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  • 00:09 MEMBER: White power!

  • GROUP: White power! 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!

  • MEMBER: White power! GROUP: White power!

  • END

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