of his Klansmen, Jim, had slipped it inside his undershirt covered by his shirt and winter jacket and by the end of the evening’s activities the book was in my hands.

At 6:00 p.m., the Klan members made their way to the KRDO radio station for another interview of Duke. In my assigned role as his personal security detail, I accompanied the group to that location in my unmarked police car.  Duke, still annoyed with me over my humiliation of him at the earlier luncheon, maintained his silence around me to the point of refusing to acknowledge my presence.  He was perhaps irritated by the fact that his people asked for a police presence and because that request had been acted on by the Chief of Police; whether he liked it or not, the Grand Wizard for a little while longer had a “nigger” in his life that he could not dominate and control in the finest traditions of the “Old South.” I had taken his measure at the luncheon and come out on top, and without his knowledge was still making a fool of him and his organization.

At the conclusion of this radio interview, with his typical philosophical and ideological rant about White supremacy, Black inferiority, and Jewish corruption, Duke and his entourage proceeded to the KKTV studio for his debate with the Black history professor from the University of Southern Colorado, located in Pueblo, approximately 40 miles south of Colorado Springs.

As we made our way to the television studio I received word from the police dispatcher that an anonymous bomb threat had been phoned in to the studio threatening Duke’s life. The caller also stated that later that evening a meeting was being held at the Northwest Community Center, located at 605 Willamette, to discuss a response to the Klan’s growing notoriety in Colorado Springs.  As we arrived at the studio there were several anti-Duke/Klan protestors demonstrating at the entrance to the television studio building. They were cursing at Duke and his Klan entourage and a few were flinging small stones at them.

Although he did not speak to me, I believe Duke was at least grateful for my presence as I safely escorted him and his followers through the small group of protestors into the building. At the conclusion of this interview, Duke’s business in Colorado Springs was complete. My role in the visit, helping to secure his safety, was appreciated by Fred Wilkens who thanked me and shook my hand, but Duke still refused to acknowledge me.  Wilkens told me he and Duke were headed back to Denver. I followed his car as far as the nearest on-ramp to Interstate-25 to ensure his safety out of town.  My public service as bodyguard to the Grand Wizard was now complete.

[Note: It is interesting to assess Duke’s debate with the professor. Duke’s reputation was grounded in his image as the “face of the New Klan.” Part of that image was boosted by his skill as a rhetorical representative of Klan ideology.

As a debater, Duke was educated on his side of the issue and extremely articulate in presenting justification for that side.  He was always “cool” and polished in his demeanor and seemed to become more so in the face of ad hominem attacks by those not as versed as he. Even when his false claim of facts in support of his racist beliefs were aggressively challenged by his opponents, Duke remained calm and would present a well-reasoned response based on his positional thinking that often left them looking befuddled and him on the low side of brilliant.

That was the state of affairs, as I saw it, with his televised debate with the Black professor.  Duke seemed to dominate the discussion in spite of the professor’s command of historical facts regarding race relations and the Klan’s history of White supremacist terrorism. Duke’s debate mastery, from my vantage point, completely overwhelmed the professor. In all likelihood, he probably got a measure of vindication from his earlier humiliation at my hands by seeing himself redeemed at the expense of this “academic nigger.”

After seeing Duke and Wilkens off at the Interstate, I briefly returned to my office and was greeted by a message on my desk from a woman who was reporting that she had been involved with a group of Blacks who were planning to “blow up” cars belonging to Klan members.  I then proceeded to the Northwest Community Center where the meeting was still taking place. I entered the meeting in an undercover capacity as a concerned citizen fed up with the Klan’s views of White racial superiority and belief in division among people based on black and white skin color. I did not know it at the time, but I had begun a totally new undercover investigation, still involving the Ku Klux Klan, but not as the primary target.  This one involved the Denver-based anti-Klan violent communist-oriented Progressive Labor Party (PLP) and its front group, the International Committee Against Racism (INCAR).  I had a previous brief contact with two people associated with these groups back on November 10th at the first reported protest demonstration in the city.

When I walked into the community center, I recognized Doug Vaughn and Marianne Gilbert; fortunately, they did not recognize me.  In November she told me she was a member of INCAR and he said he was a member of the PLP.  On this occasion, in front of a small audience of about fifteen people, they both represented themselves as being members of INCAR and stated they wanted to start a chapter in Colorado Springs.

Marianne said INCAR was planning a march and rally in Acacia Park in downtown Colorado Springs on January 13th and she and Doug were there to solicit support from the various anti-Klan protest groups in the city.

Doug told the audience there would be trouble in Denver when David Duke was scheduled to speak on a Denver radio station January 11th.  He said if Duke could not enter the station he would not be able to be interviewed.

I asked Doug how they were going to stop Duke from entering the station.  His reply was that he expected to have a few heads cracked open, including police officers who got in the way. He then bragged about the number of police officers as well as Klansmen INCAR had sent to hospitals in anti-Klan protest demonstrations in the past in cities such as Oxnard California, Boston, and Tupelo Mississippi.

The following is an official police report:

Doug urged me to bring as many people as possible from Colorado Springs to Denver for the radio station protest. He told me to come with 2 x 4s with placards attached bearing protest slogans just in case heads needed to be cracked open.  He said he was going to carry a whittled down baseball bat instead of a 2 x 4.

Marianne gave me leaflets to pass out in Colorado Springs to garner support for the January 13th Acacia Park rally.  Doug gave me his personal home phone number in Denver and told me to call him.  I then left the meeting.

The following is a copy of the leaflet.

I later placed a phone call to the Denver Police Department to alert them to Doug’s threat to “crack open the heads of police officers” and learned that the phone number given to me by Doug was registered to a woman living in Denver.  The phone number printed on the leaflet was registered to Denver Sustaining Fund at a P.O. Box in Denver.  According to Denver PD, the Denver Sustaining Fund was a communist front group for various radical organizations in the Denver area. Intelligence further indicated that INCAR is a front group for the communist-oriented Progressive Labor Party.

The Progressive Labor Party (PLP) was formed in January 1962 as the Progressive Labor movement (PLM) by dissident members of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) who were expelled for backing the Chinese and Albanian Communists in their labor dispute with the less militant Soviet Communists.  At the first national convention in April 1965, the PLM became the Progressive Labor Party when members voted to become politically active and run candidates in local elections.

The PLP describes itself as being “dedicated to the United States working class and working class of the entire world.”  Their Party doctrine states, “The only way our class can have a decent life is by overthrowing the boss’s government and establishing a ‘Dictatorship of the working class,’ a system in which the workers rule and the bosses are outlawed.”

The PLP sponsors a number of “front” organizations which are designed to appeal to different areas of the community.  Its most recent and active “front” group is the International Committee Against Racism (INCAR) also known as Committee Against Racism (CAR).

The Committee Against Racism was established in 1973. There are members of CAR that are not PLP members; however, there are some that have duel membership. The stated purpose of CAR is to move “towards becoming the organizational core for a mass, multiracial, anti-racist movement…”  For the PLP leadership, the work of CAR “fulfills the revolutionary aspect” of the Progressive Labor Party. The ultimate goal of CAR is the establishment of an “international working class through socialist revolution.”  The main point of their revolutionary politics is to smash the ideological hold that racism and nationalism have over the minds and hearts of millions of workers.  They believe this is a task that must “precede a socialist revolution.”

On January 11th I phoned Doug at his Denver home.  He told me to be at the radio station at 5:30 p.m. in case the police tried to bring David Duke to the station early, as he was not scheduled until 7:00 p.m.  Doug was paranoid about revealing details to me over the phone and would only talk specifics in person.  He reiterated his expectation to have a few heads cracked open during the protest and as a result outlined plans for escape routes.  Once again, though, he refused to go into detail with me over the phone regarding those plans.  He asked me to speak at the Acacia Park rally on the 13th, but I politely declined.  We concluded our conversation at this time.

On January 13th, the anti-Klan rally was held at Acacia Park.  This was the same demonstration I had been invited to on January 9th and again on the 11th.  Since then I had spoken with Ken on the phone and learned that he planned to be there, as he put it “undercover,” wearing his Klan robe, so he could take pictures of the protest speakers, in particular those from Denver.

Ken arrived at the park shortly after noon, took about six pictures, and then made his way to his pickup truck.  It was at this point that a new obstacle was presented to me to confound my efforts to control this investigation.

Though we in the Intelligence Unit had tried to keep as much of a lid on the investigation as possible, it was inevitable that the more people who knew about it that eventually word would spread that we were conducting a unique undercover operation. Virtually the entire Colorado Springs criminal justice system had knowledge about this “crazy Black cop” who was pulling a sting on the KKK and had gained membership into the group.

For example, I was testifying on an old drug case when, during a break in the action between attorneys, the judge covered the microphone, leaned over to me and asked how my KKK investigation was coming along. When I asked him how he knew about that, he said that everyone was talking about it.  On another occasion I went into the local “cop bar,” across the street from the courthouse, where criminal justice officials congregated after work, and would occasionally be greeted with a request to see my KKK membership card, which I carried in my wallet.  Someone would inevitably buy me a drink and offer a toast on my behalf loud enough for anyone nearby to hear, “To the only Black man crazy enough to join the KKK.”  Glasses would be raised in my direction and then someone would say, “Show us your KKK card.”  I was like a pet or an unusual comedic novelty act.  My visits to the bar became fewer as a result.

This knowledge was even more prevalent within the police department.  We were approximately 250 sworn officers second only to the Denver Police Department; with civilian support personnel our total compliment of employees was perhaps just over 300.  In many respects we were like a small rural town where everyone knows everyone and their personal secrets are not too personal. This was the backdrop for the latest obstacle to this investigation to rear its head.

I found myself fielding more and more questions from various officers who wanted an avenue to somehow insert themselves into the investigation. Some of these officers were seeking a path into the Intelligence Unit and thought they could ingratiate themselves by doing something consequential concerning the investigation; and curry favor from me and make me an ally in their quest to being assigned to the unit.  Others wanted to be a part of what was unique criminal justice system scuttlebutt and wanted their names attached to it. Vice Officer Ed was a classic example of the former.

Under the department’s command structure, Vice and Intelligence were supervised by the same sergeant; therefore, Officer Ed and I both answered to Sergeant Trapp. That was where our similarities ended because his job was to focus on the vice activities within the city and nothing more. On the day of the Acacia Park rally, however, he had been sent with me to monitor the demonstration, in essence acting as my backup, and nothing more. He chose, however, to take that simple assignment and go much further with it, providing me with cause for concern and forcing me to later take the matter to Sergeant Trapp.

Officer Ed saw Ken at the park and took it upon himself to go up and introduce himself.  He told Ken that he had been following his movements in the paper and thought he and the Klan were doing the right thing.  Officer Ed further told Ken that he felt the protestors were “full of shit,” and that he was interested in talking to him further.  He requested Klan literature because he was interested in joining the group.

Ken was receptive to Officer Ed’s overture, telling him that he was glad to hear him say that about the protestors and he wished more people shared the same point of view.

By this time, Ken, who was accompanied by Tim, noticed that several protestors recognized him and the two of them hurriedly got in his truck, preparing to leave the area.  Before doing so, Ken gave Officer Ed a Klan business card and told him to write to the address on the card with a request for literature and it would be sent to him.  (Note:  Officer Ed had essentially done what I did three months earlier to get the investigation under way--which he was aware of--except he, by virtue of being a White officer, was able to have a face-to-face contact with Ken rather than a telephone conversation. As for the literature he was requesting from Ken, I had all of the Klan literature we wanted or needed, including a subscription to their newspaper, The Crusader. Officer Ed had accomplished nothing of any consequence except to inject himself into an investigation that did not need or want his presence.  I already had two undercover officers--Chuck and Jim--available for any face-to-face contact that was needed and did not want or need to oversee a third officer. In terms of need, Officer Ed’s efforts were literally two months behind the curve.

Some of the protestors closed in on the truck as Ken pulled away from Officer Ed. As he did, Tim undid his jacket to reveal a Ku Klux Klan T-shirt, put a ski mask with eye openings on his face and raised his right fist to the closing demonstrators as the truck sped down the street.  The truck stopped at an intersection and sitting alongside it was a KKTV news vehicle.  Ken yelled to the occupants, “Do you want an interview?”

The media occupants, again demonstrating complicity in promoting the Klan’s efforts, followed Ken’s truck a couple of blocks further, the two vehicles stopped, and the occupants made contact with one another. The media interviewed Ken for five minutes and then everyone left the area.  Ken’s interview was aired on the ten o’clock news that evening.

I took up the matter of Officer Ed’s indiscretion with Sergeant Trapp who told him to stick to his area of assignment and stay out of my investigation unless otherwise instructed. Officer Ed’s insistence on injecting himself in the case was to become a recurring nightmare to me.

Meanwhile, the rally at Acacia Park drew a crowd estimated at 100. Douglas Lane Vaughn II addressed the crowd and told them he was a member of the Progressive Labor Party.  He handed out various INCAR leaflets to the crowd as well as 2 x 4s with placards attached, bearing anti-Klan slogans. He carried a bullhorn in one hand and a baseball bat to crack open heads in the other, as he led the demonstrators in various chants:

Ku Klux Klan, Scum of the Land

and

Duke, Duke, Duke the Puke

Doug asked me several times to address the crowd, but I feigned a reserved shyness about speaking before an unknown group of people and declined each time.

The demonstration drew together a wide array of community activist groups based in Colorado Springs and Denver, including:

La Mecha (Colorado College in Colorado Springs)

Black Student Union (Colorado College in Colorado Springs)

La Raza (Colorado Springs)

Anti-Racist Coalition (Colorado Springs)

People for the Betterment of People (Colorado Springs)

Gay Coalition (Denver)

PLP/INCAR (Denver)

Colorado Workers United Council (Denver)

Marianne Gilbert of INCAR introduced me to her husband, Alan.  She invited me to attend a meeting that evening at a Colorado Springs residence to discuss the formation of an INCAR chapter in Colorado Springs.  She also introduced me to a Black Fort Carson soldier and his wife who she said was in charge of organizing Fort Carson military personnel on behalf of INCAR.

I declined to attend the meeting that evening due to the lack of time to properly prepare for backup surveillance contingencies and other issues.

The general attitude of the crowd was peaceful and non-violent with the exception of Doug Vaughn and the INCAR people who openly advocated a violent confrontation between the Klan and, if necessary, the police.  A representative of the Black Student Union of Colorado College, during his address to the crowd, said “…if the police did not stop the Klan then the only recourse was to rely on the masses to prevent the spread of the Klan’s message of hate.”  Another speaker representing the group, People for the Betterment of People, also accused the police of being “…sympathetic associates of the Ku Klux Klan.” (Note: This was one of the ironies of the public response to the Klan’s message and efforts to publicize their message. The public was clearly against it and wanted it stopped. They openly called for the police to intervene to put a stop to it in spite of the 1st Amendment right of free speech which the Klan was openly exercising.  Because we (the police) were not putting a stop to the Klan’s racist, hate-filled message, the anti-Klan protest groups felt we were therefore in league with the Klan. In other words, they wanted us to use Nazi Germany style Gestapo tactics against the Klan to control them and their message, but when it came to the protesters’ use of aggressive tactics against the Klan up to and including violence, they felt the police should remain neutral in that regard.  This was expressed to me on more than one occasion by the members of PLP and INCAR.)

At the end of the speeches, the crowd marched the 3-4 blocks to the Judicial Complex where the demonstration disbanded.

Prior to leaving the park, Marianne, Alan, and Doug once again invited me to attend a dinner meeting later that night to discuss the formation of a Colorado Springs INCAR chapter.  I, once again, declined, but left the door open for a later date (Note:  I needed to establish more intelligence on the background of these three individuals before walking into their personal domain, especially someone with as volatile a personality as Doug with his open advocacy of violent, armed confrontation with the police.)  Another representative from the Anti-Racist Coalition (ARC) also invited me to his residence to further discuss action against the Klan.  This offer, too, was declined for the moment.

On January 14th I decided it was time to have a conversation with David Duke following his Colorado Springs appearance four days earlier. I wanted to assess his reaction to his visit and everything that transpired.  I placed the call to the Klan national office in Louisiana.

Duke answered and was very warm and cordial toward me. I told him how honored I was to finally meet him in person.  He reciprocated in response.

I expressed my regret that I did not have the opportunity to spend some one-on-one time with him because I wanted to soak up more of his knowledge and wisdom about being a Klansman (Note:  Duke responded well to flattery).

Duke expressed regret that the depth of his schedule during his time in Colorado prevented him from getting to know the local membership on a more personal basis.  He said he accomplished a lot though in terms of his talks with Posse leader Chuck Howarth, though he did not reveal any specifics.

I then asked Duke if there was anything unusual or surprising about his visit to Colorado Springs. His response very nearly brought me to tears from laughter. He proceeded to tell me about his encounter with the, as he put it, “nigger cop who threatened to arrest me for assaulting him.”  Duke told me the story of that encounter as if I (Chuck) had not been there.  The incident still clearly bothered him as he commented on the problem with giving minorities positions of authority which they use, as he put it, to take advantage of Whites.  I responded by telling Duke that the “nigger cop, under a different circumstance, would be taught a serious lesson for the way he acted toward him.”

Duke agreed with my assessment.  His final comment on the subject was that his encounter with that “nigger” was the only negative aspect of his Colorado trip. He added that he did not consider the demonstrators against him and the Klan to be much of a negative compared to the “nigger cop” because he was accustomed to and expected to be demonstrated against wherever he goes to rally Klan troops.

We then discussed upcoming Klan events in which he was going to be involved.  He told me about Klan rallies planned for Los Angeles and Kansas City in the next few weeks. They were expecting strong resistance from protest groups, but would maintain a non-violence stance until provoked. And, he emphasized, this applied to the police as well. Our conversation ended shortly thereafter and I immediately contacted police departments in those cities to inform them of Duke’s rally plans.

Chapter 7

In the late morning of January 14th I was visited at my office by two agents of the Peterson Air Force Base Office of Special Investigations (OSI). They said they heard about my “interesting” investigation involving military personnel and were interested in learning more about who might have a connection with the Air Force.

I asked them how they knew about the investigation since I had not openly discussed the undercover aspect of it to anyone except those with an absolute need to know.  I had not even discussed the investigation with the Fort Carson military police (MP) or their investigative arm, the Criminal Investigation Detachment (CID).

