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00:09 MEMBER: White power!
GROUP: White power! MEMBER: White power!
GROUP: White power!
00:18 COMM: They're one of the world's most controversial
organisations. Now 60 years since the birth of the African American civil rights movement,
the Klu Klux Klan are on a recruitment drive for new members, including children.
00:37 COMM: With special access to a recruitment
rally at a secret location, we go inside the movement to meet the members and uncover how
they're planning to take up military style training for what they claim is the first
time in their history.
00:49 MEMBER: We're gonna try and move in another
direction with the little white knights and that's starting to arm, train in hand-to-hand
combat and stuff like that for the upcoming battle.
00:58 COMM: Established 150 years ago, the Klu Klux
Klan have long been associated with racism, cross lighting, and even murder. Today the
clan is made up of an estimated six and a half thousand members across the USA, and
they're travelling across America in a bid to attract new recruits.
01:15 COMM: On the evening before their latest rally
we join them in the state of West Virginia on a night ride.
01:21 JOHN: Night ride is an old Klan term. When
the Klan went out on a night ride they went out an patrolled the streets and uh - sort
of vigilante style.
01:31 COMM: Today night rides consist of dropping
leaflets in the local area.
01:35 JOHN: Distributing these flyers for recruitment
purposes, we put them in these bags, we add some rice for weight, toss em out the window
into someone's driveway.
01:48 COMM: Parents like Sam and Amanda, have brought
their young boys, 14-year-old Mike, and 11-year-old Dustin to West Virginia for the recruitment
drive.
01:56 MIKE: I enjoy days like today because I'm
being around people, not disgusting people. Not drug addicts.
02:08 COMM: We spoke the criminologist and civil
rights lawyer, Professor Brian Levin, who believes the targeting of children is consistent
with the Klan's recruitment drive.
02:17 BRIAN: The Klan is aiming for a younger demographic
for a couple of reasons, first, to keep the organisation alive they, the Klan has traditionally
been aimed at a older audience. In addition though, youth provides it with a more relevant
social and political base as well as some technological know-how as well, so that they
can access the internet.
02:41 COMM: And the Klan are now appealing to children
online. Mum Amanda believes racial minorities can have a bad influence on her sons.
02:48 AMANDA: The kids in school, y'know the black
minorities and Mexicans, I think they're taking their parents drugs and bringing them to school
and trying to make money off of it, because their parents are so worried about doing drugs
than providing for their own children. That's what I think.
03:03 COMM: Members of the Klan since birth, the
boys have been regulars to such events, and have even taken part in cross burning rituals.
03:10 MIKE: I do remember lighting by first cross.
03:13 CAMERA: How did it feel?
03:15 MIKE: It felt good.
03:17 COMM: And Amanda wants the boys to have an
active role in the Klan in the future.
03:21 AMANDA: I want them to focus on working on
the Klan and raising more kids. White kids. And show them the values of the Klan.
03:32 COMM: The next morning heavily armed security
teams man the gates as Klan members arrive.
03:39 CAMERA: What is it?
03:40 MEMBER: It's a Remington R1 1911 .45 caliber.
03:45 COMM: They claim members are from a number
of professions.
03:49 JAMES: We got um, police officers in the Klan,
we got lawyers, we got doctors. Your next door neighbour could be in the Klan and you'll
never know it.
03:57 COMM: The rally brings different factions
of the Klan together, including the LOTIE's which stands for Ladies Of The Invisible Empire.
who hold a bake sale.
04:05 LOTIE 1: We go all over the United States
to help families in need, of shelter, food. LOTIE 2: Especially the children, because
they cannot take care of themselves. LOTIE 1: Exactly, and the elderly. Especially.
Especially the elderly.
04:22 COMM: The rally gives members the opportunity
to socialise, and even exchange gifts.
04:27 MEMBER: Well what better to give my imperial
family than a knife rack but, I think I'll make it black, because it's funny. And uh,
it is funny.
04:38 CAMERA: Why has it got a noose on it?
MEMBER: Well, because I had string sitting at the house.
04:43 COMM: As the rally gets underway, Klan Dragons
deliver speeches on their views on race, sexuality and even the media.
04:52 MEMBER: You see this state is a majority white
state and a civilised christian state. Unlike California, where they let the zoo animals
walk free. Anybody who does not believe me, look at Michigan. The whole state's bankrupt.
It's a majority black state. With three murders happening every day.
05:13 MEMBER: Just goes to show you what happens
when you take the n****r out of the jungle, but you can't take the jungle out of the n****r.
05:20 JOHN: If I were to push the envelope the just
a little bit more, and I said that I hate f**s, because homosexuality is forbidden by
God's law.
05:28 MEMBER: Praise God for AIDS.
05:31 MEMBER: And these jewish puppets, who want
to sell our ideals just for ratings on some TV show. They will be the first ones to hang
for their sins and then, their sins against God and y'all sins against humanity.
05:46 COMM: WIth the crowd warmed up, one of the
Klan seniors tells the group how they plan to move in a new direction.
05:52 MEMBER: We're gonna do something a little
different, for the next, probably the next couple of years to try to get our men and
women ready for the upcoming battle that we're about to take upon us and this is something
that no Klan has ever done and we're going to start it, all our boys are coming back
home from the military.
06:08 MEMBER: Which is good and we're getting a
lot more military members joining, as we;re gonna start doing military training, now that
we got out marines and army back. They gonna start showing us how to skin and how to survive
off the land. We're gonna try to move into another direction with the little white knights
and that is starting to arm, train, hand to hand combat, and stuff like that just for
the upcoming battle.
06:27 COMM: Whilst the Klan claim their plan to
militarise represents a new approach, Professor Levin argues such tactics have been seen before.
06:35 BRIAN: This is something we've seen throughout
recent decades, where the Klan has gone through cycles where they've armed themselves, gotten
in trouble, them mellowed out and them armed themselves again.
06:46 BRIAN: Their looking at a philosophy of a
race war and arming themselves is one way to telegraph to both their members, and society
at large, that they are relevant.
06:57 COMM: The latest rally only attracted 40 people,
and organisers know they require more numbers to have an influence.
07:04 MEMBER: The ultimate goal for myself, is to
have our membership get to the point where we can effect political change through - we
can effect change through the political system. Right now our numbers aren't quite good enough.
07:20 COMM: But with such small numbers, can the
Klu Klux Klan really have an effect in modern America.
07:26 BRIAN: I think the real danger, does not lie
with the Klan being some kind of widespread army that has tentacles across the United
States. That's not gonna happen. But what we do have to worry about is individuals,
autonomous selves, or duos, committing terrorist acts on their own, because they get training,
they get inspiration, and they get know-how from being in the orbit of these hate groups.
07:49 BRIAN: So do I think that the Klan as a holistic
entity represents a significant widespread threat to the United States? No, however,
loose radicals coming out of that orbit do in fit represent a threat of continuing terrorism,
here in the United States.
08:10 COMM: Despite being low on support the Klan
leaders are confident they can change the political landscape.
08:16 JAMES: Black people, white people, we're all
getting tired of the government, and pretty soon you'll see the government collapse. And
when the government keeps on sending their money over to Israel and it finally collapses,
your gonna see the Klan take it back and we're gonna make this nation the way it needs to
be.
08:32 MEMBER: I wanna thank all of you, God bless
you all and God bless the Klan, white power! GROUP: White power!
MEMBER: White power! GROUP: White power!
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