Forget the old days of white power, the most notorious white suprematist organization in history is rebranding. Amidst the rise of nationalist groups overseas, the KKK is seeking a revival here at home.
"The KKK is for a strong America. White supremacy is the old Klan. This is the new Klan," John Abarr, Montana's most well known white suprematist, told the Great Falls Tribune.
Abarr's founded a new branch of KKK called the Rocky Mountain Knights. He stresses that the fraternal organization has changed its ideology and is now seeking new members to fight what he calls the “new world order." He believes that the US is moving towards a one-world government. He calls himself a “reformed man,” explaining the sudden leap of belief to a more inclusive model.
The media in recent days has been having a field day with the story of Abarr and the KKK rebrand, after years of virtual silence about the organization. But what does the news of this about-face on inclusivity really mean for the organization? And, incidentally, where has the KKK been all this time?
Though the KKK has seemed to be out of the public eye in recent years, the group still boasts between 5,000 and 8,000 members in the U.S., according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. It's divided into 35 chapters, many of which are defined by a particular ideology and the organization is plagued by inter-chapter conflict. Some Klan groups have partnered up with neo-Nazi groups to strengthen their presence, while others remain more independent.
While this most recent public stunt from the Montana Klansman has certainly put the KKK back on the radar for now, it might not have been the wisest move for Abarr to seek attention.
Members have criticized the Rocky Mountain Knight for his use of the Klan to promote his own political ambitions. Abarr ran for the House of Representatives for the state of Montana in 2011, campaigning for the legalization of marijuana, abortion rights, abolishing the death penalty, and saving the white race.
Frank Ancona, leader of the KKK's Traditionalist American Knights in Missouri has also made headlines recently for his statements on the protests in Ferguson over the killing of Michael Brown. “These … protesters are the best recruiters since Obama,” Ancona told the Daily River Front Times. “Normally we might hear from ten people a week in Missouri, and now we're hearing from more like fifty people a week. Sometimes, depending on these news stories, we get 100, 200 calls in a day.” Ancona's also called the Ferguson protesters “terrorists.”
But just like Abarr, Ancona is fueling internal conflicts with other Klan leaders. One of them even accused Frank Ancona of being Jewish.
It would seem that the KKK is paying for its time in the media spotlight with inconvenient consequences: inter-chapter divides which reveal to the public obvious contradictions within their belief system. Abarr's move to create an all-inclusive "kind and cuddly" Klan has got the media buzzing, but the reality of the group's infighting and ideological disorganization only serves to make their tired stunts for attention all the more transparent.
