Ron Edwards (Ku Klux Klan member)

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Ron Edwards (* 20th century in the United States ; real name Ronald Wayne Edwards ) is an American right-wing extremist and was for many years the Imperial Wizard of the Imperial Klans of America (IKA), which he made the second largest Ku Klux Klan organization built up.

Life

As a teenager, Edwards moved his family to the suburbs of Chicago. There were more gang clashes there , especially between black and Hispanic youth. Ron and his older brother quickly joined white street gangs. A turning point for Ron Edwards was the death of his brother, who was killed by several black people in 1986. Edwards became a skinhead and became increasingly radical. He got to know the Ku Klux Klan through the talk show Race and Reason by Tom Metzger ( White Aryan Resistance ). After moving to Kentucky , he joined the Federation of Klans (FOK), a splinter organization of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan .

After its self-dissolution in 1995, he founded the Imperial Klans of America together with former members of the FOK, of which he became the first Imperial Wizard. Edwards mixed the ideology of the clan with the skinhead movement as well as Nazi ideology. He organized the Klan like a paramilitary group or a militia . Under his leadership, the Klan grew to become the second largest clan faction in the United States.

In 2008, Edwards was targeted by the judiciary. When members of the clan seriously injured a Panamanian Indian, the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a lawsuit against Edwards. With all of the lawyers Edwards called refusing to work with him, he defended himself and was eventually fined $ 2.5 million in civil court. To avoid this fine, he transferred all of his property to his son. He also resigned from all offices in the Klan, which has been leaderless since then.

In 2010 Edwards was arrested for trafficking in methamphetamine and sentenced to four years in prison. From 2011 to 2015 he was in prison.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Gangland , S05, E02: Klan of Killers , History , June 4, 2009
  2. ^ Judges Caperton, Clayton, and Buckingham: Court of Appeals of Kentucky: Edwards v. Hensley . findlaw.com. Retrieved December 12, 2012.
  3. ↑ Sonia Scherr: Racist Skins Renounce Busted IKA Leader. Southern Poverty Law Center , May 24, 2010, accessed September 3, 2013 .
  4. ↑ Leah Nelson: Klan Boss Ron Edwards Sentenced to Four Years on Drug Charges. Southern Poverty Law Center , May 26, 2011, accessed September 3, 2013 .
personal data
SURNAME Edwards, Ron
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Edwards, Ronald Wayne (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American right-wing extremist and Ku Klux Klan functionary
DATE OF BIRTH 20th century
PLACE OF BIRTH United States