While working in the Narcotics section (1975-77), there was one MP unit that had a reputation for being untrustworthy. Our officers -- uniformed and detectives -- had made numerous cases against members of this particular MP unit for a variety of criminal offenses including drugs and burglary. We did not trust anyone assigned to this particular group and carried that feeling over to the entire MP command on Fort Carson. In terms of CID, we, in narcotics, worked very closely with their commander, a Chief Warrant Officer at the time; however, his compliment of investigators came from the ranks of the military police. This was the dilemma I faced in terms of communicating with the Army. Their CID commander knew the CSPD Intelligence Unit had an open file on the Ku Klux Klan but had never been told, by me, that we were operating an undercover “sting.”  If he or any military personnel, including the Air Force, knew about that aspect of the investigation, they would have had to learn it from one of my superiors or someone else in the department with knowledge and loose lips, and there were many.

The OSI agents did, in fact, tell me that one of my superiors discussed the investigation with one of their superiors, including its undercover aspect. They then asked me specifics about how it unfolded.

After telling them the story and getting the usual laughter at the hoax we were pulling on the Klan, the OSI agents got serious. They asked if they could see my investigation case book and the list of names of those Klan members with a military connection.  I produced the book, opened it to the page in question and showed it to them.  One of them ran his index finger down the list of names and then stopped.  He looked up at me and asked if I could take a ride with them.  I asked where we would be going, but he refused to say.  He asked again if I could take a ride with them.  I asked a second time and got the same response.

By this time, my interest in their interest in my list of names was piqued.  I was curious as to their dire need for secrecy as to the location they wanted to take me.  I looked over at Sergeant Trapp for counsel as to what I should do.  He, too, was curious as to their intense desire to keep the location of the intended destination a secret.  Ultimately, Sergeant Trapp left the decision to go up to me.

After a couple of minutes of contemplation (after all, who completely trusts the federal government, especially the military), I finally agreed to accompany the OSI agents to “wherever.”  They were pleased with my decision and asked if I would bring my investigation case book.  I grabbed the book and asked the two agents for their business cards.  I gave their cards to Sergeant Trapp and told him that if my body failed to turn up in a respectable amount of time then start the investigation with these two agents.  I got in their car and we drove away making our way onto the southbound on-ramp of Interstate-25.

I asked a third time where we were going and received only silence in response. The reason for their secrecy did not become clear until we approached the exit sign that read NORAD and the car veered right toward Cheyenne Mountain, site of the joint U.S.-Canadian North American Air Defense Command.  At this realization and the sight of the 25-ton blast doors that protect the main entrance to the tunnel of the hollowed-out mountain complex, I began smiling like a kid in a candy store. (Note: In those days -- I cannot speak for today -- officers at my level did not get into NORAD.  It was and still is a Top Security Clearance facility). As we drove through the security checkpoint, my mind flashbacked to the first time I ever heard the name, NORAD.

It was Christmas eve, 1963. I was a ten-year-old living in El Paso, Texas on Yandell Street attending Alta Vista Elementary School. It was around 9:00 p.m. and on the radio program my mother was listening to I heard the announcer mention that NORAD had spotted Santa’s sleigh flying over a particular location over the eastern North American sky, making his rounds delivering gifts to children.  The radio announcer said NORAD would be tracking Santa’s sleigh throughout the night and if you looked up into the evening sky you might catch a glimpse of his sleigh as a result of moonlight shimmering off its rails and undercarriage.  I even remember him saying that if you saw such a sight to look closely because you might catch a quick glimpse of Rudolph’s red nose shining brightly in the night sky.

My younger brother and I ran outside and began scanning the sky, looking in different directions, hoping to catch sight of that shimmering sleigh and the bright shining red nose of Rudolph. I was a Cub Scout and knew how to locate the Big Dipper, the Little Dipper, and the North Star, but finding Santa’s sleigh being led by Rudolph with his “nose so bright…” proved fruitless. We gave up, went back inside the house and about an hour later went to bed.  When I woke the next morning I found that the shimmering sleigh NORAD had reported on the night before did, in fact, find its way to 3308 E. Yandell Street.

The OSI agents drove inside the tunnel. Day suddenly turned to night.  There was a two-lane road with a yellow stripe down the center and the darkness inside the mountain was illuminated by lights as if driving at night.  I did not know how far inside the mountain the road went, but the lights seemed to go on forever, or it could have been an optical illusion elevated by my mind playing tricks on me from being awestruck at this formidable military installation.

To the right of the entry point were 15 three-story buildings sitting on top of giant springs which were designed to allow for the buildings to shift up to an inch in any direction in case of explosion or an earthquake.  (Note:  It should be remembered that NORAD was built in the midst of the Cold War with the former Soviet Union and designed to withstand a nuclear attack). In essence, NORAD is a city employing 600 people with a small store, cafeteria, gym, medical center, and more.

This was all explained to me by a Deputy Commander at the facility, a Black Colonel, who was introduced to me by one of the OSI agents after we made our way into one of the many buildings.  The colonel said he had heard about my “unique” investigation and wanted to know more about it.

I told him the story and showed him my KKK membership card.  He was a son of the south and got a good laugh out of that and my tale about the camera confrontation with David Duke.  The colonel then got serious and asked to see my investigation case book with its list of military names of Klan members.

I opened the book to the list of names and, like the OSI agents did in my office, the colonel scrolled his index finger down the list.  He suddenly stopped, picked up the phone and dialed a number.  He turned his back to me and the agents as he spoke in a hushed tone to whoever was on the other end of the line and then hung up.  The colonel then turned his attention back to me, made small talk for a few moments, congratulated me on the success of my “sting” of the Klan and service as a police officer, shook my hand and then left the room after speaking privately with the two OSI agents.

Following the colonel’s departure, I asked the OSI agents to explain to me what had just happened.  They 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.

The agents indicated the Pentagon viewed their activity as having potential national security implications and that individuals such as these two would not be tolerated. According to the OSI agents, the two Klansmen would be transferred by the end of today’s business to the “North Pole,” the furthest most northern military installation in the U.S. command. The agents said the colonel was adamant that the behavioral attitude and activities exhibited by these two Klansmen and any other NORAD personnel with similar tastes was unacceptable. With that, my visit to the location which tracked Santa’s sleigh on its Christmas trek across the North American continent during my childhood came to an end.

On January 18th, I was been contacted by a woman I met at the Acacia Park demonstration on the 13th. She invited me to attend a meeting at her residence on the 20th to discuss forming a Committee Against Racism (CAR) chapter in Colorado Springs.  She indicated members of the Denver chapter of CAR would be present to answer any questions.

I later spoke with a member of the Anti-Racist Coalition (ARC) regarding this meeting.  He expressed a common theme that I heard among several Colorado Springs residents who attended the Acacia Park demonstration.  He felt CAR was too violent and had serious reservations about them because of their belief in Communism.  He said he had to give some thought as to whether he wanted to align himself and ARC with communist-oriented groups like CAR and PLP.

On January 19th, I learned that KMGH-TV in Denver would be interviewing Ken O’dell, Joseph Stewart, and Tim of the Klan, and Chuck Howarth of the Posse Comitatus in Colorado Springs for a documentary they were doing on the Ku Klux Klan.

On January 20th, I attended the meeting regarding the formation of a CAR chapter in Colorado Springs.  Present were Denver members Marianne and Alan Gilbert who were the hosts of the meeting, and the Black Fort Carson soldier and his wife whom I met at the Acacia Park demonstration.  I learned that the soldier was originally from Georgia and had been at Fort Carson for approximately three months. And that Marianne’s husband, Alan, was a Political Science Professor at the University of Denver who held a Masters Degree from the London School of Economics and a Doctorate from Harvard University.

After passing out CAR literature, Alan explained that a minimum of six people were needed to form a chapter.  There was no central head of the Committee Against Racism, but rather it operated on a decision-making process of the combined membership.  He identified himself as an “old time” member while his wife was the secretary for the Denver chapter.

They jointly explained that CAR was a multi-racial group throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico that fights against racism in general and the Ku Klux Klan and Nazi party in particular.  Alan explained that CAR had made a name for itself because it had dared to defy the “system” and had, as a result of its violent confrontation throughout the nation, struck terror into the KKK and Nazi party.  He emphasized that as far as he was concerned the police were Klansmen in blue uniforms instead of white robes.

When they were questioned about the communist aspect of the CAR members, Alan replied that CAR membership was not based on political affiliations but rather the belief that racism and racists were detrimental to the masses.  He believed in socialism (a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means and production and distribution, of capital, land, etc, in the community as a whole…Note:  another way of saying Marxism or Communism).  He explained that Doug Vaughn, on the other hand who was a member of the Progressive Labor Party-PLP believes in Communism and its theory of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state.

Marianne defended her husband’s statements by adding that the staunchest racism fighters within CAR and PLP membership, such as Doug Vaughn, are politically in tune with Communism.

On the issue of military recruitment, the Black soldier said he had spoken with his commanding officer about starting a CAR chapter on Fort Carson.  His commanding officer had subtly advised him that it would not be beneficial to his military career to attempt to take such action.

Marianne then passed out CAR membership application forms. I completed mine, paid my membership fee, and began my undercover career as a member of the Committee Against Racism. (Note: I now held dual memberships. I was a card-carrying member of the Ku Klux Klan and was now a member of CAR, the group dedicated toward the eradication of the Klan and everything it stood for. Inside, I was once again stifling laughter at the ignorance of Marianne and Alan Gilbert and their complicity in helping to further the “sting” that was this investigation. They and their group were now an official part of the hoax. The fact that they and Doug were such staunch activists, “true believers” in the Communist doctrine and they held such strong anti-police feelings only made the fact that I had been able to reel them in a little bit sweeter.

Alan informed everyone that a forum on the Klan would be held on January 31st on the campus of Denver University. He specifically invited me to attend and, with his wife’s agreement, extended an invitation for me to attend dinner at their Denver residence prior to the forum.  The Gilberts gave me their home phone number and I told them I would be in touch with them before the 31st then left the meeting.

On February 2nd I attended the Denver University forum on the Ku Klux Klan that was originally scheduled for January 31st. The forum, sponsored by the International Committee Against Racism (INCAR), was being moderated by Marianne and Alan Gilbert and Douglas Lane Vaughn. I did not meet them at their residence for dinner prior to the forum.

The meeting was being covered by a local television station, KMGH Channel 7, and the Gilberts and Doug took issue with the reporter and her camera crew being there.  They verbally attacked her in front of the 30 people in attendance.  They believed the parent company of this station was a Klan sympathizer.

An anthropology professor began the forum with a general discussion on the Klan followed by Marianne, who presented a segment on the history of the group. Throughout the forum, the speakers directed their comments toward the reporter and her cameraman, accusing their station of being racist sympathizers in league with the South African government’s policy of apartheid.

Doug Vaughn accused the TV station of not only supporting South Africa’s apartheid policy but of openly advertising literature dealing with the control and motivation of Black workers.  He said the station actively promoted the racist policies of the KKK and Nazis and conspired with the Denver Police Department to protect the Klan’s right to promote a racist agenda in addition to overlooking the rights of groups like INCAR and PLP to destroy their racial beliefs by whatever means necessary. (Note: This rhetorical reasoning by Doug was typical of the communist thinking on issues relevant to them. For example: 1) Everything was motivated by racism and systemic government policies supporting a racist agenda; 2) The police were in league with those promoting those racist doctrines and preventing Communist-oriented “defenders” like INCAR and PLP from doing what was necessary to stop them, and 3) Those Communist-oriented groups, because of their dedication toward destroying the Klan and its racist hate-filled policies, felt privileged and deserving of preferential treatment by law enforcement in order to carry out their objective. If law enforcement interfered with their objectives they felt law enforcement was aligned with their enemy -- the Klan -- and therefore part of the problem that had to be dealt with by, in the language used by Doug and CAR, “having their heads cracked open.”

Marianne advocated for Denver University officials as well as officials from other universities to expel any students who expressed sympathy or any pro-attitude toward the Ku Klux Klan. In her view, echoed by her husband and Doug, any potential college student or worker who advocates on behalf of the Klan’s “so-called” 1st Amendment right to preach racism should not be allowed in a college or university or be allowed employment though conversely she, her husband Alan, Doug and the PLP/INCAR should have their 1st Amendment right to advocate against the Klan protected and rewarded. I then spoke privately with Doug regarding the aims of the Progressive Labor Party.

He reiterated that the PLP was a Communist organization whose sole aim was to destroy racist organizations such as the KKK by any means necessary.  He said that in order to destroy the Klan you first had to destroy the capitalist system which allows racist groups to advocate such ideology.

I asked Doug if the PLP intended to use peaceful, non-violent tactics to accomplish this destruction of the capitalist system.

He replied that the PLP would, if necessary, resort to violence to overthrow the U.S. government and establish a socialist-communist state.  He added that this rebellion would be accomplished by organizing the working class.

I asked how I could become a member of the Progressive Labor Party. He responded that a chapter was needed in Colorado Springs and suggested we get together over lunch to discuss forming one.  I agreed to phone him on February 5th to arrange a meeting, then left the forum and returned to Colorado Springs.

On February 6th, Officer Ed restarted his antics of trying to inject himself into my investigation.  Without my knowledge, he met Ken at a Denny’s Restaurant “for the purpose of obtaining information on the Ku Klux Klan for the possibility of joining.”

In an hour-and-a-half meeting with Ken, Officer Ed received Klan literature again and learned about a cross-burning ceremony they were planning within 2-3 weeks in the Sand Creek area. What Ken described to the officer was a rehash of the phone conversation I had with him on January 2nd where he described the matchbook-cigarette lighting method for igniting the cross and the alleged football incident in the Denver area.

[Note: In the days prior to Officer Ed’s meeting with Ken, I had three separate phone conversations with him regarding cross-burnings. One of them, for the second time, concerned the Sand Creek location revealed to Officer Ed.

During those three conversations Ken invited me to accompany him and other Klansmen to specific locations to ignite 18-foot crosses using the matchbook-cigarette method described on January 2nd.  Ken told me the date, time, and other details such as how many members would be participating in the cross-burning ceremony. When I learned such information I would notify the CSPD uniformed patrol division shift commander and request extra patrol cars be assigned to the specific areas in question to either catch the Klansmen in the act or provide enough of an intimidating factor to prevent them from going through with it in the first place.

In an era without cell phones and the blessings of instant communication via text messaging and email, I would have to wait at least 24 hours before I learned if my department’s response efforts worked.  I know that on at least two of the three occasions in which Ken was planning a cross-burning our efforts thwarted a burn. When I finally did speak with him I begged off of participating because of other binding obligations and the real reason of the legal issue of entrapment. He told me they had to cancel their burn because multiple police cars were near the cross-burning site; one site had three patrol cars in an area that typically had only one and an occasional one-hour overlap of two, crisscrossing up and down streets near or at the site. This exhibit of a strong police presence on those two occasions prompted the Klan to cancel their cross-burning plans and ultimately to completely disregard the third one.  It was a proud moment to be a police officer!

[I have often been asked, “what did you really accomplish over the course of this investigation without arresting any Klan members or seizing any illegal contraband;” or “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 18--foot cross was seen burning at this or that location--especially those individuals from the south who, perhaps as children, had experienced the terroristic act of a Klan cross-burning.  No child in the city limits of Colorado Springs ever had to experience the fear brought on by this act of terror first-hand.  We prevented them from having such an incident burned into their consciousness as many of their parents might have been imprinted as children. I knew first-hand from direct dealings via my undercover phone conversations with Ken when and where those acts of terror were being planned and we in the police department were able to put a stop to them.  Success in a police investigation does not always rest on how many arrests are made or how much illegal contraband is seized.”

Officer Ed, in his self-serving zeal to establish a name for himself and advance his career path, thought he was providing me with a valuable contribution to the investigation with the information Ken had revealed to him.  Officer Ed’s attempt to join the Klan was nothing more than a self-ingratiating effort on his part to try to impress me and Sergeant Trapp and secure for himself a transfer from Vice into the Intelligence Unit.  (Note: The official department name of Sergeant Trapp’s command was “Vice & Intelligence Unit.”  Officer Ed wanted out of vice and into the intelligence side of the equation.)  His actions were not in the best interest of my investigation and I was not pleased, to say the least.

According to Officer Ed, Ken told him that the Klan and Posse Comitatus were closely aligned with one another to the point of using each other’s members whenever it was needed. Although we knew they were associating with one another, the specificity of this particular statement was never proven. Ken bragged about his ability to get any explosive device off of Fort Carson whenever he wanted and could create any kind of explosion he desired. This had an air of possibility. At the December 8th meeting at Ken’s house we learned he reloaded his own ammunition and worked regularly with munitions.  There were numerous bikers in the state who were Klan members and at his disposal for strong-arm purposes when needed. It was common knowledge among law enforcement officials that outlaw motorcycle gang members shared a common inherent belief in White supremacist ideology.  This was the “new” information that Officer Ed was eliciting from Ken at the restaurant, information that was already known and documented in my investigative reports.

Ken went on to tell Officer Ed that he was going to his home town San Antonio and El Paso, Texas to organize new Klan chapters. While in El Paso, he said the Klan was going to set up their own Border Patrol to watch for “wetbacks” (undocumented immigrants) coming across the Rio Grande border. He said the Klan would be armed with 30-06 rifles with scopes and they would attempt to shoot the wetbacks trying to enter the United States illegally.

[Note: This was an example of Ken’s egotistic, self-aggrandizing attitude at work which Officer Ed had no insight into.  The statement by Ken regarding the shooting of “wetbacks trying to enter the United States illegally” also went against his previous claims that the Klan believed in non-violence unless its members were under direct physical attack themselves. Undocumented immigrants attempting to cross the Rio Grande border did not constitute a “direct physical attack” that warranted a violent response.]

Ken spoke further about the Klan exploring the prospect of educating its members about tax evasion tactics known to the Posse members, of which I was already aware.  He then claimed to have friends within the Colorado Springs and Denver Police Departments who would provide him and the Klan protection (I knew this to be untrue with CSPD and had no base reason to attach any truth to the statement as it pertained to Denver, though I did pass the information on to a DPD official).  Ken did say he wanted to get “more” police officers involved with the Klan.

