Johnny Lee Clary

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Johnny Lee Clary (born June 18, 1959 in Martinez , California - † October 21, 2014 in Baton Rouge , Louisiana ) was an evangelical pastor and former Ku Klux Klan leader. After a conversion experience, he joined the Pentecostal movement , where he became a preacher and pastor and preached against racism and hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, the neo-Nazis and the Aryan Nation . Clary was a well-known wrestler in the National Wrestling Federation (NWF) while still with the Klan in the 1980s under the ring name Johnny Angel .

Life

youth

Johnny Lee Clary grew up in a racist household. His father taught him racist language and encouraged him to treat black people with disdain. He also insisted that his son only go to churches with white members. His father, excluded from the Ku Klux Klan as a devout Catholic , did not bring him into the Klan. It was his father's brother who introduced him to the clan and bragged to his father that he had shot an African American.

In several interviews, Clary stated that his family life was marked by violence and tragedy. His father killed himself when Clary was eleven years old. After that, Clary was passed from family to family until he was fourteen, wandering the streets of East Los Angeles alone and quickly bumping into various gangs . At fourteen he also joined the Ku Klux Klan under David Duke .

Wrestling career

Together with his brother Terry Clary he was trained by Danny Hodge , an ex- NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion . Terry became “Sugar Boy”, while his brother was the manager “Der Kommissar” (named after the famous Falco song Der Kommissar ). While his brother was performing as Buddy Savage, Johnny Lee Clary switched to active wrestling and called himself Johnny Angel. In 1986 he won the NWF / NWA Arkansas Heavyweight Title and appeared for Kansas City All Star Wrestling . He then joined the NWF. There he had some appearances as a wrestler and later became the manager of DC Drake and the wrestler Spanish Angel. He held the Arkansas Heavyweight from 1986 to 1988 and ended his career on July 30, 1988 in Grove , Oklahoma . In 2002 he returned to the ring and played a match against Buddy Landel in North Carolina .

Ku Klux Klan

During his active wrestling career, Clary rose to the Grand Dragon of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Oklahoma. As early as the 1980s he began to doubt the Klan, but was put under pressure and stayed in the Klan. For a while he was also the right-hand man of Tom Metzger ( White Aryan Resistance ), whom he later described as "one of the most brutal men who ever preached hate". In 1989 he even became the organization's Imperial Wizard . The Klan received little publicity during its leadership, but Clary appeared on various talk shows for the Klan, including Oprah Winfrey and Morton Downey, Jr.

Exit

Clary left the clan in 1990 and joined an evangelical church. A year later he started preaching. He performed with Wade Watts , who was previously the leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Oklahoma. The two had been bitter opponents a year earlier.

Clary's transition from a Klansman to an evangelistic preacher and anti-racism activist reached a wide media audience, especially in the Christian scene in America and Australia. The Phil Donahue Show and Geraldo also reported about Clary on national TV . In 2001 he participated in the book The Day I Met God , a collection of revival experiences. In addition to Clary, country singer Randy Travis is also featured in the book.

Johnny Lee Clary was the last ordained minister under Jimmy Swaggart and lived in Baton Rouge , Louisiana.

He died of a heart attack on October 21, 2014 at the age of 55.

Publications

  • Boys in the Hoods. One Man's Journey from Hatred to Love . Pneuma Life Pub Inc 1996. ISBN 978-1562294489
  • An essay in: Karen Covell, Victorya Michaels Rogers, Jim Covell: The Day I Met God: Extraordinary Stories of Life-Changing Miracles . Multnomah, 2001 ISBN 1-57673-786-1

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Johnny Angel hated - and was hated - before he preached love
  2. ^ Former KKK Grand Wizard finds new path by Frank Wallis
  3. ↑ a b c Apostle of Healing ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.melaniehemry.com archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. by Melanie Hemry
  4. ↑ About Johnny Clary. (No longer available online.) Official website, archived from the original on September 26, 2013 ; Retrieved September 21, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / preachthecross.net
  5. ↑ Enough Rope with Andrew Denton (Official show transcript) abc.net.au. September 5, 2005. Archived from the original on March 12, 2007. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved September 2, 2006.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.abc.net.au
  6. ↑ Former Klansman addresses his past ( Memento of the original from January 3, 2020 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lincolntimesnews.com archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. by Jon Mayhew
  7. ↑ Not a chance encounter, but a divine appointment ( Memento of the original from March 11, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. by Dana Williamson  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.johnnyleeclary.com
  8. ^ Former KKK Leader Works With Black Pentecostal Denomination
  9. ↑ Karen Covell, Victorya Michaels Rogers, Jim Covell: The Day I Met God: Extraordinary Stories of Life-Changing Miracles . Multnomah, 2001 ISBN 1-57673-786-1
  10. ↑ Jimmy Swaggart Ordains Johnny Lee Clary ( Memento of October 16, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ↑ slam.canoe.ca: Johnny Angel hated - and was hated - before he preached love
personal data
SURNAME Clary, Johnny Lee
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Johnny Angel (ring name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American evangelical pastor, Ku Klux Klan leader, and wrestler
DATE OF BIRTH June 18, 1959
PLACE OF BIRTH Martinez (California) , California
DATE OF DEATH October 21, 2014
Place of death Baton Rouge , Louisiana