Ron Stallworth

Ron Stallworth
Stallworth as a high school junior, from his 1970 yearbook
Born (1953-06-18) June 18, 1953
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Occupation Police officer (retired)
Known for Infiltration of the KKK
Author of memoir Black Klansman
Portrayal in BlacKkKlansman

Ron Stallworth (born June 18, 1953) is an American retired police officer who infiltrated the ranks of the Ku Klux Klan in Colorado Springs, Colorado in the late 1970s. He was the first African-American police officer and detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department.[1][2] The 2018 film BlacKkKlansman is based on his life and early career.

Early life

Ron Stallworth in 1969, at Austin High School, El Paso, Texas, doing a jump in cheerleader tryouts, scanned from the 1970 Round Up, his junior-year annual.

Born in Chicago, Stallworth was raised in El Paso, Texas, after his mother moved the family there.[3]

My mother's moving our family to El Paso was the best decision she ever made, as the city was a far cry from the poverty, gangs, and conflict in Chicago's South Side, where I would have come of age if she had not left.

— Ron Stallworth, Black Klansman (2014)

In the summer of 1972, his family moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he first took an interest in a career in law enforcement.[1]

Early police career

From the time Stallworth started as a police cadet in 1972, he wanted to be an undercover officer. His first undercover assignment came when Stokely Carmichael was invited to speak at a black nightclub in Colorado Springs. Stallworth was asked if he would go undercover to observe the speech, and he eagerly accepted the assignment. He was subsequently assigned to the intelligence section of his department.[1]

Infiltration of the KKK

In 1979, Stallworth noticed a wanted ad in the local paper seeking members to start a new chapter of the Ku Klux Klan in Colorado Springs. Stallworth called the phone number listed, and posed as a racist white man who "hated blacks, Jews, Mexicans, Asians." During the conversation, he learned that the man founding the new chapter was a soldier at nearby Fort Carson. Stallworth arranged to meet the man at a local bar and sent a white undercover narcotics officer, wired to record any conversations, to stand in for him at the meeting.[4]

The subterfuge was a success, and Stallworth continued to pose as a KKK member for the next nine months, usually talking on the phone with other members, and sending the white officer in his place when face-to-face meetings were necessary. At one point, Stallworth phoned David Duke, who was head of the KKK at the time, at his headquarters in New Orleans to ask about the status of his membership application. Duke looked through his paperwork, apologized for the delay in getting it processed, and promised to see to it personally that Stallworth's application was processed and sent back to him. Within a short time, Stallworth's Klan certificate of membership, signed by David Duke, arrived. He framed it and hung it on the wall of his office, where it stayed for years.[4]

Post-retirement

After the investigation into the Klan was closed, Stallworth kept it a secret and told no one about his role in it. He transferred to the Utah Department of Public Safety, where he worked as an investigator for nearly 20 years, and retired in 2005.

In January 2006, he gave an interview to the Deseret News of Salt Lake City, in which he related all the details of his infiltration and investigation of the KKK.[5] He disclosed that the investigation had revealed several Klan members who were active members of the US Armed Forces, including two at NORAD that controlled triggers for nuclear weapons. The pair were both reassigned; Stallworth was told that they went to "somewhere like the North Pole or Greenland."[6]

In 2014, Stallworth published a book, Black Klansman, about his experience investigating the KKK.[7]

The book was brought to QC Entertainment by producer Shaun Redick in order to make a film based on it; Spike Lee signed on as co-producer and director.[8] The film was eventually titled BlacKkKlansman. The film debuted at the Cannes Film Festival on May 14, 2018, where it won the Grand Prix award.[9] It was released on August 10, 2018, with John David Washington playing the role of Stallworth.[10][11]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Taylor, Matt (2014-05-30). "The Black Undercover Cop Who Infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in Colorado". Vice. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  2. ↑ Simon, Scott (2018-06-09). "How A Black Detective Infiltrated The KKK". NPR. Retrieved 2018-06-24.
  3. ↑ Stallworth, Ron (2014). Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime. Flatiron Books. p. 9. ISBN 9781250299031. Retrieved 2018-07-20.
  4. 1 2 Gordon, Ed (2006-02-16). "How a Black Cop Joined the KKK". NPR. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  5. ↑ Vogrin, Bill (2014-05-21). "Side Streets: Ex-Colorado Springs cop recalls his time as black member of Ku Klux Klan". The Gazette. Archived from the original on 2014-05-24. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  6. ↑ Bulkeley, Deborah (2006-01-12). "Black sergeant was 'loyal Klansman'". Deseret News. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  7. ↑ Dickerson, Jessica (2014-05-13). "Ron Stallworth, Police Sergeant, Chronicles His Experience As Undercover KKK Member". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  8. ↑ Kit, Borys (2017-09-08). "'Black Klansman' KKK Thriller in the Works From Spike Lee, Jordan Peele". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  9. ↑ "Festival de Cannes Feature Films". Retrieved 2018-09-03.
  10. ↑ Johnson, Todd (2018-05-15). "Spike Lee's true-story thriller 'BlacKkKlansman' debuts to standing ovation at Cannes Film Festival". NBC News. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  11. ↑ L. Brown, DeNeen (2018-08-10). "'BlacKkKlansman': How black detective Ron Stallworth infiltrated the Colorado Klan". Washington Post. Retrieved 2018-08-13.
  • Ron Stallworth on IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  • Black Klansman. Flatiron Books, a Macmillan Publishers imprint. 2018-07-31. ISBN 9781250313720.
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