Ken continued by telling Officer Ed that one of his Klan members repeatedly talks of “wanting to hang a nigger.”  He explained the Klan’s non-violent position, but also iterated “if violence does occur against them, then they would definitely strike back with violence.” In Ken’s view, bearing arms against the government was necessary if it did not change its ways and stop giving everything away to “niggers and letting the Jews run the country.” He then offered some personal history regarding himself and the Klan as an organization.  He stated he had only been a member since September 1978, one month before the start of this investigation.  He claimed the Colorado Springs chapter had approximately 35 members (my investigation had been able to confirm only 14 members) though he insisted the number was actually higher. Nationwide, Ken claimed the Klan membership stood at between 80,000 to100,000.

Regarding the Klan association with the Posse, Ken stated the Posse was building an underground community near Cripple Creek, a small, former gold mining town that is the county seat of Teller, 44 miles southwest of Colorado Springs, for the purpose of supplying weapons, food and clothing for the coming revolution, once again information I already knew.

Ken expressed his desire to see Officer Ed join the Klan because his ideas were the same as theirs, the same thing he said to me on that first phone call which led to the investigation.  He gave the officer an application with instructions for completing it and urged him to get it back to him as soon as possible.

Ken’s racial tirade continued as he said he had a friend at the welfare department who supplied him with information about “niggers” on welfare.  He said he was highly upset about White people paying for all “niggers” to have food and clothing, and that the White man can’t get food stamps but a “nigger” can.  He expressed his disgust with the pimp and prostitution situation in Colorado Springs. He said he would like to take a “nigger” pimp out, skin him alive, and then pour honey over him and let ants eat him.

Ken raved on about his views on the political climate in Colorado Springs and on Fort Carson before ending his meeting with Officer Ed. For the record Officer Ed’s feeble attempts to integrate himself into this investigation and display his value as an investigator worthy of inclusion in the Intelligence Unit did not bear fruit. He remained a Vice Officer up to the point of my decision to leave the department on July 1, 1980.  He also was never allowed to join the Klan for undercover purposes.

I met with Doug Vaughn on February 7th at Señor Manuel’s Mexican Restaurant on north Nevada Avenue in Colorado Springs to discuss the formation of a Progressive Labor Party chapter in the city. At the start of our discussion, he opened up to me about his personal background.

He stated he was 30 years old, on his second marriage with one child, and originally from Pennsylvania where he briefly attended Allegheny College. While in college, he had been a member of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS, a radical student activist group co-founded by Tom Hayden, former husband of Academy Award winning actress Jane Fonda and later a member of the California State Assembly). Initially involved in the civil rights movement, SDS eventually escalated into a protest movement against U.S. involvement in Vietnam, in time growing increasingly militant over issues pertaining to the war. In 1965, the PLP began working with the SDS to attract supporters and to form chapters on campuses.  By 1969, political discord between the two groups led to their separation.  Doug said he did not join PLP until May 1978 while in Los Angeles. (Note: This could have accounted for his extreme fanatic-like attitude in promoting the PLP agenda.  Most new converts to a cause tend to be fanatical in their approach and Doug seemed especially so in my discussions with him).  Doug added that he once spent two years as a Legal Assistant in order to comply with the federal government’s draft evaders program. He explained that he joined the PLP because, to him, it was the only communist organization which openly proclaimed its political affiliation and worked hard for the “movement” rather than talk about it.  In addition, what drew him to the PLP was their fearlessness in the face of police confrontation.  Doug stated unlike other so-called communist organizations the PLP openly challenged the “pigs” in physical confrontations instead of fleeing in fear.

In trying to woo me over to the PLP cause, Doug offered me a brief history lesson on the organization beginning with their formation in the late 1960s.  He said the PLP aligned with the doctrine of communist Red China and at one point the organization was held in such high regard over there that various PLP literature was being sold on Chinese streets. He expressed disappointment that in recent years China, as a result of American diplomacy, had been leaning toward capitalism. As a result, the PLP had completely disengaged from the direct influence of communist China.

Doug explained that when PLP left the communist Chinese Party, it established a national leadership in New York City.  The leadership was voted on democratically and its directives were binding to the membership.  If the membership chose to, however, they could remove the leadership by way of a majority vote.  He added that the organization had regional branches throughout the country. I asked Doug about the issues associated with having to declare communist affiliation in order to be a part of the PLP, especially if there was no strong faith or belief in the communist doctrine.

He replied that due to PLP’s open declaration of communism a large number of people tended to shy away from membership although they believe in PLP’s war on racism.  As a result, the PLP leadership formed the Committee Against Racism (CAR) through a multi-racial unity with no regard or declaration of political ideology (e.g. communism, socialism, democracy, et al). He then went into his commonly stated theme that whatever is necessary to overthrow the capitalist system in America, which allows racism and racist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and Nazis to operate, will be done, including violence.

[Note: The more we spoke the more relaxed Doug became with me and the more he confided in me to the point of revealing details that had been previously withheld from our discussions.  He did not yet trust me, but he had become more trusting of me.]

Doug confided in me that on the day of the January 13th Acacia Park demonstration, PLP had arranged for two carloads of CAR members to drive from Kansas City to participate in the demonstration. They were forced to discontinue their journey when a snowstorm forced highway officials to close Interstate-70.  The specific intent of the Kansas City group was to wage violent confrontation with Colorado Springs police officers monitoring the demonstration and catch any Klansmen there to make an example of them for the benefit of the press and other Klansmen.  When the Kansas City CAR members failed to show up, Doug said he and others at the demonstration discussed violently confronting the police themselves but ultimately discarded that notion because they were not sure if the Colorado Springs crowd would give them the necessary support.

Doug continued his revelation on PLP’s use of violence as a means to accomplish their objective by stating it was carefully planned. He said nothing can be accomplished by violent confrontation in an individual, haphazard manner; only by planned group violence can the successful overthrow of the capitalist system and its “protectors” be achieved.  He added that whenever PLP and CAR stage a violent demonstration it has been carefully planned and its participants systematically assigned to their role.

I asked Doug what I could do to become a member of the PLP and help further the “movement.”  He advised I first had to make a commitment to the communist movement and made it clear that a potential PLP member must be ready to steadfastly defend the communist role in society.  A potential member must also give of his time and money to further the “movement” and must be willing to actively recruit new members by selling PLP literature. Doug was quick to add that after committing to the communist movement, the most important qualification for PLP membership was to faithfully and obediently follow the directives of the PLP leadership, whether you agreed with those directives or not. He explained that the ultimate punishment for failing to obey the leadership’s directives was expulsion from the Party.

Doug then asked me why I wanted to become a member of the PLP. I gave him the exact opposite reason regarding racism that I gave Klan organizer Ken O’dell to start this investigation.  With Ken, I professed to be a hate-filled White racist and used all the racist “buzzwords” of hate the Klan loved to hear. With Doug, however, I said I despised racist hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan. I even gave him a personal anecdote about the degrading and demeaning experience of being called a “Black nigger” and “boy” by White racists and how I had resorted to fighting to try and retain a sense of personal pride and to reclaim and maintain my personal sense of dignity.  I told Doug I would do anything to be able to fully fight such battles, but in a more organized way. After listening to my explanation, Doug expressed empathy for my past experiences and said, “We would really like for you to become a member.  We feel you could do some good things for us in Colorado Springs.”

He then handed me a copy of the PLP newspaper, “Challenge,” and a PLP pamphlet titled, “Road to Revolution III.”  I was advised to read these publications to develop an understanding of PLP philosophy.  The newspaper reported on the continuing developments with the Ayatollah Khomeini and the Iranian Revolution. Doug then launched into a verbal dissertation on the revolution and explained to me that Iranian students in the U.S. had aligned themselves with the PLP to help destroy the capitalist U.S. government which they felt was responsible for the upheaval in their country.

Doug was very critical of the various anti-Klan groups in Colorado Springs, in particular the Anti-Racist Coalition (ARC).  He accused them of being a group of “amateurs” because of their disorganization. He felt they were more helpful to the Klan’s cause because of their disorganized amateurism than they were to the PLP’s effort.  As an example he cited what he considered to be their silly, childish demonstration chants, “KKK, Go Away” and “Death to the Klan, Smash Racism.”

Doug justified his contention that the Colorado Springs groups were more helpful to the Klan by pointing out that whenever those groups have public demonstrations, the Klan will show up and reap free publicity as a result. In contrast, he pointed out that whenever the PLP called for a public demonstration against the Klan, they failed to appear because they knew that PLP and CAR members would violently confront them and they did not want to be embarrassed.

I was asked to attend a PLP meeting at Doug’s residence on February 18th where I was told further questions regarding the PLP could be answered.  He also invited me to have dinner before the meeting.  I told him I would phone him during that week and then left the restaurant. (Note: The invitation to dinner was noteworthy. I had previously received information from a congressional investigator familiar with the Progressive Labor Party. He told me that a dinner invitation held dual meaning:  1) the prospective member was being taken seriously as a potential candidate, but 2) a tactic used to test the prospective member was to wine and dine him or try to drug him. Once filled with excessive drink or his senses became numb from the ingestion of a drug, or he passed out, the PLP or CAR people present would try to take advantage of his weakened state by questioning him about his background or look through his personal effects to try to determine if he was an undercover cop. In other words, the dinner invitation was a personal test.  I knew that if I went to that February 18th dinner meeting I would have to be especially sharp as to the potential pitfalls that Doug and the others, possibly Marianne and Alan Gilbert, would be laying for me.)

On a more personal note, Doug Vaughn was a very pleasant and personable individual when he was not discussing the philosophy of the Progressive Labor Party or vexing on the Ku Klux Klan; however, when the discussion focused on communism, capitalism, CAR, PLP, or the KKK-Nazi Party axis then he became a very emotional, obnoxious and a demanding person to those not involved in the discussion.  I witnessed an example of this after he finished his meal.

Doug, very politely, asked the waitress for a cup of coffee with cream.  He specified real cream, not a non-dairy substance. When advised by the waitress that they only served non-dairy creamer for coffee, he asked for milk.  She told him that they only served milk by the carton and he would have to pay for an entire carton if he wanted to put milk in his coffee—restaurant policy.

In a restaurant full of lunch crowd diners, Doug began yelling at the poor waitress.  He insisted that since he was a paying customer, the restaurant was required -- by law -- to serve him cream and failure to do so would result in legal repercussions to her and the owners.  He advised her that “the system” requires her, as a waitress, and the restaurant, as her employer, to satisfy his needs as a paying customer.

The waitress, a young girl probably not more than twenty years of age, became flustered at his bellicose aggressiveness and rushed over to her manager. A few seconds later she returned with a newly opened carton of milk for Doug to pour in his coffee.  He politely thanked her, but after she left he looked at me and said, “This incident is a prime example of how the capitalist system takes advantage of the working class which is responsible for Señor Manuel’s being a success.”  [Note: On behalf of the waitress I felt like violating my oath as a police officer and breaking every constitutional right he had starting with the 8th Amendment: The right against cruel and unusual punishment.]

On February 18th I attended the PLP meeting at Doug Vaughn’s Denver residence.  Present were Doug and his wife Victoria, Marianne and Alan Gilbert, Marianne’s brother Dick, an unknown Pakistani student attending Denver University, and Tom.  I had previously seen Tom at two Colorado Springs protest demonstrations and we had exchanged pleasantries.

I immediately asked Doug why no one else associated with the Colorado Springs anti-Klan protest movement was present for this meeting?  He replied that only a select group of people were invited to this meeting. [Note: When I first arrived at the house, Alan pulled me aside from the other invited guests and asked me if I remembered the January 20th meeting in Colorado Springs when I asked about the requirement to be a communist to become a member of the PLP. I said that I did. He then asked if I remembered him telling me he believed in socialism not communism, and that he was an “old time” member of CAR.  Again, I said that I did.

Alan, the Denver University professor, then confided in me that he was, in fact, a member of the Progressive Labor Party.  He explained that he was what they referred to in the “party” as a “non-public” member and Doug was what they referred to as a “public” member. The difference being that a “public” member openly reveals his affiliation to the public while a “non-public” member operates in the shadow of the “public” member, usually in the guise of a member of the Committee Against Racism.  Alan stated he had not been ready to reveal himself to me at the January 20th meeting; however, he now felt comfortable enough with me to do so.

This was another noteworthy moment in my undercover interactions with the PLP in that it demonstrated the degree of comfort and trust they felt with me. That I received an invitation to this “select group,” meeting from Doug and then have Alan reveal the true nature of his shadowy identity reinforced my belief that they, like the Klan they so vastly despised, had been caught in the web of our “sting” investigation. Having said that, however, I was experienced enough in undercover work to know never, ever, let your guard down in terms of the people you are targeting.  So though he may have come to a certain degree of comfort with me, I felt absolutely no trust or comfort level with him or any of his cohorts in that room, in particular Doug.]

When the meeting finally began, Alan took charge and said the purpose of our being there was as PLP members to be “indoctrinated” in the cause and effect of capitalist systems; to explain how and why a socialist-communist system based on multi-racial unification of the proletariat class of wage earners, especially those who earn their living by manual labor or who are dependent for support on daily or casual employment: The working class is the solution to the problem of the fascist, capitalist bosses.

[Note: This was typical of most of the meetings and discussions I had with Alan or Doug.  They constantly preached the communist theme of “worker oppression and dependency on the fascist, capitalist bosses. Behind this oppression and dependency was always, in their minds, the U.S. government. Salvation from this corrupt system could only be found through adoption of the communist doctrine. I was struck by the sense of entitlement from Alan, in his role as a university professor (Denver University is a private school), working for an institution that accepted federal government money for research programs, and that many of his students were probably enrolled as a result of grant money coming from the “fascist, capitalist bosses” who approved the funding.  Students who were able to apply for and get an education which, in turn, kept him employed.]

Alan went on to talk about the current state of world affairs, the revolution in Iran, the relationship between the “Big 3”—the Soviet Union, China, and the United States, and how these events were the direct result of the “fascist, capitalist system.”

Doug then took over from Alan and gave a slide show presentation of last year’s “May Day” celebration in Los Angeles. May Day is also known as International Workers’ Day and is celebrated in over 80 countries as a national holiday.  May Day has long been a focal point for protest demonstrations by various socialist, communist and anarchist groups since 1886.  Doug’s focus on the slides centered on those featuring “…the fascist storm trooper enforcers for the capitalist bosses,” the Los Angeles Police Department.

Doug explained that plainclothes “pigs” were monitoring the march from a safe vantage point because they were afraid of engaging the marchers, many of whom were members of the PLP (Note: I chuckled inside at the knowledge -- unknown to Doug and the others present -- that a “plainclothes, fascist, storm trooper enforcer pig” was sitting among them absorbing their tactical philosophy and plans for future confrontations with the “capitalist system,” and the government authorities). The march eventually broke down into a physical confrontation resulting in the arrest of 13 demonstrators and hospitalization of nine “storm troopers.” According to Doug, the hospitalizations were the result of the 2 x 4s carried by the marchers containing anti-capitalist placards. He emphasized to us prospective members that it was the “fearlessness of the PLP members, the total disregard for their personal safety,” that impressed him and prompted him to join the group.

Alan then performed his segment of this duet by pointing out that this was a major difference between the Progressive Labor Party and other so-called revolutionary communist groups whom he denounced as being pawns of their capitalist bosses. He proudly proclaimed that other so-called revolutionary groups were frightened and intimidated by cops but the PLP refuses to submit to such fear and intimidation.  He urged the PLP to continue displaying this fearlessness in the face of confrontations because it appealed to and attracted more workers to the cause of revolution. Ultimately, he said, the result would be the overthrow of the capitalist system.

Doug and Alan’s issues with the police went so far as to invoke the name of Cesar Chavez, the Mexican-American/Chicano icon who founded the United Farm Workers Union, by denouncing him as a “cop.” (Note: In all practical matters pertaining to their “cause,” anyone who did not agree with the policies of the PLP was referred to as a “cop.”)  After more of the indoctrination lecture, Doug passed out various PLP literature.

Tom, the other Colorado Springs resident present, told me if he could secure a grant or scholarship (a gift from the “capitalist bosses?”) he would soon be moving to Colorado Springs to attend Colorado College. Marianne asked me to phone a list of potential INCAR members in Colorado Springs and advise them of a February 25th meeting at the same location as the January 20th meeting.

As we left Doug’s residence, no dinner was ever served and I refused any beverage offer even though, over time, my throat became very dry. Doug approached me in private and said he would like me to consider instructing the local PLP members in military combat techniques. This request came about as a result of a previous discussion we had where I revealed to him that as a teenager I had studied karate in El Paso and briefly had been the instructor for the University of Texas, El Paso Karate Club.

I asked Doug why he was making this request. He replied that the Los Angeles Police Department attack during the May Day celebration protest had demonstrated a need for Party members to better defend themselves. He stated some New York City PLP members were proficient in the use of nunchakus, a traditional Okinawan martial arts weapon studied by some Karate practitioners; this weapon consisted of two equal length pieces of wood connected by a piece of rope or chain. It is used by swinging in a whip-like fashion which generates enough centrifugal force to break bones, to jab, and defend against attacks by other weapons.  He felt nunchakus were more concealable (they are) than 2 x 4s and he was considering adapting them for use by the local Party when confronted by police.

[Note: Because of the popularity of the Kung Fu movies of the time (especially those starring the late Chinese martial arts master/movie star Bruce Lee), the nunchaku was introduced to the big screen. We became so concerned about this at the CSPD that at one of our in-service training classes, with my rudimentary knowledge of its use, I gave a demonstration of its elements and potential effects on a person. Such was the concern of the officers for its possibilities that if they were confronted by someone attempting to use it against them they were determined to draw their firearm and neutralize the threat. In the hands of an expert, the nunchaku can be a very formidable weapon and the decision to resort to their firearm when confronted by it did not come about lightly.  Doug did not realize that by making this request, at least where the Colorado Springs Police Department was concerned, he was actually consigning his PLP membership to the distinct possibility of being shot. I, of course, agreed to consider his request and nothing more was said about it.]

I asked Doug what my status (public or non-public) would be if I was accepted for membership in the PLP.  He replied that my status would have to be discussed at the next meeting.  He added it would be based on what was most effective and beneficial to the Party.  He further stated the PLP needed more minorities in it to give it a wider range of viability and credibility, then was quick to add that it was not the most important factor. What was important was that they believed in the goals and doctrine of the group.  At 10:00 p.m., I left Doug’s home and made the hour drive back to Colorado Springs.

