Ron Stallworth

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Ron Stallworth (born June 18, 1953 in Chicago , Illinois ) is a retired American police officer and author. At the end of the 1970s he investigated undercover against the Ku Klux Klan and was able to uncover the structures of the racist secret society. His book about the investigative investigation into the Ku Klux Klan was made into a film by Spike Lee in BlacKkKlansman .

Life

Stallworth was 1972 police officer in Colorado Springs and was the first black officer of the Colorado Springs Police Department . He now lives in Utah as a widower . He has two sons.

Investigations against the KKK

In October 1978 the Ku Klux Klan advertised in a daily newspaper in Colorado Springs: It was looking for new members. Interested parties should send a letter to a PO Box address. Stallworth wrote such a letter explaining why he wanted to become a member of the Klan. He used the word “nigger” in every sentence and incited against black people, but he didn't expect to get an answer to his letter of application.

A week later, the local KKK leader phoned Stallworth and was enthusiastic about his views. He is exactly the type you are looking for, an Aryan with white American blood. The Klan man was enthusiastic about Stallworth's "deep hatred of blacks". The local leader later turned out to be a US Army soldier. As a motivation, Stallworth said his sister was dating a black man and he couldn't stand it. The KKK man promised that they could help if he joined the clan. Inadvertently, Stallworth had given his real name, but given a wrong address.

Stallworth was due for a meeting a week later. Since he would have been exposed because of the color of his skin, a colleague from the drug squad , who also worked undercover, went to the meeting. The white "Chuck" pretended to be Stallworth and passed the KKK entrance exam. He got an ID in the name of his friend Ron Stallworth. Stallworth was now on the phone with the clan and Chuck went to the secret meetings. Although both had completely different voices, the KKK did not notice this. When someone asked about it, Stallworth said he sometimes had sinus problems.

Stallworth managed to prove himself again and again as a "loyal member" and finally to become the chairman of the local branch in Colorado Springs. So he got in contact with the Grand Wizard , David Duke , MP in Louisiana and KKK head of Colorado. The undercover operation ran for seven months and, according to Stallworth, two bomb attacks on gay bars and several meetings were prevented by the information obtained. The primary aim, however, was to get to know the structures of the KKK.

Since Chuck constantly refused to take over the leadership of the KKK local group, the action had to be ended. Stallworth was transferred to Utah for security reasons.

Book and film

While Stallworth hadn't spoken publicly about his work in the early 1980s for a long time, he published the book Black Klansman in 2014 . QC Entertainment producer Shaun Redick bought the rights to the book and reworked it as a script. Spike Lee signed as co-producer and director. The film BlacKkKlansman was presented at the Cannes Film Festival in 2018 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Black Undercover Cop Who Infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in Colorado . In: Vice . May 30, 2014 ( vice.com [accessed May 16, 2018]).
  2. ↑ Michael Remke: USA: The trick of the black Ku Klux Klan agent . In: The world . June 16, 2014 ( welt.de [accessed on May 16, 2018]).
  3. ↑ Neil Smith: Spike Lee tells world to 'wake up' . In: BBC News . May 15, 2018 ( bbc.com [accessed May 16, 2018]).
personal data
SURNAME Stallworth, Ron
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American police officer and book author
DATE OF BIRTH June 18, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago , Illinois