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Is the KKK making a comeback?

Posted: Nov 17th 2008 By: mikeiles

MIAMI, OK ? Johnny Lee Clary had a unique perspective when he read of Cynthia C. Lynch?s death at a Ku Klux Klan initiation in the Louisiana bayous. He viewed the tragedy through the eyes of a former Ku Klux Klan leader.

Johnny Lee Clary warns others to be vigilant of hate propaganda.

Now he has a warning.

"The KKK is making a comeback in Oklahoma,? said Clary, 49, who now travels the world preaching against hate. "I?ve seen this coming for some time now, and my message to fellow Oklahomans is: Don?t buy their messages of hate. There are a number of things they will try to use to their advantage to spread their hate propaganda ? the poor economy, illegal immigration, the election of a black president. Just remember, this is the kind of violence they are capable of.?

Clary?s words were echoed last week by other experts who track hate groups. They say the landscape is fertile for the recruitment of targets such as Lynch ? a divorced 43-year-old who drifted in and out of legal trouble.

"In the 1980s, we had the recession and the farm crisis when we saw a spike in KKK membership,? said Mark Pitcavage, an Anti-Defamation League historian and analyst on extremist groups. "Then in the 1990s, despite relatively prosperous economic times, we saw another spike with the election of Bill Clinton, which didn?t sit well with a number of right-wing, militant groups. Now, in a sense, we have both ? an economic crisis and the first black president.?

Numbers vary on how many Ku Klux Klan organizations there are in Oklahoma because some choose to remain in the shadows of society. Pitcavage estimates there are at least "four or five contact points,? ranging from an individual recruiter to a full-fledged chapter.

The Southern Poverty Law Center names six organizations in Oklahoma ? five chapters of the Pennsylvania-based Brotherhood of Klans Knights of the KKK and a group associated with the Louisiana-based Bayou Knights of the KKK. Clary?s intelligence suggests "many, many more splinter groups.?

Nationally, the Anti-Defamation League estimates somewhere between "4,000 and 5,000? Klan members exist.

"The Klan preys on people during hard economic times ? times when they are vulnerable,? Clary said.

Clary rose through the ranks of White Knights to the status of imperial wizard. Publicity about his title brought about the demise of his professional wrestling career.

Disillusioned, he quit the Klan in 1989.

With nowhere to turn, Clary reached for the Bible. He attended a multi-racial church in Tulsa and soon started seeing beyond the color of a person?s skin. His journey inspired him to speak out against the Klan, which marked him as a "race traitor.?

He still receives several death threats a week.

The Klan preys on people during hard economic times ? times when they are vulnerable.?

Tags: Johnny Lee Clary