The next day, Marianne contacted me on the undercover phone line and gave me the names and phone numbers of the five potential INCAR members in Colorado Springs. I was asked to call them and tell them about a planned meeting for February 25th at 6:30 p.m.  Of the five, one was a Colorado College student and one had recently been released from the Colorado State Penitentiary for an aggravated robbery offense.  She also admitted that the people who attended the meeting yesterday at Doug’s home represented the entire compliment of Progressive Labor Party members in Colorado. Their small, seven plus me, number was the reason they were making a serious push to recruit new members into INCAR. Our conversation was then terminated. [Note: With Marianne’s admission I had made a significant penetration of the PLP’s veil of secrecy. Their total membership numbers were always kept close to the vest, a topic never discussed. Her lifting of that veil was an indication of her acceptance of my undercover role, much as her husband had been accepting enough to reveal his “shadow” identity to me as a “non-public” PLP member.]

On February 25th I attended the meeting Marianne spoke of at a mobile home park in Colorado Springs. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss ways of combating the Ku Klux Klan and CAR recruitment projects. On this occasion, I took Gordon another undercover narcotics detective with me in an effort to demonstrate to her and Alan, who was present, that I was in fact actively recruiting on behalf of the PLP.  In addition to us four were the husband and wife occupants of the mobile home and two additional women.

Marianne opened the meeting by offering a historical background on and characteristics of the KKK, with Alan periodically interjecting his personal commentary.  Following her presentation it was discussed and agreed upon that a letter outlining CAR’s viewpoints on the subject of race and racism would be written and sent to the local newspapers, the Gazette-Telegraph and Colorado Springs Sun.

It was suggested by one of the women that Alan appear on local television talk shows to present the CAR message. Alan, however, because he is a “non-public” member of PLP deftly declined to accept this assignment.  Another suggestion was that Alan and I visit various area high schools and present forums on the CAR message to the students to get them involved in the “movement” at an early age. This suggestion, too, was rejected by Alan and the subject was quickly dropped.  Someone then suggested that racial incidents occurring in Colorado Springs be documented and turned over to CAR for them to respond. Alan and Marianne suggested that CAR leaflets denouncing the KKK and racial incidents on Fort Carson be printed and distributed at various Colorado Springs shopping centers.

Alan then launched into more PLP dogma about a multi-racial group of students and workers being the secret to abolishing the racism which permeates American society.  During a break in the meeting I took Alan aside to have a private conversation with him.  He told me he was planning to have five to six carloads of people (approximately 25) from CAR in Colorado drive to Los Angeles for this year’s May Day celebration.  He said he sincerely hoped I would be able to make the trip and participate in the march.  Alan then invited me to attend a CAR meeting for Denver members at his house on March 1st.  I agreed to do so.

In an attempt to identify all of the Colorado CAR members collectively, I suggested to Marianne and Alan that a joint meeting be held where we could all get to know one another and exchange ideas.  They both expressed wholehearted agreement with my suggestion and said they would try to set that in motion. After two-and-a-half hours, the meeting ended with Alan extending an invitation to Gordon to become a CAR member.

On February 27th I spoke with a congressional investigator, Herb Romerstein, with the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Intelligence regarding my investigation and infiltration of the Progressive Labor Party and its front group, the International Committee Against Racism (INCAR).  Herb testified before the 92nd Congress on the PLP and was continuing to monitor them. He had somehow been made aware of my investigation and previously spoke with me requesting I forward some of the intelligence reports, which I had already been doing.

Herb said, after reading my report on the February 18th Denver meeting, it appeared as if I had established a good rapport with the PLP members. He cautioned me, however, that “until privileged documents or plans” pertaining to the Party were given to me I was not, in their eyes, considered to be a member.  He added that once “privileged” information was given to me then it was a positive sign I had been accepted by the membership as a new PLP member.  He said Alan’s admission to me at the February 18th meeting that he was a “non-public PLP member” would qualify as privileged information, but that when I was given “privileged” PLP documents there would be no doubt about my acceptance into the organization. (Note:  I failed to mention to him Marianne’s estimated numbers of PLP members in Colorado.)

Herb suggested that I take steps to “tighten up” my undercover storyline because before ultimate membership approval was granted I would be investigated in some manner by a current member.  He added that this investigation would not be too extensive because the PLP did not have the resources to do an extensive background check. Nevertheless, he encouraged me to close any loopholes in my cover story which may exist.

I told Herb about the February 25th meeting in which Alan and Marianne suggested that a CAR recruitment campaign be conducted on Fort Carson in order to bolster membership among the military ranks. He replied that this was very interesting information because the latest PLP literature was stressing the need for organizing Party chapters within the military and unifying these chapters with the students and workers in order to fight the capitalist oppression of the United States from those three areas: military, students, and workers.  Herb said to better educate me on the Progressive Labor Party movement, he would be sending me the congressional report on the group before the Committee On Internal Security of the House of Representatives 92nd Congress which was held in 1971.

Herb gave me positive reinforcement as to where I had come in the investigation in so short of a time, but stated I still had a ways to go.  He encouraged me to stay on track and once again cautioned me about taking any food or drink during a PLP meeting, first warning me prior to the February 18th meeting at Doug’s house.  He requested that I keep him informed on any further developments in the investigation.  Our conversation ended.

On March 1st I attended a CAR meeting at the home of Alan and Marianne.  In addition to myself and the hosts there were five graduate students from Denver University and one other individual.  Two were foreign students from Turkey and Pakistan, two were White (one male and one female), and the remaining student was a Black male.  The makeup of this group was clearly in keeping with PLP’s objective of building a multi-racial coalition.

[Note: Immediately upon my entry into her home Marianne offered me and only me something to eat and drink. I declined her offer though my mouth was dry and a drink would have been most welcome. Throughout the remainder of the meeting either Marianne or Alan offered me something to eat and/or drink. I easily refused the food, but as time went on my throat became more parched and the offer of a drink more difficult to refuse.  At one point my mouth was so dry that I started to cough for a few seconds. Marianne jumped up from her seat on the floor and ran into the kitchen and returned with a glass of ice water. She and Alan eagerly watched my reaction. I thanked her for the water and slowly brought the glass to my mouth and then engaged them in miscellaneous small talk thereby creating the excuse to move the glass away from my mouth.  I put the glass of water on the carpeted floor as the small talk continued with the others in the room joining in. Marianne then pointed out that I had not yet drank any of the water.  I reached for the glass and, in a deliberate move “clumsily” tipped it over spilling the contents on the floor. I profusely apologized for my awkwardness as she told me not to worry about it and offered to go get me another drink of water. I told her the stimulating conversation had got me “worked up” and I was no longer thirsty. She and Alan appeared disappointed by my response and she asked me if I was sure I didn’t want a refill.  I assured her that I did not and she cleaned up my spill.  She continued, however, to ask me if I wanted something to eat or drink right up until minutes before I left her home.]

Marianne opened the meeting by asking me to give a summary report of the discussion which took place at the February 25th meeting in Colorado Springs.  After completing my presentation I volunteered to host the next CAR meeting and requested that Denver’s CAR chapter attend so that members from the two cities could become better acquainted with one another and facilitate an exchange of ideas (Note:  I had already discussed this possibility with Sergeant Trapp and he had agreed that we could find a location--if necessary a hotel room--to host such a meeting.  By doing so two objectives would be accomplished: 1) getting all of the CAR members together would allow for me to more fully identify them and conduct background checks to see how far up the pyramid of involvement in the “movement” went, and 2) the use of a hotel room would allow me to add to my cover story by proclaiming that I had developed a sympathetic supporter, a “working class” individual within the hotel operations system who wanted his/her identity in support of the “movement” kept secret. In the world these people existed, such intrigue would easily resonate with them and also prove encouraging that I was actively working in pursuit of “the cause.”)  If we were going to pursue this suggestion, I asked Alan and Marianne for at least a two-week notice so that I could make the necessary preparations. They fully agreed with my proposal.

Marianne supervised the election of officers and was selected to be the representative to the National Steering Committee. She then went over the constitution and by-laws of CAR and promised to get me a copy for the Colorado Springs chapter. Alan added that when the joint meeting was next held in Colorado Springs, the election of state officers should take place.

A discussion then ensued concerning the establishment of CAR as an official student organization on the campus of Denver University. Marianne showed a completed application form for recognition as a new student organization. I noticed it listed ten names of INCAR members with Marianne serving as a steering committee member and Alan as a Faculty Advisor.  (Note: Before I left the meeting I managed to “lift” the application form from where Marianne had placed it so I could do background checks on the names and share the information with the Denver Police Department.)

The issue of foreign students was brought up by the Pakistani student.  He said foreign students were often labeled as crooks and the subject of other disparaging remarks in American universities. The group agreed to address this by hosting a forum at Denver University.  They also agreed to reach out to recruit for CAR membership the numerous foreign students at the University of Southern Colorado.

During a break in the meeting I spoke with Alan in private.  He told me that Tom would be teaching Political Science at Colorado College while completing a couple of courses required for his Masters Degree.  He said Doug worked as an independent journalist and was a few credit hours away from obtaining a law degree.  He also said Doug did a lot of legal research for the Denver office of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).  Alan then asked me if I would be able to attend the upcoming May Day march in Los Angeles.

I replied that I would and asked him about the route of the march. (Note: I had no intention of driving to Los Angeles with a bunch of what I considered to be fanatical cop-hating communist agitators.  What I was seeking was any information on the PLP plans for that day that I could pass on to the Los Angeles Police Department.  Whenever I developed some new information as a result of my undercover phone conversations or face-to-face meetings with these people, I would immediately pass it on to the appropriate agency for them to take any steps they deemed necessary to counteract PLP’s planned action.)  Alan gave me the route information and said he had, thus far, received trip commitments from nine people, but he still hoped to get sixteen more.

Alan followed up with me regarding Doug’s suggestion for the PLP/INCAR marches to use nunchakus against riot trained police. He reiterated the need for PLP members to be better acquainted with self-defense techniques. I asked Alan about the total size of CAR in Denver.  Without any attempt to be evasive, as he usually did when I asked for details such as this, he replied there were approximately 20 actual members but between 75-100 sympathetic associates.

When the meeting was called back to order the same slides Doug showed at the February 18th meeting were shown for those who had not yet seen them. At this point I decided to leave the meeting. Prior to my departure, Alan cautiously beckoned me to follow him to a back room in the house.  Once there he constantly looked over his shoulder to insure privacy and whispered to me that he would like for me to attend the next PLP meeting which was my first official invite at Doug’s house on Sunday, March 11th.  While offering the invitation to me he handed me several copies of the PLP newspaper, “Challenge,” as well as the recent (Vol. 12, No. 1, Winter, 1979) Party magazine, “PL.”

I asked Alan if there was any particular article that would aid me to better understand and communicate the PLP philosophy. He replied that the articles, “Armed Insurrection,” “Reform and Revolution,” and “Road to Revolution III” were excellent for the study of PLP philosophy.  He also handed me several leaflets announcing the May Day march in Los Angeles.  Throughout our conversation Alan was constantly looking over his shoulder while whispering to me. He clearly wanted to make sure the non-PLP members (did this mean I was now accepted as one?) in the other room were not privy to us talking about PLP business. (Note:  Was Alan showing greater confidence and trust in me as a fellow member of the Progressive Labor Party, or was he setting me up for exposure as a “fascist, storm trooper enforcer pig” by pretending that it was alright to include me in his private thoughts on PLP matters? Whatever his motivation my undercover radar was operating on high alert mode.)

Marianne gave me ten more names of Colorado Springs residents who had expressed an interest in CAR and asked me to telephone them and discuss their joining the CAR effort. At approximately 9:30 p.m., after a two-hour meeting, I left the house and returned to Colorado Springs after first stopping at a convenience store to pick up a soft drink to soothe my parched throat.

On March 17th I attended the PLP meeting at Doug Vaughn’s house in Denver.  Including the host couple, present were Alan and Marianne, Alan’s brother (Dick), another married couple, three females, and one male, for a total of 11. Prior to the meeting, Alan gave me Tom’s Colorado Springs phone number (which was non-published). The purpose of this meeting, according to Alan, was to discuss the revolt in Iran and the lessons that could be learned from it.

Alan stated emphatically that he wanted the revolution to continue because it was ideal for a socialist-communist system to emerge and unify the working class Iranians which, for the PLP, meant a new ally. (Note: The PLP was always seeking new opportunities to exploit for their political and ideological purposes.)

Alan related how, as a Harvard University student, he and ten others openly advocated bombing the ROTC building. He stated their numbers were small but they believed in themselves and their “cause.”  This was the secret to making the “movement” a success:  1) Start with a small number of dedicated workers; 2) Thoroughly indoctrinate them in the philosophy of the “movement” so that they may better communicate the Party doctrine; and, 3) Send those workers out to spread the doctrine to others thereby soliciting new, dedicated members.  Alan added that he was and has been a member of this “workers movement” and if being a part of it was what it would take to “dynamite” the capitalist system out of existence then he would continue to play an active role.

The unknown male figure present then proffered the notion that PLP ideology was good in theory, but it still needs a leader, a single figure to rally around.  He stated, and it was agreed upon by Alan, Doug, and Marianne that in order for a “movement” to be successful it had to have three elements:  A “cause,” organization, and a leader.  As a group, however, they could not come to consensus on the matter of having a leader.

This led to a heated discussion (Note: One constant theme in dealing with these communist-oriented individuals is that they liked to hold meetings and sit around philosophizing about political ideology. It was like a mental Super Bowl to them with everyone offering their perspective on the issues of the day, usually a single topic was the focus of the discussion, and then exchanging ideas as to the cause of that issue -- usually the capitalist system -- and how that cause could be arrested and eventually abolished. Each person usually had their individual perspective on an issue and attempted to persuade the others of the absolute validity of his/her argument with the discussion reaching heated proportion. Being a former vice cop who had arrested many pimps and prostitutes, I often associated it in terms of the sex trade:  These die-hard communist-thinking intellectuals were playing political mental masturbation with one another to see who could climax first by getting the others to fall in line with their individual line of reasoning.  The most aggressive advocate -- usually Alan or Doug -- would assume the role of the pimp and try to bring the others to prostitute their thinking into compliance with their particular intellectual camp. The verbal back and forth between them would continue until they found consensus on an issue or finally agreed to disagree. The sparring, though, could get intense at times; these meetings could be quite interesting and, to a degree, intellectually stimulating, but unless you were a die-hard true believer in the communist worldview, they were, for me at least, extremely repetitive and boring.)

Alan, Doug, and Marianne always seemed to work in a coordinated block during these meetings and agreed that leadership of the workers who take an active part in the revolution was vital and the winner of this debate (central leader was necessary for a revolution to be completely successful, later using the Iranian revolution as an example).

The revolution in Iran under the Ayatollah Khomeini, as the argument went, was successful because it had the three elements: 1) a “cause” (the Shah), 2) a leader (Khomeini), and 3) organization, albeit it a very weak and ineffectual one.  It was felt that though Khomeini was the unquestionable leader of the revolution, he was not a powerful and influential one. For this reason, as the argument went, instead of being in a rebuilding process, Iran was in a state of mass confusion. This discussion regarding a central leader being necessary for a successful revolt was never totally resolved.

The subject of a recent police shooting in Greeley, Colorado, home of the University of Northern Colorado was then brought up for discussion. The case involved the killing of a 21-year-old Black man by a Greeley Police Sergeant for, as their storyline went, removing a cigarette lighter from his pant pocket. In reality, the victim was attempting to force his way into the cash register of a 7-Eleven store, slapped the female clerk, and when confronted by the sergeant reacted by moving his hand toward his pocket as if going for a weapon. The sergeant reacted by drawing his gun and firing.

Alan suggested that the PLP investigate the shooting by contacting a professor at the school who had led approximately 200 protestors in a demonstration against the Greeley police. Alan, once again, expressed his contempt for the police by stating they are nothing more than “enforcers for the capitalist bosses.” He said capitalists approved executions, as exemplified by the Greeley incident, and that shooting should be violently and vehemently protested. He added that the shooting was the ideal public incident necessary to solicit new CAR and PLP members.

Doug commented on the fact that Denver’s KMGH news station was doing a report on police surveillance of political organizations such as the PLP and had contacted the ACLU for information.  They in turn referred the female reporter, who had been confronted by Doug at the February 2nd Denver University forum on the Ku Klux Klan, to Doug who worked as a legal researcher for the ACLU.  He was amused by the irony of her finding out the person she needed to talk to for her story was her nemesis from that night. (Note: I was amused, however, by the fact that police surveillance, in the form of me, was taking place right under the collective noses of those assembled at Doug’s house.)  The meeting ended after three hours and, at 10:30 p.m., I left and returned to Colorado Springs. Once again I refused food and drink, which was persistently offered to me.

On March 25th I received a phone call from Alan asking if I would be able to attend a PLP meeting at Doug’s house at 7:30 p.m.  He said the topic of tonight’s meeting would be “the decline of the U.S. role and power in international politics and how the PLP could take advantage of this declining power to advance socialism-communism.”  I told him I would not be able to make the meeting as I had just returned from spring break in El Paso, Texas (Note:  I grew up in El Paso and Alan was led to believe that I was going to use spring break time to go home and visit some old friends. To lend credence to my story I told Alan about an incident reported in the news concerning a protest demonstration against the U.S. Immigration & Naturalization Service (INS) efforts to prevent Mexican nationals from crossing the border from Juarez, Mexico into El Paso and United States soil; and the subsequent death of a seven-year-old Mexican girl at the demonstration. I told the story from the perspective of someone who had been there.  Since I had a familiarity with the general area from my teenage years, I was able to lend sights, locations, et al, to make the story of my recent absence from contact with him and Doug more plausible.  His response was that this was the type of situation PLP could use to its advantage and we needed to discuss it further, maybe look at establishing a CAR chapter in El Paso.  Our conversation was then terminated.

On March 26th I telephoned Tom in Colorado Springs.  During the call I convinced him to give me his home address, since his phone number was non-published and asked if he attended last night’s PLP meeting at Doug’s house. He said he had not and then informed me that Alan and Marianne would no longer be engaged in Denver-Colorado Springs PLP activities because Alan would be leaving on a nine-month sabbatical to study philosophy at Cornell University.  He pointed out that Alan had received a scholarship for this study (in all likelihood provided by a “fascist, capitalist” entity, an individual or corporate sponsor/foundation). He said in Alan’s absence, he (Tom) and Doug would share leadership of Party affairs.  Tom then advised me of a KKK forum he was planning at Colorado College on April 12th. He added that the Chicano student organization, La Mecha, would be participants. I told him I would try and make it.  I informed Tom that due to my personal employment situation I wished to remain a “non-public” member of the Progressive Labor Party. After hearing my explanation, he said he understood my reasoning and agreed with it.  He did ask that from time to time I spread the PLP message by selling the newspaper and actively attempt to recruit new members. If I did this, he said, the Party would be satisfied.  I agreed to do so and ended our conversation.

