News

A Racially Diverse Branch Of The KKK? Hm...

by Clarissa-Jan Lim

Ever heard of a progressive fascist? Well, get this — last week, a Montanan white supremacist announced the creation of a racially-inclusive KKK group, one that will be an all-inclusive platform representing his renouncement of supremacist views.

John Abarr, a former KKK organizer who unsuccessfully tried his luck at politics in 2011, said his new KKK group (which he already named the Rocky Mountain Knights), will not discriminate against anyone based on their race, religion or sexual orientation. Abarr told the Great Falls Tribune:

The KKK is for a strong America... White supremacy is the old Klan. This is the new Klan.

According to the Tribune, Abarr is a longtime participant and supporter of white supremacist organizations in Wyoming and Montana — but the self-proclaimed “reformed man” said his opinions have evolved. In September, Abarr met with the Wyoming chapter of the NAACP, a meeting suppsoedly the first of its kind. The local paper reported that the meeting had “inspired” Abarr to organize a peace summit with the NAACP and other religious groups, to be held in the summer of 2015. Abarr told the NAACP:

I thought it was a really good organization. I don't feel we need to be separate.
Mario Tama/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Members of this wonderfully progressive organization will still be required to participate in secret rituals and don the KKK's classic robe-and-hood pairing that its mere sight had instilled terror in blacks, Jews, immigrants, gays and lesbians, and Catholics back in the day. Abarr called his chapter a “fraternal organization” welcoming those who wanted to fight the “new world order” of the federal government trying to rule the entire world, reported the Tribune.

However, the New York Daily News quoted Mark Pitcavage from the Anti-Defamation League saying that Abarr is probably the sole member of the Rocky Mountain Knights — since the KKK ended its official existence in 1944, literally anyone can create a Klan group by just claiming that they did. Pitcavage was clearly not impressed by the group, or Abarr:

He's one guy, pretending to start a Klan group.
William Thomas Cain/Getty Images News/Getty Images

The Tribune also reported of the cloud of suspicion surrounding Abarr's claim of being a changed man. Rachel Carroll-Rivas, co-director of the Montana Human Rights Network, said that there was no need to use the KKK to start a new, all-accepting organization. I mean, really — the KKK recruiting from the very groups they have persecuted for decades? What a paradox.

Another group who expressed less-than-joyous reactions to Abarr's brainchild is the United Klans of America (they're 100 percent real, and their rudimentarily-designed website features sections such as “Anti-White News” and “Aryan Thoughts”). The Imperial Wizard (oh my God, what is this group??) of the UKA, Bradley Jenkins, expressed his displeasure with Abarr, agreeing with the Montana Human Rights Network that he should not have used organization to set up the Rocky Mountain Knights — but obviously for different reasons:

That man's going against everything the bylaws of the constitution of the KKK say. He's trying to hide behind the KKK to further his political career.
William Thomas Cain/Getty Images News/Getty Images

But poor ol' Abarr just wants to be given a chance to prove that he's changed (no, darling, I have!) He told the Tribune that people from the around the state are already flocking to join this revolutionary organization. So Pacific Northwesterners, take note — as long as you're 18, live in the area, and want to get involved with a diverse and forward-thinking social organization with a twist, the Rocky Mountain Knights wants you!

Images: Getty Images (3)