We had a cop or two that were questionable, and probably they shouldn’t have been on the job, but they were. You have that: a police department reflects the community that it serves, and it’s going to have a bad apple or two, but when those bad apples are discovered, they need to be discarded as quickly as possible so the whole bureau doesn’t rot. Ron Stallworth Read Quote
It was extremely dangerous to be a black man in the KKK. If I’d been exposed, it could have all gone horribly wrong. The Klansmen were armed, and there was always a peril. Ron Stallworth Read Quote
What I am is what you get. My wife will tell me all the time, ‘You probably shouldn’t say that.’ But the fact of the matter is, when you get under my dander, I have to express myself. Ron Stallworth Read Quote
I wanted to be an undercover cop, blending in with the public, looking like a black militant or a long-haired hippie yet having a gun on my hip, a badge in my wallet, and able to enforce the law. To me, that was the neatest thing in the world. It was also challenging. Ron Stallworth Read Quote
At various times in my undercover career I had either a full beard, a short-cropped beard, Fu Manchu, a plain simple moustache or just a goatee. We did that – generally we would have a look that we would maintain for anywhere from 3 to 6 months. Ron Stallworth Read Quote
When you’re undercover you try to stay as true to your identity as you are. You know who you are, and you know how you normally function. If you try to put on a pretense, such as assuming a fake voice, you have to put on that fake voice all of the time. And you can’t afford to slip out of it. It’s too dangerous. Ron Stallworth Read Quote
The KKK members that I was dealing with never saw me because my interaction with them occurred over the phone. They were convinced that I was 1) white, and 2) a racial supremacist like them based strictly on my telephone conversation with them. Ron Stallworth Read Quote
Two Klansmen were working for NORAD monitoring U.S. air space for missile attacks. I contacted the Pentagon, and the next day, they were reassigned to a posting near the North Pole. Ron Stallworth Read Quote
I phoned the KKK Grand Wizard David Duke in Louisiana and asked why my membership was being delayed. He said my application was on his desk and promised to deal with it personally. It was the first of many conversations with David Duke. We talked about his family, the weather, and about his political ambitions. Ron Stallworth Read Quote