Chapter 8

I started to wind down the undercover aspect of the Klan investigation.  Chuck and Jim were more heavily engaged in their narcotics assignment and their job priorities had to take precedent over mine. Their lieutenant, Arthur, still held a strong dislike for me and me for him, and in terms of intelligence gathering we were not developing much new information on the group.  I was still trying to identify the local membership and monitoring their activities via phone calls to and from Ken, but face-to-face meetings using Chuck and Jim had stopped by this time. In addition to my continued phone calls to Ken, I was also still having telephone contact with Fred Wilkens and David Duke, though much less frequently and not really discussing much of serious consequence. Those calls, more than anything else, were for the purpose of keeping a line of communication open between me and them. One notable incident did happen, however, that allowed me another brush with an historic figure from the civil rights movement of my youth.

On March 29th, Dr. Ralph David Abernathy, the man who was arguably the right-hand man to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and succeeded him at the helm of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, arguably the primary group behind the civil rights movement, visited Colorado Springs. At virtually every physical conflict faced by Dr. King, Dr. Abernathy was at his side suffering the same pain and indignity. His visit, sponsored by a Black Baptist Church co-founded by my late aunt in Fountain, Colorado, a small city located 10 miles south of Colorado Springs and just east of Fort Carson, was a public relations opportunity for the church.

A 15--year--old Black boy, David Scott Lee, had recently been convicted in Colorado Springs for murdering a young adult White male cook at a 24-hour downtown diner.  The cook, married with a young daughter, was on his way home from working a graveyard shift when Lee pulled up alongside him and shot him dead. When questioned about why he committed the crime, the teenager said he just wanted to know what it felt like to kill someone.

The district attorney charged Lee with murder in adult court and this earned him the wrath of the Black minister and congregation of the Baptist church.  A protest movement started on behalf of the young murderer, accusing the district attorney of being a racist for prosecuting Lee in adult court rather than the juvenile court where his sentence would have been lighter. They completely ignored the cold-blooded nature of his crime or the after-effect of his actions on the young widow and her now fatherless daughter.  In their mind, the true victim was the 15-year-old murderer who wanted to see what it felt like to kill someone and did it.  Enter Dr. Abernathy.

The Baptist church convinced Dr. Abernathy to come to Colorado Springs to add “star power” --his name and status -- to their protest effort against the district attorney.  Their whole argument was based on the race of the two principal parties and that the murderer had not been treated fairly by the criminal justice system by being charged as a juvenile -- because he was Black.

On that same date, approximately 25 Klan members -- some wearing their robes and others wearing “KKK White Power” T-Shirts -- picketed the Baptist church while Dr. Abernathy preached a sermon in support of the protest effort. Some of the Klan members present included Fred Wilkens, Joseph Stewart, and Tim.

I was at the church because earlier I had been contacted by my Chief who told me about death threats being received by the department against Dr. Abernathy, allegedly made by Klan members. The Chief told me I was to stay with Dr. Abernathy as his personal security (bodyguard) until he left town later in the evening.  (Note:  The bodyguard of the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan in January, to the bodyguard three months later of the leader of the civil rights movement the Klan worked so vehemently against.)

Following the church service, I introduced myself to Dr. Abernathy (which was a great honor) and explained my purpose for being there.  He was very polite, very gracious, a genuine southern gentleman (it is interesting to note that he was one of my late mother-in-law’s professors at Alabama State University, though I did not know that at the time).  He thanked me for my time and concern for his welfare and seemed most appreciative.

Members of the church congregation, however, were just the opposite.  As I was talking to Dr. Abernathy, I overheard the minister whispering derogatorily to some of his congregation that I must think I’m “Starsky & Hutch,” referring to the popular television cop show of the time and specifically commenting on my dress (jeans, casual shirt and sneakers, similar to that of the TV characters but typical of my day-to-day attire).  The social climate of the time was such that these church members did not trust any criminal justice official. They resented my presence among them with Dr. Abernathy and clearly did not want any police officer intruding on his visit with them and their “cause.”

The church congregation was planning a protest demonstration later that day at the downtown Colorado Springs courthouse where the district attorney’s office was located.  In the interim, Dr. Abernathy was driven to his hotel to relax until the demonstration.  I stayed in the room with him and for the next two to three hours I had a talk with a piece of living history of the civil rights movement. Although he was tired (he removed his shoes and stretched out on the love seat), he kindly answered my questions about his experiences in the civil rights movement, his remembrance of Dr. King, and of being the victim of KKK terrorism tactics. He was a Black child of the south of his time and had grown up under the ever-present threat of death or some manner of retribution from racially centered White men, some clad in white hooded robes.  He had been the victim of a bombing and been present when his best friend and closest ally in the civil rights movement -- Dr. King -- had been shot and killed on that motel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee. This was a man who was no stranger to death and who did not cower in the face of threats from white robed, hooded terrorists.

To say I was awestruck by being able to share this private time with him and hear him speak of his experiences in the movement which, for me, were merely images on a television screen’s nightly news report, would be an understatement. Without meaning to sound belittling to Dr. Abernathy, who was an extremely accomplished man in his own right, as I sat there soaking up the living history of my youth from one of the persons who shaped it, I felt honored; yet I couldn’t help but think that by sharing this moment with him I was vicariously experiencing a bit of Dr. King himself. In essence, I was channeling Dr. King through Dr. Abernathy who had shared virtually every adult-life experience with him since the 1955 Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott, the seminal event of the civil rights movement.

During a pause in his recollection, I asked Dr. Abernathy if he knew the story behind the protest effort being put on by his church sponsors against the district attorney.  He said he had been told the district attorney had falsely charged a 15-year-old Black boy with murdering a White man and had sought to treat the child more harshly than he normally would a White child if he had committed a similar crime.

I then chose to break professional protocol by doing something that a person serving on a VIP protection detail is not supposed to do: I got personally involved in the business of my professional assignment. Dr. Abernathy had been lied to by his church sponsors and I felt a sense of duty to tell this honest, good, decent, historical treasure to the Black community the truth.

I proceeded to tell him about the intimate details of the case that the minister and church members had conveniently chosen to leave out of the narrative. He perked up at my mention of the family nature of the White murder victim, an innocent young man with no prior knowledge of his 15-year-old killer. He displayed surprise and anger at the knowledge of the reason behind the killing -- the teenager merely wanted to see what it felt like to kill someone and chose this particular victim at random. I told Dr. Abernathy that his confession had been voluntarily given and he had never denounced it.  I also emphasized to him that his victim could just as easily been a person of color, at which point would the church be holding the same grievance against the district attorney over the victim’s race?

I finally said to Dr. Abernathy that this poor victim was a hard-working man just trying to provide for his young family in a hot, dirty, low-paying job who became a random choice of a young, sick Black’s desire to experience blood lust. Race was not a motivating factor in any aspect of this case other than the random coming together of the two principal parties.

On hearing this revelation, Dr. Abernathy’s face took on a marked change of expression. I could see confusion and a hint of anger in his eyes. I believe he now realized that he had been duped by his church sponsors, that everything had been a ruse to attach his name to their personal vendetta against the district attorney. I think he was trying to figure out how, having come this far with all the publicity that had been attached to his presence with the minister and congregation over this issue, how he could possibly back out now. His body language changed from one of relaxed stretching on the love seat to sitting in an upright very attentive position. His only comment to me was, “That does change things quite a bit now, doesn’t it?”  I replied, “I would think so sir, at least it would for me.”

At about this time the minister returned to the room to pick Dr. Abernathy up and take him to the courthouse for the demonstration. I sat and watched as the two of them stood face-to-face engaged in what appeared to be a very heated discussion. They were speaking in hushed tones so I could not overhear what was being said, but their body language was very revealing. Dr. Abernathy’s hands were chopping the air as he spoke and I noticed he turned several times looking my way as a hand chop was directed at me.  The minister, on the other hand, was clearly playing defense, trying to calm him down while occasionally looking in my direction with the Spirit of the Lord clearly not in him.

Did what I say to Dr. Abernathy matter?  Had it changed his opinion about his mission regarding his Colorado Springs visit? I will never fully know the answers to those questions because the matter was not mentioned to me ever again and never discussed by the minister for the remainder of his visit or after he left. The minister knew me through my aunt, the co-founder of his church.  My aunt did not speak to me for a period of time after I told her that her church lied to Dr. Abernathy and the whole protest effort was nothing more than a sham using his name for publicity purposes.

After their animated discussion, Dr. Abernathy pulled himself together while the minister gave me a most bitter look, and the three of us left the hotel room and proceeded to the courthouse courtyard where the demonstration would take place.  Greeting us were a group of about 25 Klan members, some in their white robes and some in their “KKK-White Power” t-shirts who were already assembled and marching in a circle carrying 2x4s with placards attached bearing written slogans denouncing the church demonstrators, and expressing support for the decision to prosecute the 15-year-old murderer as an adult.

Dr. Abernathy and the church minister joined members of the congregation, my aunt included, and they began their version of a counter-protest.  They did not carry placards with slogans but rather shouted phrases denouncing the district attorney’s actions while keeping with the Black tradition in civil protest efforts of singing Negro (Black) spirituals.  They all seemed to revel in the moment when Dr. Abernathy led them in the singing of the theme song of the civil rights movement, “We Shall Overcome.”  The years seemed to fall from their faces and shoulders as they all, with the grace of one of the primary leaders of the civil rights movement among them, stood in a circle (as many of them had seen done so often on their TV screens in that bygone period with this man at the helm along with his good friend, Dr. King) and locked hands and while swaying from side-to-side sang:

We shall overcome, we shall overcome

We shall overcome someday, someday

Deep in my heart, I do believe

We shall overcome, someday…

I stood off to the side and watched what I considered to be a “clown” show.  What the Klan was doing was “normal” for a bunch of self-proclaimed White supremacy believing racists. The most clownish part of this show was watching my aunt, the church minister, and other members of the congregation running their “con” on a venerable figure of our collective cultural history as Black people. He deserved better. They seemed to be basking in the glow of participating in a protest demonstration with a man of Dr. Abernathy’s stature, someone who had shed blood for the cause of civil rights for all Americans. They wanted to live a part of that struggle through his presence and participation in their faux crisis of racial injustice.

A footnote to this episode is that David Scott Lee, the 15-year-old murderer convicted as an adult, was sentenced to life in the Colorado State Penitentiary.

The next day (March 30th), I received a phone call from Ken on the undercover line.  He told me once again, and this time very adamantly, that I needed to assume leadership of the local Klan chapter because of his and Joseph Stewart’s impending departure from Colorado Springs due to their discharge from the Army.  He said the chapter needed a steady hand, level head and a local resident to lead it, not a military man that would be coming and going as duty called. That did not make for a stable situation and what the chapter needed was stability. That’s what my assuming the local organizer role would do, bring stability to the leadership of the Colorado Springs Klan chapter. He said the membership had previously decided that I was the one best suited for the role and he insisted that I meet with him to set the leadership transition in motion.

I tried once again to talk Ken out of this notion of me assuming the role of local organizer of the Klan, asserting different tactics.  I tried the humble routine that I wasn’t worthy of such an honor, and offered my job as being an impediment, but his response was that it could be worked out. I then suggested others better suited for the position which he rejected outright. Every reason, every excuse I gave Ken as to why I could not become the leader of the Colorado Springs Ku Klux Klan, he shot down. He ended our conversation by stating he would call me back in a couple of days to set up a meeting to finalize a leadership transition.

I immediately notified Sergeant Trapp of this development and he suggested we discuss it with the Chief of Police.

When we met with the Chief, I presented a summary of the entire investigation:  1) the valuable intelligence that had been gathered on two of our most extreme racial hate groups (the Klan and Posse Comitatus); 2) the discovery of their infiltration of our military installations (Army and Air Force/NORAD); 3) prevention of Black militant groups (Black Panther Party and Black Muslims) from coming to Colorado Springs and merging their verbal venom with the Klan’s, thereby negatively affecting our community social dynamic; 4) the prevention, on at least two occasions, of the terroristic acts of Klan cross-burnings; and, 5) the national impact we were having from an intelligence standpoint that was proving beneficial to police agencies and private entities (e.g., ADL) throughout the country.  I then informed the Chief of my earlier conversation with Ken and his adamant insistence that I assume the leadership role of the local Klan chapter.  I lobbied the Chief in favor of accepting Ken’s offer because: 1) We, the department, could work around any potential entrapment issues that might come up by working in close consultation with the district attorney’s office; and 2) the window of opportunity being presented to us to gather intelligence on the Klan and, by extension, others in the Colorado hate group movement -- from a position of leadership -- was an unprecedented, once in a lifetime opportunity that we should take advantage of while we had the chance.

Sergeant Trapp listened to my argument, was in favor of proceeding with the investigation, and fully supported my positions.

The Chief, however, would not bend to the logic of my reasoning and, in fact, did not even want to discuss the issue. His position was for me to immediately shut down the investigation.  I was ordered to cease any further contact with Ken and to have no further face-to-face meetings with any Klan members. Sergeant Trapp was ordered to have the undercover phone line changed so no further calls from Ken could come to me and I was not to respond to any mail that might be sent by the Klan to the undercover P.O. Box address. The Chief made it clear that he wanted “Ron Stallworth--Klansman” to completely disappear.

I questioned the Chief as to why he wanted to take this approach.  He explained that he wanted no indication that a “Ron Stallworth--Klansman” ever existed, and that applied to Detective Jim Rose as well. To this end, the Chief told me to destroy all evidence that existed that showed the Colorado Springs Police Department had been conducting an undercover investigation into the Ku Klux Klan.  He said he did not want the public to ever know that the CSPD had undercover officers who were Klan members.

I argued vehemently against the Chief’s logic with Sergeant Trapp tapping me several times on my knee out of the Chief’s line of sight, trying to calm me down.  I explained that everything I –we -- had accomplished was within the moral, ethical, and legal grounds of the law as well as within departmental policy guidelines.  I also reminded the Chief that everything was done with Sergeant Trapp’s knowledge and his authorization. I argued that by taking the steps he was advocating implied that we in the Intelligence Unit had done something wrong when, in fact, we had not.

As I said before, the Chief, who had been the lieutenant in charge of the police Public Relations section of the department prior to his elevation in rank, was very conscious of his and the department’s public image. He felt it would be detrimental to that image if the citizens of Colorado Springs were made aware of their department’s involvement with the Ku Klux Klan, regardless of whether that involvement was officially sanctioned or not.  He was adamant that he wanted ALL evidence of our involvement with the Klan destroyed including ALL of the reports that were generated by the officers involved.

I reluctantly surrendered to the Chief’s directive and angrily returned to my office with Sergeant Trapp, muttering every curse word in my vocabulary and inventing a few new ones along the way.  His most definitive statement regarding the Chief’s directive was “Son of a bitch, that’s not right.”  Nearly a year’s worth of very innovative, valuable hard work was about to be flushed down the toilet because of the Chief’s timidity in the face of “possible” public reaction to finding out about what we had been doing.  From my perspective, based on the public’s response in protesting the Klan’s presence, I felt if they found out what their police department had been doing behind the scenes, how we had been making fools out of the Klan all these months they would have loved it, applauded our effort and it would have been a public relations coup for the department.

In Sergeant Trapp’s presence, I slowly began shredding a report here and a report there (not very meaningful ones). As I was going about this business, the undercover phone line rang several times.  Because I had been ordered not to have any further contact with Ken, I did not bother to answer the phone (that was in the days before caller ID so I had no idea who might be calling).  When Sergeant Trapp left the office for an extended period of time I grabbed the investigative case book and a few other articles accumulated during the course of the investigation, tucked them under my arms and walked out of the office to my car and drove home.  I’ve kept them with me throughout my travels over the past 35 years.

How do I explain my actions? The Chief ordered me to “destroy” ALL evidence of the investigation that showed signs of CSPD involvement.  He did not, however, tell me “how” to destroy that evidence. By taking it home, all signs of CSPD involvement were removed from CSPD files as the Chief wanted.  Did I ever lie about what I did?  No, because no one ever asked if I had destroyed the evidence as the Chief had ordered, so I was never put in the position of having to decide how to answer that question.

Was my action ethically and morally right in terms of the oath I took as a police officer?  Again, the answer is no.  WHAT I DID WAS ETHICALLY AND MORALLY WRONG!  I knew it even as I did it, but I felt no sense of shame, remorse, or guilt for my action because the order to destroy those reports was ethically and morally wrong on the part of the Chief.  WE HAD DONE NOTHING WRONG AND THOSE REPORTS DID NOT DESERVE TO BE DESTROYED!

Had knowledge of my actions been made known to Sergeant Trapp or any of my co-workers, they would have been duty-bound to report me to Internal Affairs for investigation due to a policy violation -- removal of official police files without proper authorization and disobeying a direct order from the Chief of Police may have resulted in a suspension or termination as the consequences of my deliberate indiscretion.  So why did I put my career at risk?

I recognized this investigation was unique.  I understood that this type of investigation with this particular cast of characters, to the best of my knowledge, had never been done before and no one in his right mind would believe me if I told the story.  The investigative file with its Klan memorabilia, many of which are exhibited throughout this book, was the sole physical evidence of the significance of my unique, innovative endeavor, and I wanted a record of it other than word-of-mouth recollections that erode with time and, in the case of my cop peers, alcohol.  For those who would argue that my actions were perhaps partially ego-driven, I plead GUILTY.

The active phase of my Ku Klux Klan investigation was “officially” over.  I was proud of my department, and myself as a Black American, that during this entire investigation no cross was ever burned in the city limits nor in the unincorporated areas of Colorado Springs. “Ron Stallworth-Klansman” disappeared from the scene, never to be heard from again by any of the Colorado Springs chapter membership. My calls to David Duke ceased as well. My investigation of the Ku Klux Klan was concluded.

That very evening, Bell’s Nightingale, the Black-owned nightclub that had hosted Stokely Carmichael during my first undercover assignment back in 1975, was holding a fundraiser on behalf of David Scott Lee, the 15-year-old Black murderer that killed an innocent White man.  Later that evening, a cross was burned outside of the night club.  I remembered those phone calls in my office earlier in the day while I was shredding reports of the investigation. Were they attempts by Ken to tell me about the cross burning plans for the night?  I will never know.

