Inside The Ku Klux Klan

Infiltrating The Klan

	I’ve had times where although everyone vouched for me, I’d still have that untrusting member thinking I was a federal informant and spying on him or her

Convincing a Klan group to allow me to attend an event took some persistence, but I finally found one in Arkansas that was willing to cater to my request with the stipulation that I’d only be allowed to photograph the cross lighting ceremony. Before that, it was at least a year to year-and-a-half of emails to organisations I found on the Internet with little to no response.

After attending the lighting in Arkansas (see opening image), several months passed until I came in contact with the leader of a very large Klan organisation in Tennessee. He was a former Marine, like myself, and was very proud of his Christian-ideology Klan-realm. He invited me to an upcoming event and we stayed in contact with one another. I was soon welcomed to all of his events as well as his home. I was always able to photograph whatever I wanted; no-one ever put on a show or hid anything from me.

My first experience photographing the Klan was in Arkansas in April 2005. There are many organisations worldwide, and each one may hold various events throughout the year. The gatherings are the big draw and typically start on a Friday and end Saturday evening, following the cross lighting ceremony. 

The Klan hasn’t been unified since 1944, when it was disbanded by the IRS, and the KKK lost all its copyrights; the name became public domain, so anybody could rightfully start up a group and name it the Klan. With that, they have some organisations that are Christian-based in ideology and others that might be more militant or paramilitary in structure. I’ve come across many types of Klansmen; the common ground is that a lot of them want racial separation. According to some members, when races mix it ‘dilutes the purity that God intended us to have’; they often say, “You don’t mix a zebra with a horse.”

The majority of Klan members I met are indistinguishable from the rest of society; they are no different in appearance than you or me. Some may routinely wear clothing with Klan innuendo on it, but for the most part you’d never be able to tell unless they decided to share their beliefs with you. Many Klan members say that America has lost its identity. They believe in immigration, but on a controlled level. They often demonstrate for bringing God back into America’s public schools and oppose interracial marriages, as well as a ban on same sex marriage. It’s not uncommon to hear various quotes from the Bible, like,  “Thou shall not lie with mankind as with woman kind, it is an abomination.”

Even though I’ve been documenting the Klan for years, I still come across members whom I’ve never met before. I’ve had times where although everyone vouched for me, I’d still have that untrusting member thinking I was a federal informant and spying on him or her. I can’t say I’ve had a “scariest moment”, but a few years ago I was documenting an event in a very remote area and the local police stopped by and told the group that they heard talk about a large Mexican gang coming to start trouble and for them to be on the lookout. One thing’s for sure in the South, don’t expect to trespass on another man’s property with a weapon and not expect to be greeted with equal force.