Ron Stallworth was born June 18, 1953, in Chicago Illinois, but was raised in El Paso, Texas. He joined the police department in Colorado Springs as a cadet in November 1972 and became the first black detective in the Department.
In 1979, Stallworth saw an ad in the local paper stating that the Klu Klux Klan was seeking members to start a new chapter Colorado Springs. He responded to this posting via mail. In his message, he stated that he did not like anyone “who wasn’t pure Aryan white like [he] was” and “[he] wanted to do something to stop the abuse of the white race”. Stallworth made the mistake of signing his real name instead of his undercover one. Initially, he wasn’t worried about this. He thought at the least the Klan would respond to his message with a pamphlet, brochure, or something of the sort. Instead, he received a phone call from the local Klan chapter.
In this phone call, he was asked why he wanted to join the organization. Stallworth thought for a while before answering the question. He thought about all the times he had been called the n-word and all the nasty things that had been said to him when growing up. He used this to craft the most vial hate-filled response he could that he thought would impress the klan member. Stallworth told them that “[his] sister had been dating a [black man] and every time he put his filthy black hands on her pure white body it made [him] cringe and [he] wanted to do something to stop those things from happening.” The response that Stallworth received was positive, he was told that he was “just the kind of guy [they] were looking for”. The Klan member then asked for when they could next meet. Stallworth had to think on his feet as he could not possibly meet them in person. Stallworth agreed to meet in person the following week and sent his white colleague who would act as the “white Ron Stallworth”.
This kicked off a seven-month undercover investigation of infiltrating the Klan with the help of Stallworth’s white colleague. Stallworth frequently called the KKK Grand Wizard David Duke to get information on Klan activity. Duke had no idea that the man he was talking to was black. Stallworth even asked in a conversation if Duke was worried that “some smart aleck [African American] would ring [him] up and pretend to be white in order to find some information about the Klan”. Duke responded saying that he never worries about that because “[he] can always tell when [he’s] talking to a [African American] on the phone, and [he] would be able to tell they weren’t Aryan White”.
Stallworth's work helped keep the community safe. He was able to prevent three cross burnings, revealed Klan members in both the military and North American Aerospace Defense Command, and thrawted a plan to bomb two gay bars in Denver due to his access to inside information.
Stallworth later published his experience in a book entitled Black Klansman: Race, Hate and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime. The book was later adapted into a movie entitled BlacKkKlansman which came out in 2018 and has won many awards. Sources
I enjoyed this post as it gave an in depth description on the life of Ron Stallworth and his achievements. He was really brave to go undercover and infiltrate the KKK as if he was caught he would surely be severely injured or even killed. It is interesting to see how Stallworth was able to act so calmly when talking to the KKK, especially David Duke. I found that Stallworth would later say that he talked to Duke so effortlessly that it was like they had a friendship.
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I found this post quite intriguing, with how you included the various dialog, as well as quotes during Stallworth's mission of infiltration. These excerpts truly illustrate the extent of how far Stallworth would achieve inside information. By hiding in plain sight, with sheer bravery, he was able to penetrate their organization. And, through the doing of such, was able to ensure the security of his community and others.
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This was a well written post that really told a very interesting story about Ron Stallworth. In the article "BlacKkKlansman: The True Story of How Ron Stallworth Infiltrated the K.K.K." Ron Stallworth tells an interesting story of the time he actually met the Klan Leader for the first time. He said he wanted to take a picture with the Duke but Duke felt uncomfortable of being in a photograph with an African American man and wanted to get rid of the photo. Stallworth then told Duke that if he wanted to he could have Stallworth arrested at that moment. I found this to be an interesting story because it shows the time they met for the first time because it just showed how Stallworth managed to put Duke out of his comfort zone by attempting to take a picture with him.
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