No responsibility was ever acknowledged for the cross burning,

The End

Afterword

This book opened and closed with the following paragraph for a purpose; it captures the essence of what I believe, and why I put my career, reputation, and life on the line to expose bigotry.

If one Black man aided by a bevy of good, decent, dedicated, open and liberal-minded Whites and Jews can succeed in prevailing over a group of White racists by making them look like the ignorant fools they truly were (this despite their claim--in some cases--to being highly educated, having more intelligence, and being far superior in every way to Blacks and Jews), then imagine what a nation of like-minded individuals could do.  This investigation convinced me that sooner, rather than later, we WOULD, in fact, OVERCOME those that would try and define minorities by their own personal failings of racial/ethnic bias, bigotry, religious preference, and the false belief that people of color and others who did not fit their definition of “pure Aryan White” were not deserving of respect much less of being classified as “people.”

Postscript

On April 2nd I met Tom at his Colorado Springs residence where he proudly showed me posters announcing the April 12th Colorado College forum he was planning on the KKK.  He asked me to distribute four of them on the campus of the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs and I agreed to do so.

Tom then showed me a leaflet he had prepared which addressed the cross burning at Bell’s Nightingale and said 1,000 of these leaflets would be distributed throughout Colorado Springs.  We then drove to a printing shop where he placed an order for 1,000 copies.

Despite the Chief’s order of no further contact with any Klan members, I did have one final phone conversation with the Colorado Grand Dragon/State Organizer, Fred Wilkens.  Information was still coming in to my office on the Klan’s presence in the community and I would follow-up to the best of my ability as it came through.

On April 10th I telephoned Wilkens at his Lakewood residence because I had heard that Duke was in Colorado and I wanted to verify the information as correct and his reason for being in the state.  Wilkens confirmed Duke was staying with him in Lakewood and would be there for about a week. He said Duke was scheduled to make several speaking engagements while in the metropolitan Denver area.  Wilkens also indicated Duke would probably be in Colorado Springs in three days to go to Fort Carson and discuss the Army’s racist attitude toward White soldiers.

When asked, Wilkens told me that Ken O’dell was currently living somewhere in Texas and Joseph Stewart, his second-in-command, had moved back to his home in Georgia after they both were discharged from the Army. He said Tim Caritte (Ken’s Treasurer) was now the new organizer for the Colorado Springs chapter of the Klan and doing a fine job.

Wilkens contined telling me he had recently nationalized 15 new Colorado Springs Klan members.  He also said during Dr. Abernathy’s visit last month he had nationalized six new Colorado Springs members.  When I asked him for a definitive number on the Colorado Springs membership, he refused to provide it to me over the phone.  (Note:  If this information was true then it meant two membership figures were possible: 1) counting the 14 positively identified by this investigation, the total Colorado Springs membership would have been 35; or 2) counting the 35 figure Ken told Officer Ed at the Restaurant, the total would be 56.)

Wilkens then gave his assessment on Dr. Abernathy’s visit.  He stated he was in town to try and raise money for that 15-year-old “nigger” convicted of murdering a White man. He said Dr. Abernathy held a rally at a church to try to get the money to get that “little nigger” a new trial.  He said he and 37 of the Klansmen, though I only counted 25, picketed the rally.

I explained to him that I had been out of town during that time and therefore unable to participate in the “festivities.”  I told him I had heard about the cross burning outside of the nightclub and asked how that had come about.  He said he did not want to talk about that over the phone, but did not deny the Klan was behind the cross burning.

Wilkens agreed to call me in three days when Duke made his Colorado Springs/Fort Carson visit, unfortunately the undercover phone line had been changed by this time.  We never spoke again.

Summary of Facts of the CSPD Ku Klux Klan Investigation

Identified Members:  14 (9 military, 2 women, and 3 Colorado State Penitentiary)

Military Units Identified by Membership Involvement (6):

B Company 1/12th Infantry

C Company 1/22nd Infantry

B Troop 1/10th Cavalry

40th S & S Company

HHC 1/22nd Infantry

360th Transport Company

AdCom Combat Operation Center (NORAD)

Other Reports of Militant Groups/Violent Activities in Response to KKK:

Black Muslims from Chicago

Black Panther Party from Oakland

Blacks in Colorado Springs planning to “blow up” cars belonging to KKK members

Progressive Labor Party/International Committee Against Racism from Denver

Other White Supremacist Groups Involved with Colorado Springs KKK Chapter:

Alabama KKK (State Grand Dragon)

Denver KKK

Posse Comitatus (Colorado Springs)

American Nazi Party (Denver)

On April 12th I attended my last PLP/INCAR meeting.  It was the anti-Klan forum Tom had been planning for the campus of Colorado College.  Doug was there with two boxes filled with PLP and CAR literature.  There were a total of six people in attendance, two of whom were Colorado College students.  I was asked to speak and gave a summary report of the Klan’s counter-protest to Dr. Abernathy’s visit and the church demonstration at the courthouse.

Tom spoke on the purpose of PLP and CAR and reiterated that CAR does not believe in pacifism, but rather violent confrontation against groups such as the KKK who have historically initiated violent acts against the poor and helpless.  He explained that since a large number of people cannot accept the staunch communist beliefs of the PLP, CAR was formed under a banner of multi-racial unity without having to adhere to communist doctrine.  Tom added that a socialist system was the only answer to the present capitalist dominated system.

Doug then explained the exact manner in which CAR and PLP operated.  He stated that 1) a racially motivated incident was seized upon, 2) leaflets were printed detailing the incident and how it was a device of the “capitalist bosses” to divide and control the masses, and 3) the incident was then given political ramifications to cause controversy. This was important because, according to Doug, controversy kept the incident in the public mind and made people aware of similar incidents which personally affected them.  He added that nothing was ever accomplished unless controversy was involved. Doug continued, explaining that 4) the incident was constantly refueled until, if it is a racially motivated one, a public apology to all parties concerned is given or, if it is a politically motivated one, the situation is corrected.

Tom interjected that all too often the only method of dealing with the “system” is through violence. He further explained the PLP and CAR are not terrorists, but they do believe in revolutionary violence to accomplish their goals.  One attendee expressed doubts on the issue of violence, maintaining she was a pacifist.

Tom’s wife, one of those present, told the group that she, too, believed in pacifism, but that a calm and non-violent change of the system is impossible.  She felt that pacifists must cast aside their beliefs long enough to bring about the change which present day society warrants. If violence was the only way of instituting that change then a pacifist must, temporarily, become violent. That same female pacifist asked if PLP and CAR members had ever considered infiltrating major corporations in order to intentionally wreck havoc on the “system” from within.

I jokingly commented on her question by openly telling the group that I should consider becoming a Ku Klux Klan member. The audience laughed at the incongruity of my joke and commented on how much political mileage could be reaped if such a notion were possible.  The public relations value to the PLP would be invaluable in terms of the embarrassment it would cause David Duke and the Klan.

[Note: The notion posed by the female pacifist to infiltrate major corporations with PLP and CAR members to destroy the “system” from within was not a farfetched one.  During the 1960s, at the height of the so-called Black militant wing of the civil rights movement, a popular novel explored this very line of reasoning.  The novel, “The Spook Who Sat By The Door,” told the story of a Black man who grew increasingly anti-establishment in his thinking. (The term “spook” was a euphemistic reference to Blacks during that period of time. Like the more abrasive “nigger,” the term “spook” could have a positive or negative connotation depending on the context of its use and the person using it.  It was not a widely popular term but did to a certain extent find resonance within the Black community.) He felt that the government and corporate business community was working against the Black man. His sense of militancy continued to grow and he finally decides to act by getting a job in an important corporate-government entity.  He goes about his job in an unassuming manner so as not to arouse undue notice or suspicion.  While doing so he ingratiates himself with those in a position to make an impact beneficial to the “movement” all the while learning their secrets.  He thus becomes the “spook” who sits by the door learning how the company works from within so that at the appropriate time he can be activated to bring about its destruction.  This subject was referenced in my 1995 book, “Bringing The Noise: Gangster-Reality Rap in the Dynamics of Black Social Revolution.” In discussing how gangster rap music was used to reflect a social revolutionary agenda among Black youth, which all too often works against the inner-city minority community, the 1990s era song, Da Spook Dat Sat By Da Door (off the album, State of Emergency:  Society in Crisis) told the tale of “Da  Spook” who suffered beatings at the hands of the police. In response and in support of the cause of a revolutionary dismantling of the status quo of the American political power structure, he infiltrates the police establishment by joining them to bring about their destruction from within:

There was this spook dat sat by da door, joined the force of the law

To prepare for when shit gets raw….

…Now watch how many jaws drop

Ya’ll done fucked with the wrong cop

And I ain’t gonna stop until I get about 17 more

This shit is deep, you shouldn’t have never tried to break my back

Witness the son of 700,000 maniacs

Ready to attack front, back, side to side

Now pledge allegiance, Adam-12 the paraplegic

This shit is on…looking for my fellow cops

To share a doughnut at the shop before the buck shots

In the parking lot I asked him for a cigarette

Then I put a whole clip in his fuckin’ chest….

Don’t talk shit ‘cause you asked for it pig bitch

When I was 21 before I joined the force

I got my black ass beat down and a broken jaw

So I said “fuck it,” I can’t beat ya, I’ll join you whores

Now watch out for Da Spook Dat Sat By Da Door….

Doug replied to the female pacifist’s question and my joking comment about the KKK by telling the group that he was too well known to the Colorado Klan to even attempt an undercover infiltration of the organization.  He added that just recently the national headquarters of CAR had discussed the merits of infiltrating major corporations as well as racist hate groups (such as the Klan and Nazis).  He said since the cops can work undercover, why couldn’t they. The group enjoyed a good laugh when Doug and I discussed the hilarious possibility of a cop trying to infiltrate the PLP and CAR while they, in turn, managed to infiltrate major corporations, racist groups and police agencies.

Doug asked one of the students his impression of the racial and political climate in Colorado Springs.  The student replied that in his opinion the citizens of Colorado Springs did not take the Ku Klux Klan seriously, viewing them as a bunch of clowns wearing white sheets for laughs.  He said the Klan posed a serious threat to all concerned and that the Colorado Springs police, as far as he was concerned, were all members of the Klan.  Doug agreed with him on the latter.

Stokely Carmichael was speaking to approximately 150 persons in a campus building less than 100 feet from the PLP/CAR meeting.  Doug commented on the fact that Stokely’s philosophy of Black Nationalism was not the proper way to unite the masses because the very concept of nationalism, be it Black, White, Brown, or Yellow, advocated separatism based on ideology and racial heritage rather than unity. According to Doug, Stokely’s advocacy of Black separatism and “back to Africa” was a blatant form of Black racism and was contrary to CAR and PLP.  He added that this was the sole purpose of CAR -- to destroy all forms of racism wherever it may exist.

At 9:30 p.m., after a two-and-a-half-hour meeting, I left with Doug escorting me to my undercover police car. I told him that I would not be able to attend the May Day celebration in Los Angeles due to a friend in El Paso who had been the victim of a molten ore accident at a smelting and refining company.  I told him I had to go to El Paso during May Day to be there for my friend.

Doug placed his arm around my shoulder in a consoling gesture and asked if there was anything he or Alan could do to relieve me of my anguish, seeming genuinely concerned about my mental well-being. He even offered to assist me in driving to El Paso. I thanked him for his kindness, but told him no, that I had things under control and could manage by myself.

Doug told me to contact him or Alan once I got all of the details of my “friend’s” accident so that CAR and PLP could organize a protest against the working conditions at the factory.  He said this accident was an ideal situation which PLP could garner support for its “cause” and to assist in organizing a new chapter in El Paso.

Doug, at my car, placed his hands on my shoulders and, while looking me straight in my eyes, asked if I was sure I did not need any help.  After I said no, he maintained eye contact with me and said, “We want you to know we’re with you in spirit, brother.” Doug then gave me a big bear hug and said, “Take care, comrade.”  He then returned to the PLP meeting and I went to listen to Stokely speak for a short while before leaving the area.  That was my last contact with Doug and the people associated with the Progressive Labor Party and International Committee Against Racism/CAR.

After the investigative case file on the Ku Klux Klan investigation was “destroyed,” as ordered by the Chief of Police, the Intelligence Unit did nothing more where the Klan was concerned.  Since I was ordered to “destroy” all evidence linking CSPD undercover officers to the Klan, I also made sure the Progressive Labor Party file “disappeared” because it referenced the Klan files which technically never existed in a pre-Reagan plausible deniability defense. The subject of the Klan was never discussed in open public conversation outside of those within the criminal justice system who were aware of its existence.  If I had chosen to talk about it publicly, who would have believed me?  The farfetched idea of a Black man “joining” the KKK and conning the Colorado Grand Dragon and the National Grand Wizard was too crazy for any sane person to remotely accept as true and I had no evidence to support such a story even if I had wanted to reveal it to the public.  [Note: I did not. It was an amusing story at the time, but it was still just another police intelligence investigation and such matters were not, as a matter of routine, the topic of open public conversation. I did, however, feel there would have been one possible benefit to going public with the story of our “sting” of David Duke and his Klan cohorts:  With his wide media exposure I was of the opinion that public knowledge of our investigation would prove so embarrassing to him that it would have a debilitating effect on his Klan organization’s recruitment efforts once the word spread that a Black man had made a fool of him. I also felt the embarrassing public relations fallout from the investigation could possibly have put a dent in his political plans.]

The local media and the citizens of Colorado Springs were never privy to what was going on in their community during that period of time; the unique strategic battle that its police department had waged on their behalf to keep Klan terroristic tactics (cross burnings) from disrupting their day-to-day lives and psychological well-being would not come to light for three decades.  [Note:  The Colorado Springs public did not officially learn of this investigation until May, 2012 when I was asked to be a Keynote Speaker at the official opening of the African-American Historical and Genealogical Society of Colorado Springs.  The event drew an audience of approximately 300 who were captivated by the tale of events that took place in the shadow of their lives nearly 34-35 years ago. The event was later publicized in an article, “Black Man Joins the Ku Klux Klan,” in the “5 Points News (June, 2012),” a local Denver community newspaper reporting on their historic 5 Points and Northeast Denver area.  During my investigation, 5 Points was known as a predominantly Black area of Denver.]

Once this investigation ended, I began a serious search for a new job opportunity, one that would allow me to work as a full-time undercover investigator without the constant threat of being placed back into a uniformed patrol assignment.  This was a day-to-day reality for detectives in the Colorado Springs Police Department and one which had been used against me once before by Arthur, the narcotics lieutenant, and Jim, his sergeant.  By the time my investigation was brought to an end Arthur had been promoted to captain and Jim to lieutenant and the three of us still held great enmity toward one another. They were determined to stop me from reaching my goal of becoming a full-time undercover investigator and they had one distinct advantage over me: superior rank. They previously collaborated to deny me the opportunity of becoming a Special Agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).  They even brought the recently retired Assistant Chief of Police (Chief of Detectives) Petry out of retirement to weigh in on my decision to seek employment with DEA. (Note: I was later told by the DEA Agent who conducted my background investigation and who, on his own initiative, interviewed those three gentlemen even though he was not required to talk to any of them based on the DEA background check requirement at the time, that they gave him a scathing report on me, denouncing my work and cautioning him that if I were hired it would prove to be a mistake.  According to him, their verbal report on me was that I had been a “good” cop until DEA filled my head with thoughts of undercover grandeur and ever since then I had not done any quality work for CSPD. He indicated that the trio told him to leave me and other CSPD officers alone to do the jobs we were hired to do and not try to “corrupt” good officers, like me, with bad thoughts about a better life as a federal agent.

When I heard this agent’s verbal report I was angry at him for interviewing them in the first place.  By the policies in place at that time he was only required to interview the three references I listed on my application, no one else. He told me that since he knew there was “bad blood” between us he felt obligated to talk to them even though he was not required to do so.  My side of the “bad blood” was never explored in his investigation, only theirs.  I was also angry at them for having the audacity to feel they knew what was in the long-term best interest for my career aspirations. The very fact that they brought the retired Assistant Chief out of his retirement to weigh in on judging my career aspirations was particularly galling to me.  I was determined to never again allow them to have any say or be in any position to exert control over my professional destiny.

Because Arthur and Jim outranked me I was operating at an extreme deficit. I knew I could never beat them from within the department structure so I went on a cross-country search for undercover investigator jobs.  Within months I received two firm offers that appealed to me; one from the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and one from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.  After recently completing my Klan investigation, I was not very thrilled about the prospect of working in the South, especially the historically racial battleground state of Mississippi, so I accepted the Kansas offer.

When I reported to the Chief of Police to turn in my letter of resignation, he asked me to reconsider my decision because he did not want me to leave.  He considered me to be a valuable asset to his department, which I was happy to hear after my recent battles with Arthur and Jim, and requested that I hold off on submitting the letter.  I explained to the Chief my desire to be an undercover investigator and under the unofficial CSPD operational structure that was not a full-time prospect.  I also told him that as long as I remained at the department Arthur and Jim would outrank me and would forever remain my nemeses standing in the way of achieving my goals and aspirations, and that I would not concede my professional career choices to their notions of what was and was not acceptable.

He then suggested a solution that would possibly satisfy me. The Chief offered me an assignment with the Colorado Attorney-General’s Organized Crime Strike Force (OCSF).  This, he said, would allow me to remain an undercover investigator and serve his needs as well. When I told the Chief that his offer would not work because I would still be assigned to the Detective Division under the CSPD structure and therefore subject to interaction with Arthur and Jim, both of whom were also assigned to the division, he came up with a novel solution to my dilemma.

The Chief proposed placing me under his “special” command, meaning I would report directly to him and not anyone in the Detective Division except Sergeant Trapp.  In addition, he proposed allowing me to relocate to Denver during the course of my “special” assignment under his command.  I naively asked him if he could actually do that; allow me, a Colorado Springs police officer, to live in Denver while on assignment.  He smiled and said, “I’m the Chief of Police.  I can do what I feel is in the best interest of my department and I don’t want you to leave.  If this is what it takes to keep you here then I’m willing to do it.”  I told the Chief that this idea would not go over well with the rank and file officers in the department, in particular those in the Detective Division.

