He was 19 when he became the Colorado Springs Police Department’s first black officer.
From there, he went undercover to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan and lived to tell the story.
Ron Stallworth spoke to about 450 people Wednesday night at the Rion Ballroom in the Reitz Union about police brutality, white supremacy and having his experience turn from a book into a movie. Mark Reid, a UF English professor, facilitated the discussion by asking questions that were submitted by members of the Black Graduate Student Organization.
Reid discussed Richard Spencer’s speech at UF in 2017 and how he presents himself as a kind, intelligent man and asked Stallworth about the changing face of white supremacy.
“A white supremacist is a white supremacist,” Stallworth said. “I don’t care what organization they represent, how they dress or what they may be.”
During his time with the KKK, David Duke, the former Grand Wizard of the KKK, attempted to change the face of the organization and make it more acceptable to be a member, Stallworth said.
Stallworth believes that president Trump has followed Duke’s plan, and is giving such organizations a wink and a nod that it’s okay to behave in such a way.
Stallworth talked about his first in-person experience with Duke and how he threatened Duke with five years of prison for the assault of a police officer if he harmed Stallworth.
“I was a n----- with a badge and a gun, and I had a right to pop a cap in his a--,” Stallworth said.
His book, “Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime,” was written on a whim in 2013 after Stallworth said people thought it’d make an interesting story.
When asked why he waited decades after the event to write his book, Stallworth said he didn’t think the story behind the movie, “BlacKkKlansman,” would have had the same impact if released earlier.
Supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, a campaign against systemic violence and racism against black people, has caused Stallworth to lose friends.
Although he agrees with the movement, he asked the audience to remember that not all officers are bad. Police are like any other profession, there are good people and bad people, he said.
“One bad apple can spoil the barrel, but when you deal with people’s lives, careers and futures, you got to get those apples out of there as soon as police,” Stallworth said.
Samantha Arango, a 21-year-old UF psychology senior, said she read Stallworth’s book before the event but appreciated hearing his thoughts and experiences with racism in person.
“Actually hearing it come out of his mouth and his thoughts on race relations now versus back then,” Arango said. “It’s really still terrible and people need to realize it.”
Seeing the movie when it first came to theaters was moving because it brought the issue of racism to a new light, said Vanessa Young, a 24-year-old UF sociology junior. Most people tend to see the issue as irrelevant nowadays.
“I think it’s a little bit mirroring of some of the contemporary issues we see today,” she said. “Hearing about it from someone who was in the midst of it means a lot to me.”
Contact Josephine Fuller at jfuller@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter @JomarieUF.
Correction: This article was updated to reflect that about 450 people attended the event. The Alligator previously reported differently.
Ron Stallworth speaks to an audience of about 450 Wednesday about his experience infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan in 1979. Stallworth is a retired police officer and author of “Black Klansman: A Memoir”. The 2018 film “BlacKkKlansman” is based on his investigation.
