— The Imperial Wizard of the United Northern and Southern Knights of
the Ku Klux Klan is guarded about discussing his organization’s
membership.
But this much
“They (police officers) like the fact that we support law enforcement,” said Thornton, who is based in the
He would not name those law enforcement officers,
but Thornton said he thinks that being a member of a “traditional Klan”
group “makes them a better cop.”
Thornton’s comments come in the wake of the firing of an
A year ago, the
group that provides tolerance-education programs, offers legal
representation against white supremacists and tracks hate groups. The
center defines a hate group as one that states other groups or people
are somehow lesser or inferior.
However, Potok has found no evidence that Klan membership by police officers in
“I doubt very much whether he (Thornton) has many
police officers at all in his organization,” Potok said. “I’ve not seen
anything to suggest any significant influx of law enforcement into the
Klan. … There is an absolutely clear conflict between being a law
enforcement officer and a member of the Klan.”
“I don’t have any knowledge one way or another,”
But Lt.
Maynard said it’s likely other law enforcement
officers belong to secretive groups such as the Klan — as do people
working for private businesses and perhaps even the media. The
difference, he said, is that no organizations outside law enforcement
endure the level of scrutiny and “self-policing” that can identify such
group membership.
“While we’re certainly not proud that we had this
individual working for us … we are glad this investigation did reveal
this and we could remedy the problem by terminating him,” he said.
Thornton praised Kerschner and said he would support him if Kerschner challenged the firing.
“He’s one of the finest officers I have,” he said.
“If he was violating what it takes to be a (law enforcement) officer,
he would have violated what it takes to be a Klansman, and we would
have booted him out. We have pretty high standards, as do they.”
Thornton insisted his Klan organization is not a
hate or terrorist group, and he said it opposes violence by its
members. “You’re not going to do this movement one bit of good sitting
in a jail cell,” he said.
He said his group’s membership has grown because of
issues such as the government’s handling of illegal immigration and
school prayer and a desire to preserve “white heritage.”
The United Northern and Southern Knights of the Ku
Klux Klan is listed as one of 56 Florida “hate groups” identified by
the law center.
Illegal immigration has helped feed much of the
growth within hate and far-right-wing extremist groups, Potok said.
More recently, President
Klan membership is generally kept secret, but local Klan chapters in the past were well-represented by law enforcement.
Former
Those affiliations were documented when the
“Southern police departments were filled with Klansmen and Klan sympathizers in the ’50s and ’60s,” Potok said.
written up for violating department regulations. If the suspicion were
sustained, the officer would be disciplined “to include termination,”
Jones said.
Department policy prohibits membership or connection
“with any subversive organization except when necessary in the
performance of duty and then only under the direction of the Chief of
Police.” A U.S. attorney general’s list of subversive organizations
includes the KKK.
In the
employees must behave in a way that does not discredit themselves, the
department or the community. If a deputy were suspected of being a KKK
member, the claim would be investigated immediately, officials said.
“If the allegations were proven to be true, the
employee’s services would no longer be of value to the Sheriff’s Office
or the community,”
“It would be a tremendous conflict of interest to
task someone affiliated with a hate group with the responsibility of
serving our community and enforcing the laws.”
Last January,
post office box in Elkins’ name was listed as a mail point on a
recruitment flier for the United Northern and Southern Knights of the
Ku Klux Klan.
Then photos of Elkins in a Klan gown and hood — and a police badge — emerged. And the
provided documents showing Elkins became a Klansman in 2006 and later a
“district Kleagle” — or recruiter — of the National Aryan Knights of
the Ku Klux Klan.
Elkins resigned before Isom’s investigation was
completed. Isom said the findings showed that he lied about his KKK
membership when he applied for the job as a
Thornton knows both former officers well. He said Kerschner had a long history with the
Elkins, he said, had family problems that bothered
his Klan group and was “on the verge of being banished.” “Jim was an
embarrassment to the
Isom still considers the Elkins episode to be an
embarrassment. He said he thinks his department would be on solid legal
ground firing Elkins or anyone else with such a dubious affiliation.
As for Thornton’s insistence that law enforcement
officers have joined his organization because of common goals and
interests, Isom said: “They’re going to say anything to make themselves
look good. … They don’t believe in the law. They take the law into
their own hands — at least they did back in the old days.”
—
(c) 2010, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).
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