[Note: This assessment on my part proved prescient. Within a couple of days of this arrangement becoming known throughout the department, a handful of my fellow officers, people I thought were very close friends and supporters of mine, turned against me.  They accused me of “faking” my decision to leave the department in order to persuade the Chief to give me the offer of this “special” assignment. This was presumptuous on their part because it presumed that I had foreknowledge that the Chief would take this action once he was presented with my decision to terminate my employment. As a result, for the remainder of my tenure with the department these individuals refused to have anything to do with me. They completely ostracized me, refusing to engage me in conversation unless it was an absolute necessity based on job considerations. I later learned that the OCSF had asked the Chief that I be assigned to the unit to supplement the one CSPD officer (also from the Intelligence Unit) already on assignment with them.

On that occasion Arthur, the Narcotics lieutenant, had lobbied the Chief against my reassignment to the Attorney-General’s Office on the basis that I was “too good of an officer for the CSPD narcotics unit to lose. As a result, that second OCSF assignment went to a good friend of mine in the Narcotics Unit, someone I had trained in my final year working in that unit.  This further fueled my determination to prove Arthur, Jim (the Lieutenant), and them wrong by accomplishing my objective to be a full-time undercover investigator. I came to the conclusion that despite our wearing the same badge, they did not “have my back” and I could not trust them.  I did not need any of them and I was determined to win out in the end, which I did.]

The Chief told me to let him worry about that and he would also deal with Arthur and Jim.  He assured me that as long as he was Chief my assignment with the (OCSF) would be secure.  He then said he had only one thing that he would insist on.  I was to never forget that I was first and foremost a CSPD officer, and in spite of living in Denver I would spend at least two days out of the week in Colorado Springs conducting business and interacting with my fellow officers.  This I agreed to do.

I tore up my resignation letter and agreed to rescind my acceptance of the Kansas offer with one caveat to the Chief:  If a good job offer came my way I would be open to its consideration and/or acceptance.  We shook hands and my new reality as a Colorado Springs Police Officer began.  I know that Arthur and Jim fumed when they learned of my new position.  With the Chief’s help, I had beaten them at their own game. I got almost as much pleasure at seeing them and their efforts against me fail as I did making fools out of David Duke and the Klan.

So began my one-year assignment as an investigator with the Colorado Organized Crime Strike Force. I lived in an apartment in Littleton, a suburb city south of Denver until June 30, 1980 when I officially terminated my employment with the CSPD, with the Chief’s blessing, and moved to Phoenix, Arizona to work as a Special Agent with the Arizona Drug Control District.  A year later, the legislature changed their charter from drug investigations to strictly intelligence gathering and changed the name to the Arizona Criminal Intelligence Systems Agency.  (Note:  In my new jobs in Denver and Phoenix I was given a gold badge.  In time I sent word back through the CSPD grapevine to Arthur and Jim that I, like them, now carried a gold badge.  I was later told that Jim did not appreciate my message. Childish and petty on my part? Yes!    However, the actions of Arthur and Jim in this regard were always childish and petty to those of us affected by it.  It was very belittling to be called a “professional” in terms of your job and job performance, yet treated in such an unprofessional manner by their “gold versus silver badge” comparison which they used to demonstrate their superior status over their subordinates and did it as a matter of routine. My response was mild in comparison. Sending that message brought me a small measure of satisfaction and closure to the whole saga of my two department adversaries.)

It was in this setting, working in Arizona in July 1980, that I came across an article in the “Army/Navy/Air Force Times Magazine” (July 7, 1980) titled “GIs In the Klan.” The article was an examination of the Ku Klux Klan in Colorado Springs and focused on Ken O’dell and Joseph Stewart, his second in command.  The article was particularly interesting in terms of the insight it provided as to the motivation behind what makes a person become an avowed racist willing to submit to the hate-filled doctrine of organizations like the Ku Klux Klan.

The meeting with the reporter took place at the same Corner Pocket Lounge where the first face-to-face undercover meeting in my investigation took place.  The article cited the summer of 1978 when Ken and Joseph were stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado and “organized the local KKK den,” a move Ken claimed “made national headlines” (I was not aware of any national media exposure on Ken’s Klan activities).  As with most things that came out of Ken’s mouth, his sense of self-aggrandizement with the reporter was at gargantuan levels. For example, he claimed he was recruiting new members by the week as a result of the newspaper recruiting ads which ran for two weeks. “Damn right I’m a racist,” Ken said to the reporter. “I love White people and somebody’s got to stand up for White rights. That’s the Klan.”  He talked enthusiastically and, as the article pointed out “mostly angry about Blacks, Jews, reverse discrimination, busing, welfare and the Army.”

According to Ken, the Affirmative Action programs and EEO policies of the Army excluded Whites. He stated Blacks got promoted over Whites and commanders were afraid to discipline them. He explained this by citing the racist example that, “I’ve seen Black guys with Afros on their ears who won’t salute, strut instead of march, won’t wear hats and grow beards.  Nobody says a word to them.  But let a White guy try that, he’d be facing an Article 15 (non-judicial punishment imposed by an “Officer in Charge” under the Uniform Code of Military Justice).  How equal is that?  The Army is a Black man’s world.”

For people like Ken and Joseph Stewart, with this limited outlook on the Army, they feel like they have been bypassed, made outcasts because in their minds they don’t fit in.  They feel their “natural” advantage of being White has been taken from them.

As Tom, a single 21-year-old “Ken loyalist” so aptly pointed out, “Being White doesn’t help you anymore. It hurts you. If you’re Black or have a Spanish name, you get over. It’s as simple as that.” An infantry soldier with a good service record, Tom told the reporter he was a “late blooming racist.”  He said it took him 20 years to open his eyes, but he saw the way things really were in the Army. Tom openly expressed resentment over the fact that there were only five Whites in his entire infantry platoon, while Blacks numbered fifty. He said the squad leaders were all Black as was the staff sergeant.  What he especially found offensive was that the Blacks all referred to each other as “Bro.”  As Tom put it, “That really burns my ass.”  He added that whenever work details are assigned, the Whites are given the worst ones.

Another Ken loyalist named Joe (not Joseph Stewart) agreed with everything Tom said and provided the reporter with his own testimony of how he came to a racialist mindset.  Being from Boston, Joe said it was the forced school busing that brought out the hate in him.  Busing brought all of “them” (Blacks) to his neighborhood and “tore it up.”  He said what bothered him most was television shows and movies that “make integration look good. It bothers me with my daughter…she’s still small but being brainwashed by these shows telling her it’s okay to go out with a Black. I hate that shit and you see it more and more.”  Joe was asked by the reporter what would happen one day if his daughter brought home a Black man. His response was that, “It won’t happen [because] I’m bringing her up right.” Ken then explained the important role the Corner Pocket Lounge played in his Klan recruitment effort.

“Take this place here.  I’ve kind of adopted this as our hangout.  People know me here, and its fertile territory for recruiting.  I just drop off some of this stuff at the bar, or leave it behind in the john (toilet).  Somebody’ll pick it up and read it, maybe call us up.  See?  Our number’s on the back. A lot of soldiers come in here. But no niggers.  Ain’t that right, honey?”  This last question was posed to a middle-aged White waitress who replied, “We’ve had a few [Blacks], honey.  But they don’t come back.”

Ken then gave the reporter a bit of his personal history. He said he was a Mormon from Ketchum Prairie, Idaho who first became interested in the Klan while stationed at Fort Hood, Texas.  He claimed that he never saw a Black person until his family moved to California when he was thirteen. He said he initially attended an integrated school there for the first time, but never completed high school. It was in the Army that he got his high school equivalency certificate.  He added that he never had any family support growing up because he lost his brothers and sisters one way or another until he was the only one left.  He also stated he was twice divorced and recently married for the third time and had two young children.

Ken said he hasn’t had an easy life and when he discovered the Klan he embraced it because “it fights for White rights.” For Ken and other like-minded thinkers though the Klan provides so much more than just [in their minds] a vehicle to fight for White rights, he explained that, “Whites have been made to feel guilty, and a lot of us have been made to feel disgraced, you know. The Klan gives us hope and lets us hold our heads up.  It gives White people a voice, gives us strength.”

Ken continued, explaining, “All my friends are in the Klan, really.  You’re with your own kind of people. Whites need to stick together more, like Blacks, to get what we want, what we deserve.  I see the Klan as the White man’s NAACP.”

Ken’s justification for the White man’s need for the Klan continued with his comparison of them as a White version of the NAACP.  Like David Duke, who by the time of this interview had renounced his Klan association to form the National Association for the Advancement of White People (NAAWP), Ken also envisioned a NAAWP type of organization to address those Whites in need of a helping hand. He stated, “Our welfare programs ignore Whites. They just keep Blacks from going to work. Our White tax money (Note: Remember, during the investigation Ken sought assistance from the Posse Comitatus to learn how to avoid paying taxes.) keeps them [Blacks] home to have more and more babies.  The more they breed, the less we feed.”

[Note: The phrase, “The more they breed…” is not an uncommon state of reference for minorities, especially Black,s by the Klan and other racist hate groups. It dehumanizes Blacks and serves to delegitimize their existence as “people,” subjecting them instead to an animalistic frame of reference, mere savages as many racial hate groups imply them to be. “People” reproduce, have children, while animals “breed.”  The term “breed” was also used in slavery days to refer to the sexual reproduction habits of the human chattel of the White slave masters.]

The article offered a brief history of the KKK in the military prior to Ken O’dell at Fort Carson.  It cited 25 enlisted Marine Klansmen at Camp Pendleton near San Diego who were discharged in 1976 following a series of knife attacks against Blacks.  In July 1979, concern about the racist activity of the KKK impacting the U.S. Armed Forces via infiltration of military personnel was addressed by the ADL when they communicated with Secretary of Defense Harold Brown asking that action be taken against the KKK.  The ADL position was expressed by their national director, “…it is contrary to the spirit of the Uniform Code of Military Justice…and the express policy of the Department of Defense’s Equal Opportunity Program…to allow undemocratic, violence-prone organizations like the Klan to infiltrate the armed forces for the purpose of promoting racial disorder.”

A month later, in response to the growing number of incidents on Navy ships involving Klan activity, the Chief of Naval Operations issued an order to crack down on “racist activity,” telling his commanders that “Prejudice and preparedness are incompatible.”  They were instructed to prohibit “activities of a member or members of a racist organization when such activities create a clear danger to the loyalty, discipline or morale of military personnel, or materially interferes with the accomplishment of the military mission.”  With his order he added that commanders could ban such activity “within the military community and, in appropriate cases, restrict the participation of naval personnel in such activities when conducted off base.”  (Note: At the time of the ADL report -- November 1979 -- from which this information was taken, no other military service had issued similar orders.)

In 1978, KKK style cross burnings involved 16 Marines, and some were allegedly involved in the “Border Watch” program, a highly publicized armed patrol of the Mexican-American border that tried to keep undocumented aliens from entering the U.S (Note:  Ken told Officer Ed that he wanted to go to El Paso, Texas to set up a “border watch”).  In 1979, the Klan found its way aboard Navy ships.  A cross was burned aboard the carrier USS America and Klan literature was spread aboard the USS Independence. Navy investigators discovered 20 dues-paying KKK sailors aboard the USS Concord. Also in 1979, the Klan was discovered at Fort Hood, Texas where approximately 20 soldiers served as security guards at David Duke’s national convention in New Orleans.

California’s then highest ranking Klansman, Tom Metzger, referred to the military as a good training ground for the Klan because it contains racists just like everywhere else. According to this reporter the military did not see any evidence of an increased Klan presence, though they estimated the total membership at about 200.  As the article rightfully points out, “It’s not illegal to be a KKK member in the military, thanks to First Amendment rights and recent Supreme Court decisions which, ironically stems largely from the civil rights movement. Nor is mere membership in the Nazi or Communist parties illegal, for that matter, unless it includes supporting activities that actually endanger U.S. security.  Laws officially keep the KKK off the federal government’s list of subversive organizations and the FBI off the KKK’s back.”

What accounts for this appeal and resurgence by the Klan?  It was attributed to its “new” look, slicker and more subtle than its traditional heritage.  It was more image and media conscious and would do a New York Madison Avenue public relations firm proud.  The architect of this media consciousness was David Duke.

The reporter interviewing Ken tried to explain the deeper roots of the Klan’s appeal beyond a simple “new” look by pointing out that it was grounded in an extreme growth of White backlash:  White resentment, anger and frustration toward minority demands and gains, in particular economic ones, which they felt came at their expense.

That backlash stirred a bitterness based on a long-brewing hatred, begrudging envy and the fear of being ignored and left out or behind while Blacks and other minorities were paid attention to, welcomed in or moved forward.  The focus of their discussion centered on expressions of hate for Blacks, Jews and Hispanics because, as the Klan sees it, the way those groups stick together to promote their own racial causes.

As a result, Whites felt alone, isolated, voiceless and powerless and it seemed to bother them that history had somehow passed them by because they could no longer exert power to intimidate minorities as they once did.  This change in dynamics led Klansmen to believe that they -- White people -- were the “true” victims rather than the oppressors of minority groups as so widely touted in the media. Through the Ku Klux Klan, Whites are offered a simple, ready-made answer that provides them a vision towards a better, purer (Whiter) segregated life.

The reporter also interviewed Joseph Stewart, Ken’s second in command during my investigation, who said he was born in Germany.  He was the son of an Army Master Sergeant and a German woman who, he claimed, was once beaten by Nazis for helping Jewish friends escape detention. Note the irony of a mother who was allegedly beaten by Nazis for helping Jews and yet he grows up to adopt similar trappings of those very same Nazis; hating the very Jews his mother suffered a beating for trying to help.

In one of the most contradictory and hypocritical statements on race I have ever heard or seen in print, Joseph told the reporter, “I hate discrimination. That’s why I joined the Klan.”  He justified this by saying, “I love the Klan; it’s completely right. We’re not the enemy of the Black or Jew.  We just want to be segregated from them so we can develop separately, keep our own culture.”  Joe launched into a brief statement on violence saying, “…that’s not us.  There are a lot of Klan factions.  We deplore violence and we believe in the law.  We’ll fight our battles in court.”

[Note: Whenever I heard some version of this statement on violence come from the mouth of a Klansman I dealt with, I always wondered if they realized they were channeling the words and tactics of the Black man who they arguably despise more than any other in modern times:  Martin Luther King, Jr.]

Joseph tried to show his “everyman” bona fides by telling the reporter he had Black friends and even had them over to his house as guests.  He stated they argue constantly about the KKK.  He claimed (rather magnanimously) to view Blacks as people too, but if the Klan told him to stop seeing them, he would.

The warped worldview of racists like Joseph Stewart and other Klansmen and hate group members was on clear display when he told the reporter that Native Americans and Catholics were allowed to join the Klan. (Note: Native Americans have traditionally been looked down upon by the Klan in the same light as Blacks. Catholics, on the other hand, following Blacks and Jews in the Klan hate pecking order, were always discounted as part of the human chain because they were considered “foreign”(non-American) because they answered to the Pope in Rome.  Therefore their allegiance as “true” Americans was always in question and subject to hateful suspicion and subsequent response.)

Joseph later recanted this statement, telling the reporter that he had been misquoted. He said, “Kenny (O’dell) really cussed me out. Catholics can join, but Indians can’t. They’re Mongolians.”  Having grown up in Columbus, Georgia, Joseph told the reporter that all he ever wanted was to be a Klansman.  In high school, he said, “Everybody talked about joining up.  It was like joining the Boy Scouts.”

Joseph stated the forced busing issue while he was in high school got a lot of people talking about joining the Klan. When he eventually told his father he was a Klansman, his father’s crisp response was, “Son, the Army and KKK just don’t mix.”

Joseph stated he tried keeping his membership in the Klan secret to his Army buddies, but someone found out by accident and openly revealed him to others. Word spread and he was eventually counseled by his commanding officer that his KKK activities could hamper his Army career. Shortly thereafter, he said, he was transferred from his infantry unit to the motor pool.  He said that at one time he was assigned to digging latrine holes which, he claimed, was unheard of for someone of his rank (E-5).

Part of his complaint with the Army and why he feels it favors Blacks was this:  “Look at the post library with all its Black magazines and newspapers.  What gives Fort Carson the right to put them in there?  There are only Blacks in those magazines. I used to take them out and replace them with the Crusader (the Klan newspaper).”  Joseph felt his racist feelings were shared by a lot of people. He felt that, “If I could fill up the post theater with all White people, I’d recruit 75% of them.  I know it.”  He seemed very confident in this assessment.

The reporter then posed an interesting hypothesis to Joseph:  What would he do if the KKK told him to dig latrine holes all his life, or burn his Black friend’s house or have a White friend beaten?  After a moment of thought, Joseph replied, “I’d do it.  There’d have to be a good reason for them to tell me to do that.”

Joseph told the reporter he was married and the father of one four-year-old son. He referred to himself as a “patriot” and “religious.”  He felt justified in his Klan beliefs on the grounds that the Founding Fathers were slaveholders when they wrote the Constitution, and the Bible has passages that affirm segregation.  He said it was his intention to one day get his son in the KKK youth corps.

Joseph then told the reporter that his son had learned a lot from him already.  He told an anecdote in which his son was playing outside with a football.  When a Black boy picked up the football, Joseph said his son turned to his wife and said, “Mama, can you get it back from that nigger?”  He expressed pride in his son’s remark.

The interview ended when the reporter told Joseph that he was in an interracial marriage. Joseph responded, “I wouldn’t be talking to you if I had known that.  One of the biggest problems this country has is integrated marriages.  They’re destroying White culture…That makes me sick.”

Repercussions from my 1978-79 intelligence investigation of the Ku Klux Klan continued to reverberate in Colorado Springs well into 1982, two years after I left my employment with the police department and was working in Phoenix. In early 1982, because of initiatives being debated and subsequently acted on by the Arizona legislature that would have a negative impact on the Arizona Criminal Intelligence Systems Agency, I began searching for a new job.

I received feedback from the Wyoming Attorney-General’s Division of Criminal Investigation and had flown to Cheyenne, the state capitol, to be interviewed for a job as an undercover narcotics investigator (for Arthur and Jim--his sergeant’s--benefit, a gold badge was to be part of the deal).  Following an extensive background check, I was offered a Special Agent’s position.  I was not scheduled to begin my new assignment until July 1, 1982.  It was under this backdrop that I learned of a May 1982 joint investigation involving the Colorado Springs Police Department, Denver Police Department, El Paso County (Colorado Springs) Sheriff’s Department, Teller County (west of Colorado Springs) Sheriff’s Department, FBI, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms that resulted in the arrests of 10 people for allegedly selling dynamite, blasting caps, time fuses, detonating cords and automatic weapons (during this period of time automatic weapons were illegal to possess).  Among those arrested, and the apparent ringleader of this cabal, was the same Chuck Howarth mentioned throughout this narrative as the leader of the Posse Comitatus.  Also among those arrested was Howarth’s wife, Nancy (both had been present during David Duke’s luncheon visit to Colorado Springs).  When police executed a search warrant at Howarth’s business, AAA Monogram and trophy shop, they found, in addition to the explosive material and automatic weapons, Ku Klux Klan robes and literature.

