The Church of the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan - Blog 3 of 3

On July 1, 2008, I met with the International Imperial Wizard of the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Ray Larsen and his imperial Klaliff, Larry Grant at Barnaby’s Pizza in Mishawaka, Indiana. 

The two men, dressed in Klan garb, berets with the Klan insignia gracing their heads as they opened the doors for me to pass through.  I don’t remember feeling scared, just unsure of how the conversation would go.

Would they be talkative about their beliefs? Would they shed light on where they learned such hatred for others? I had no idea what to expect, I know I certainly didn’t expect them to be clad in Klan berets.

I sat across from Larsen and Grant as they explained their experience in the Klan, their love for the constitution, their passion for the white race and their commitment to Yahweh. At one point, Larsen, grey hair, blind in one eye, a retired railroad employee, father and grandfather, leaned over and looked me straight in the eye as he said, “Ma’m I am, I am a racist. I take pride in the accomplishments of what my race does.  If you take pride in what the white race does, then you are a racist. Am I prejudiced? You’re damn right I am.”

These thoughts had clearly been embedded in his brain for many years, the words rolled off his tongue as clearly and easily as if they were words rolling off the tongue of a devout Catholic reciting the Lord’s Prayer.

But then, the Klan is second nature to Larsen. He’s been a member since September 14, 1960 when he joined the Georgia Knights. “I joined September 14, 1960 and am considered the last of the dinosaurs in the Klan, I seen so many Klans come and go,” he said. He recalled how he had stayed with the Georgia Knights for only a year before joining Robert Shelton’s United Klans of America (UKA).

“In August of 1993, Pastor Dale Rousch said he wanted to see me and I went down and he told me he wanted to dissolve the Klan.  But he said I think you can take it to better places and he threw me the keys to the post office box and I’ve been the Imperial Wizard ever since,” said Larsen, proud of his achievements.

His current role in the Klan leaves him with the responsibility of realms, of chapters of the Klan, in 24 countries and 32 states, all of which are headquartered in the tiny town of Osceola, home to 1,859 people.

As I continued to ask Larsen many questions, he patiently answered them, clearly passionate about his beliefs, proud of the fact that he had established a change in beliefs during his reign as Imperial Wizard, gaining a church status for his group.

“We are a Christian Identity group, it is important to make us a church; I’m as much a Presbyterian or a Baptist or a Methodist or anything like that.  I have the right to ordain just as anyone because I’m a legal church,” said Larsen.

This allows him the right to connect with many people behind bars, as his Klan allows those who have served time for certain offenses to join, while many Klans do not. “These are young minds in there that are being, uh, they know exactly what the races are going on, there are a lot of race wars in there.  A lot of Aryan Brotherhood which is a bad organization for them,” said Larsen who associates with about fifty prisoners through written correspondence.

According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the idea of Christian Identity has been in existence since the mid 19^th century and is described as being, “A racist and anti-Sematic religious sect whose adherents believe that white people of European descent are the descendants of the ‘Lost Tribes’ of ancient Israel.”

Scripture and tradition are two things Larsen and The Church of the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan rely on heavily.  This is why they believe in the ritual of “cross lightings.” Although it was referred to as cross burning for several years, Larsen and other Klans insist that they light the cross as a way to honor God. If this is true, and not merely a change in image, it would be much different than the original Klan’s intent, which was to intimidate black people. Several cross lightings have been documented at the Ash Road farm.

While cross lightings have become a big tradition with the Klan, so have rallies. I had researched in the South Bend Tribune how Larsen’s Klan had held a rally in South Bend on May 5, 2001. When I asked him about the events of that day, he told me how the decision to host the rally had been his son Richard’s idea. Rick had held the office of the Grand Dragon, or second in command of Larsen’s Klan.

“I thought it was too risky,” said Ray. His instinct was right, the rally ended with protestors and Klan members in a rumble, resulting in eight arrests. Since this rally, the Church of the National Knights of the KKK has not held another rally in the area, other than their Ku Klux Kristmas Celebration and summer White Pride Festivals which have been held at their Ash Road headquarters.

With a sparkle in his only functioning eye, Larsen told of his favorite rally which was held in Russellville, Alabama in May of 2007. He set the stage of the event: 300-400 protestors and supporters surrounded them as they stood on the steps of the Franklin county Courthouse, no fights, no arrests, but a terrific day ending with a  cross lighting.

What are the topics of these rallies? What fuels Larsen’s fury and hatred now? “The main one right now is the invasion from Mexico, that’s first and foremost,” he said. “I’m against the war, too, I don’t think we should have ever been over there.” Both Grant and Larsen take an interest in politics and Larsen, in 2008, attributed an increase in membership to the dissatisfaction with Bush and his war saying, “He’s helped us out a lot, I’m about as anti-Bush as you can get.”

So how did Larsen feel about the impending Presidential election? He considered it a nightmare, despite the historical result which would soon occur. I had inquired about his feelings toward the election in July when we first met and continued to e-mail him throughout the primary election in May and the November election, as well. The nation would soon elect the oldest president, John McCain, the first female president, Hillary Clinton, or the first black president, Barack Obama.

Grant piped up and expressed his thoughts saying he had hoped Ron Paul would be elected. “I do believe he is the only one would could save us from ourselves.  Either of these they’ll get in now (McCain, Obama or Clinton), I fear for my country, I cry over what I see either one gets in and I am scared for what my kids are going to have to deal with.” Ray agreed that the “country is lost.”

Larsen said he didn’t consider Hillary to be “that bad off.” But when I asked if he would vote for her if he became Obama’s running mate, he quickly expressed, “God no, you can’t see me voting for an animal, can you? If Jesus Christ himself ran behind Obama I couldn’t vote for him.”

Needless to say, despite their displeasure with the impending election, the show went on and the citizens of the United States elected our first black president, Barack Obama. That evening, I hopped on the internet to see what the Klan members had to say about the election.

“America, born July 4, 1776; America died November 4, 2008,” scrolled the top of their website.

Everyone has a right to their own opinion and beliefs. As I stated in my first blog about the Klan, I don’t agree with their thoughts, but I still believe they have a right to believe or practice as they wish. I still believe they have a right to be passionate about their beliefs, even though I believe they are simple-minded and wrong.

There are religions that I don’t understand or agree with and I don’t try and squash the rights of those believers to express themselves.

My goal of this blog isn’t to persuade you one way or another to like or hate the Klan, but simply to present a little insight into the conversation I had with two of the members, primarily Ray Larsen.

While his Klan is located less than 30 miles from me, there are Klans everywhere.  No one really knows how populated they are or where, when and if they will decide they will ever take action for their voices and beliefs to be heard.

Larsen believes that a race war will occur in 2012 when the Mayan calendar runs out. At this time, he will have 54 years under his belt as an active Klan member at which time he will retire. By leaving the Klan, he will take the title of Imperial Giant, meaning he was at one time an Imperial Wizard. “I won’t have the hassle, the headaches and all the calls. In prisons, I have about 50 people that I write to, it gets quite extensive,” said Ray.

One thing is clear, Larsen believes in what he is trying to accomplish with his Klan and wants to be remembered, “as a man that believed in what he did and did the best he could do for his race. I have a lot of people who look up to me, my title is ‘his lordship’ and I have a lot of people who would die for me.”