The Colorado Springs Deputy Police Chief, who had been my lieutenant during my days in uniform and who was in charge of the Detective Division during the period of my investigation, told a reporter with the Colorado Springs Sun newspaper that “the investigation revealed there may be some connection between them and the KKK.” The District Attorney for Colorado Springs said the suspects were connected to the KKK.  A Denver Police source, according to the paper, said Howarth was the apparent leader of the United Klans of America. The Colorado Springs lieutenant who commanded their intelligence unit stated, “Howarth’s wife had a Klan membership and may still be a member.  Perhaps the most telling statement made on the issue, however, came from the Colorado Springs Police Chief, the same chief who had ordered me to destroy all evidence pertaining to my Klan investigation.  In a May 9, 1982 issue of the Sun newspaper, the Chief was reported as saying, “…his department doesn’t keep close surveillance on the Klan or other extremist groups.”  (Note: On the surface this may have been a true statement at the time. I was two years removed from the CSPD and cannot account for what active investigations may have been in place with the Intelligence Unit at that time. I do know, however, that two years earlier the CSPD, with this Chief’s knowledge and full support, maintained an undercover investigation on the Ku Klux Klan and Progressive Labor Party--i.e. “other extremist groups”--which is as close a surveillance as possible. Since the evidence of that investigation had been “destroyed” and nothing about it was ever revealed to the media or discussed in the public arena, no reporter would have been able to challenge the Chief’s statement by delving deeper into whether or not the department had ever kept close surveillance on the Klan and other extremist groups. Had the question been asked and the Chief acknowledged my investigation two years earlier, including Chuck Howarth’s involvement, then it would probably have led to a whole range of questioning as to why that successful investigation of the KKK and its initial foray into an alliance with the Posse Comitatus was allowed to end.

Would the threat posed by Howarth and company have reached that peak had my investigation been allowed to continue in some form since there was communication taking place between the local Klan leader and Howarth?  That communication was in place in 1979, quite possibly have been solidified over the next three years, and the explosives/automatic weapons plot been a topic of discussion and halted in its tracks much sooner or maybe even talked out of proceeding forward. This makes for interesting “What if?” speculation, something that can never be known.)

The Denver District Attorney at the time was quoted as saying, “The Klan in Colorado is very small and …has split.  Each splinter group is trying to outdo each other.”

According to the newspaper report in the May 5, 1982 issue of the Sun, Howarth was “being investigated by a federal agency that was looking into an alliance formed by the Ku Klux Klan, the Posse Comitatus and informal tax protester groups.”

[Note: My investigation three years earlier determined that the KKK and Posse Comitatus, under Howarth’s leadership, were in the process of forming an alliance and the Posse was long known for being a tax protest group as evidenced by Ken O’dell’s frequent comments that he wanted the Klan to be able to take advantage of the Posse’s knowledge of how to avoid paying taxes.]

The alliance, according to an unnamed federal agent cited by the Sun reporter, was preparing to assume total power in the event of a breakdown in law and order.  The alliance was alleged to have held paramilitary training exercises, studying how to build bombs and taking weapons apart in the dark.

On January 8, 1983, Chuck Howarth pled guilty in Colorado state court to one count of unlawful possession of explosives and incendiary devices.  Ten other charges, five for unlawful possession and five for conspiracy, were dismissed.  Howarth was sentenced to two years in state prison, the minimum allowed, in part due to the fact that he had no prior felony convictions.  The charges against his wife were dismissed.

In a February 26, 1983 interview to the Gazette-Telegraph newspaper, Howarth gave an in-depth statement regarding his ultra-conservative right wing thinking --“the government is the enemy”--view of America.

Howarth claimed the explosives he was involved with were for use by his survivalist associates to construct a city in Cripple Creek because of the way the country was going. “With a little cutback in government spending, people are going to be ready to elect any liberal to secure a place at the trough. One more term with a liberal and it would absolutely break the country.  Then we would see a complete turnaround and we will elect a staunch Constitutionalist who will take us out of the United Nations.” According to Howarth, this would lead to war with Russia and China, which would require people to get out of the major American cities.

Howarth went on to explain his doomsday scenario by saying, “People will worry about an invasion, but the biggest danger will be from within.  When the goodies are cut off, the minorities will descend on the White population like ravaging beasts.”  (Notice how Howarth has and dehumanized the entire collective of the minority class of people by categorizing them as “beasts.”  If a group of people are not, in fact, seen as “people” then it is quite easy to dismiss them as something not worthy of empathy or attention of any kind.)

Howarth then went on to discuss his relationship with the Ku Klux Klan, saying he had joined two years earlier.  (Note:  That admission would make his conversion from the Posse Comitatus to the Klan sometime around 1980. His introduction to the Klan occurred during my investigation a year earlier. If that investigation had been allowed to continue it is quite possible that the CSPD would have seen this trajectory occurring and could have branched off into a new undercover investigation on Howarth’s activities.  What if…

Howarth said his Klan title was “Exalted Cyclops,” another name for the local chapter leader and falsely claimed the total Klan membership in Colorado was 1,000 with half living in El Paso County (Colorado Springs area).  (Note: After learning of Howarth’s arrest I contacted a friend in the CSPD Intelligence Unit regarding the reports of his Klan involvement.  That friend sent me a copy of one of the seized items in their search of Howarth’s property, his copy of “The Constitution of The Posse Comitatus.”  On the second page of the “constitution” was a “List of United Klansman of America members Colorado realm, 6-10-82.”  The list had 21 names with Howarth listed as the “Exalted Cyclops (local leader).”  Three of his sons were also on the list.  His wife’s name was not cited.)

He offered the reporter a skewed perspective on the Klan’s history of committing murders to further their cause:  “The Klan nationwide probably has killed no more people than any other organization. The Black Panthers and the Black Muslims killed more.” (Note: Based on Howarth’s logic Klan murder was justifiable because, according to him, it was less than that committed by the Black Panther Party and Black Muslims combined.  In this context, murder, for Howarth, by white-robed Klan members was acceptable.)

Howarth then claimed that the Klan no longer killed:  “We try to screen out killers.  We do our level best, but a certain amount of controlled violence is OK.”  He made the standard argument in favor of the Klan promoted by David Duke, Fred Wilkens, Ken O’dell and other hooded white-robed hate-filled racists: “The Klan is the only organization on the face of this earth that fights for White rights; all other organizations are hollow shells.”  He lauded the Klan’s history of battling the communist infiltration of America by pointing out that the anti-communist, extreme far right John Birch Society never achieved the removal “of a single communist from America.”  Howarth then proudly pointed out that the Klan had, a year earlier, been implicated in the deaths of five Communist Party members in Greensborough, North Carolina.

Howarth pointed out that whereas Blacks were the primary targets for death and intimidation by the Klan of an earlier South, the Klan of his era primarily targeted Jews.  He said the Jews use Blacks as dupes “to try to enslave the people of the world.  They use Blacks to tear down the structure and do away with the opposition.  The Jews’ whole aim is the destruction of the White Christian on this earth.” [Note: Howarth’s regard for Jews was spelled out by him in his “Constitution of The Posse Comitatus.”  In a handwritten section he refers to Jews as “…those who sprung from the seed of Cain, who himself was fathered by the ancient serpent, are free in the world and they seek death for the Creators Aryan children.  Their ancient satanic symbol of the six pointed star defiles all that it touches.  If our Creator be willing and in His name only, let us send those with the mark of Cain back into the underworld, into the cold stench from which they were spawned.”

Howarth’s reference to Jews as “…seed of Cain,” “…fathered by the ancient serpent,” having an “…ancient satanic symbol of the six pointed star (the Star of David),” and “…bearing the mark of Cain;” is in keeping with the anti-Semitic ideology of the ultra-conservative far right White racist Christian Identity Movement. This movement believes that modern Aryans (non-Jewish Whites) are the true descendants of the ancient Israelites.  They believe Jesus was an Aryan and that Jews are descended from Cain who, contrary to biblical text, was not a child of Adam and Eve but rather the result of a “fling” Eve had with a serpent (snake).  Cain’s children fled into the woods and mated with the beasts which produced the non-White “mud” races (e.g. Blacks, et al). The interesting irony to this White racist reasoning, such as it is, is that Nazi hatred toward Jews is predicated on their belief that Jews are, in fact, descendants of the ancient Israelites. The common theme among these White racist hate groups is their belief in the superiority and supremacy of the White race over all others who do not exhibit any semblance of “pure” White blood and pigmentation. (The Nation, August 30, 1986)]

Howarth was asked by the reporter to explain what makes a man become part of an organization that’s known for a history of discrimination and murder.  He replied that it was a gradual process which, “started with the attitude that everything that happens is by accident. You lost out here, you lost out there, but it was bungling on the part of the politicians. You come to wonder just how many mistakes the politicians can make. Finally, you realize it is not a mistake. This is deliberate. So you’re tired of seeing the country go to pot and you try the traditional ways of fighting it. They don’t work. One day at a right-wing meeting somewhere in the country, you meet someone whose ideas make sense.”

Howarth’s disjointed testament on his path to hate-filled racist logic and acceptance of the Ku Klux Klan as the way forward to redemption was indicative of those who subscribe to the philosophy that government, especially the federal government, is at the root of the “problems” facing the White race in America. They feel Jews control the “Zionist Occupied Government (ZOG)” and Blacks are their operative puppets. They feel certain pressures of life, jobs, the economy, financial woes, educational restraint, all caving in on them and they feel controlled by events, rather than controlling them. They resort to extremist thinking, anti-Semitic denouncements and hate-filled acts of terrorism such as cross burnings to find personal salvation for their xenophobia.

The Chief Deputy District Attorney for El Paso County summed up the moral direction taken by ultra-conservative right-wing racial extremists like Chuck Howarth and the concern the public should have about them and the organizations, such as the KKK, which they flock to:  “…the local Klan is probably not very dangerous now, but the potential is there. If they get more frustrated, it is not that far a step to take violent action to accomplish their goals.  As they started out, they were well within the range of legitimate political dissension. They belonged to protest groups, but they are developing more of a tendency to move toward a position that would espouse violence.  People who are comfortable under certain circumstances committing violence will someday be comfortable using it with less provocation.  If the government does not move in the direction they think it should, they would see it as a matter of survival and would be an act of patriotism to blow people up.”

Author’s Note

During my entire two-year tenure with the Arizona Criminal Intelligence Systems Agency (ACISA), the organization was embroiled in legislative political in-fighting with the larger, more established Arizona Department of Public Safety. Around 1981, the legislature tentatively addressed the conflict in favor of DPS; however, it made working for ACISA a tenuous prospect in terms of job security. In anticipation of this possible outcome, I began searching for a new job, again in the area of undercover investigations, still determined to avoid ever working in a uniformed capacity.

On July 1, 1982, I was hired as a Special Agent (another gold badge for me which I’m sure would have been to the chagrin of Arthur and Jim) in the Narcotics Section of the Wyoming Attorney-General’s Division of Criminal Investigation.  During my four-year tenure at DCI, I again broke a racial barrier in that I was the only Black cop -- municipal, county or federal -- in the state of Wyoming.  It made for the occasional interesting scenario when I would go to some of the small Wyoming communities where the sight of a Black face was rarely seen and, when encountered, considered as something of an oddity.  It proved challenging because I had to figure out schemes to ingratiate myself with the local drug community so that they would accept the strange curiosity of my Black face in their midst and be willing to sell me their drugs.

Around 1984, I was recruited by the Utah Department of Public Safety’s Narcotics and Liquor Law Enforcement Bureau to come work for them as a narcotics investigator.  This came about as a result of one of their agents who knew about my investigative past and asked that I apply for the job. Though the position was under the DPS umbrella, the narcotics agents were hired independent of the uniformed division of the Utah Highway Patrol.  In other words, they were hired for their specialized knowledge and expertise in narcotics investigations and not for the mundane assignment of enforcing the state’s traffic laws and investigating car crashes (which all of the narcotics investigators had done at various points in their careers prior to elevating themselves to the investigation ranks). As narcotics agents, they were not reduced to the threat of a uniform assignment constantly looming over their heads.  On this basis, knowing that I would never have to wear a uniform, I applied for the job.  On July 1, 1986 I was commissioned an Agent with the Narcotics and Liquor Law Enforcement Bureau, beginning the final 20-year journey of my career. In the ensuing years I reached heights of accomplishment in my career that I never imagined when I started on this journey as a 19-year-old Colorado Springs Police Cadet.

For example, in 1988 I researched and wrote a report on the crack cocaine-dealing migration of Blood and Crip gang members from South Central Los Angeles into Utah.  My report led to the 1989 creation of the first gang task force in the state and I became one of the three original gang investigators in Utah.  That task force, the Gang Narcotics Intelligence Unit, was a joint venture between the Utah Department of Public Safety and the Salt Lake City Police Department.

In 1991, with the infusion of over $200,000 federal grant money into the effort, the GNIU evolved into the Salt Lake Area Gang Project (now known as the Metro Gang Unit).  It still exists with participation from multiple police agencies throughout the Salt Lake City metropolitan area.  The elements of the gang project, which I outlined in my 1988 report, became the basis for the formation of similar multi-jurisdictional gang efforts in several Utah counties.

In 1993, the state’s Commissioner of Public Safety created the position of Gang Intelligence Coordinator specifically for me to educate Utah’s law enforcement and civilian communities on the emerging gang problems in the state. My job was to mobilize their support for the law enforcement initiative to address those problems. In addition, I was responsible for the gathering, collation and dissemination of gang intelligence to the various law enforcement jurisdictions throughout the state. I served in this capacity until 2000 and, to date, no one else has filled this position.

While working on the gang issue I noticed a correlation between street gangs and the popular genre of music known as “gangster rap.”  I researched this issue and wrote four books on the subject, two of which have been published (BRINGING THE NOISE:  GANGSTER-REALITY RAP IN THE DYNAMICS OF BLACK SOCIAL REVOLUTION and GANGSTA CODE:  THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF GANGSTER RAP MUSIC AND HIP HOP CULTURE).

From 1992-2000, I regularly traveled the country (once to Nassau, Bahamas) lecturing on this subject at law enforcement conferences and to community groups eager to understand the social and cultural forces motivating America’s youth, in particular those in the inner-cities.  I have also lectured at colleges and universities throughout the country.  This ultimately led to three invitations (1994, 1995 and 1997) to address congressional committees (2 Senate, 1 House) on the topic.

Throughout my Utah career and since my 2005 retirement, I received three gubernatorial appointments and chaired a Salt Lake City mayoral committee on gangs.

In spite of my varied career accomplishments, the one that most intrigues those familiar with my history is the KKK investigation, how I conned the Grand Wizard, David Duke and his coterie of followers. It has defined me in ways that I never could have imagined.  The Klan investigation, with me in the principal role, has always fascinated those who hear the tale.

Sources

1. Colorado Springs Police Department Intelligence Unit reports on the Ku Klux Klan and Progressive Labor Party (1978-79)

2. NORAD website

3.               The Autobiography of Malcolm X, First Edition Copyright 1964by Alex Haley and Malcolm X, Grove Press, Inc., p.68,96-97 and 120

3. Denver magazine, February, 1978, P. 28-33 and 63-68

4. Criminal Justice in Action, 7th Edition, Larry K. Gaines & Roger Leroy Miller, Wadsworth Cengage Learning, (2013)

5. Anti-Defamation League website, “Posse Comitatus” (2001)

6. Ku Klux Klan:  A History of Racism and Violence; compiled by the staff of the Klanwatch Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, 6th Edition, 2011

7. Afro-Denver Magazine, Volume 6, Number 2 (February, 1980)

8. “Black Sergeant was Loyal Klansman,” Deseret Newspaper, January 12, 2006

9. “How A Black Cop Joined The KKK”, National Public Radio (NPR), 2/16/06

10. “Is The Klan Fizzling?”, Denver Monthly, January, 1980, Vol. 8 No. 9, P. 24-28

11. Bringing The Noise: Gangster-Reality Rap in the Dynamics of Black Social Revolution, Ron Stallworth, Police and Fire Publishing (2012)

12. “Don Black,” Southern Poverty Law Center website

13. Cool Pose:  The Dilemmas of Black Manhood in America, Richard Majors and Janet Mancini Bilson, Lexington Books (1992)

14. Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2004 Paperback Edition

15. “David lane,” Southern Poverty Law Center online Intelligence Files

16. “Who Killed Alan Berg?” Westword: Denver’s News and Arts Weekly, Volume 8, Number16, December 19-25, 1984

17. “Strange Fruit,” written by Abel Meeropol, sung by Billie Holiday, Commodore Label (1939)

18. “America’s Down Home Racists”, The Nation, August 30, 1986

19. “The Ku Klux Klan Tries For A Comback,” November, 1979; Vol. 25, No. 3

20. “The Klan’s New Clothes,” Oui magazine, (circa, 1979)

21. “Hooded Empire:  The Ku Klux Klan in Colorado”, University of Illinois Press, Urbana, 1981, Robert Alan Goldberg

22. “GI’s in The Klan”, Army Times/Navy Times/Air Force Times Magazine, July 7, 1980

23. “Klansman Sentenced to 2 Years”, Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph Newspaper, February 26, 1983

24. “The Constitution of the Posse Comitatus”

Sgt. Ron Stallworth, Ret. is available for interviews and speaking engagements and can be reached at the following:  801-898-6953  or  ronstall@aol.com

Mr. Motley is a former columnist for The Muncie Times (Clarence E. Motley and Friends Poetry Corner), founder of the CM Poetry Club, a Lyricist, a Poet, and former board member of the Muncie Civic Theatre, he is also a Playwright, a Writer, and member of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.  In 2002, Motley established a clothing company, Opinionated Apparel, which features his Poetry and viewpoints.  He is thankful and honored to share his Gift. To obtain more information or to order products from Mr. Motley email him at ooware@hotmail.com