Inside a KKK Rally in Mississippi

Yeah.

The air reeks of kerosene.

That's what we call it, Klan cologne.

We're at a KKK rally in the heart of Mississippi, a

countryside still haunted by memories of lynchings and church

bombings from decades ago.

Pastor Wallace Hartsfield remembers those days only too

well. He witnessed a Black man dragged through

the streets.

They shot the man, and they hanged him, and then, then, uh, used

his body for target practice so as to teach Black folk a

lesson.

This is what we're gonna need some help at.

But this is not the distant past. This is just

last month in a secluded property in the woods where people have come to

join the Grand Dragon Steven Howard for what they call a

cross lighting.

America is at turmoil, and we're lighting crosses to let people

know that America

is at turmoil right now.

This Klansman, who asked we not show his face for fear

he'd be fired from

his job, starts to get ready for the evening's

rituals.

But you're wearing the robes of traditional terrorists, of traditional

haters, of-

Well, that's just what... That's just the outlook

that they wanna give you.

That ain't true. Not, not everybody was like that.

So you think this is what a good Christian man does?

Yeah. This is our Christianity. I mean, that's just plain and simple.

Howard says he's allowed us to come here to show us the new Klan is neither

hate-filled nor violent, yet what we heard and saw during our

time with them suggests otherwise.

Black people and white people are nowhere related.

In my opinion, I think Black people evolved from animals,

and I believe that we

need to be separated. Whites and Blacks need to be separated.

I don't agree with race mixing. Let them set up their own

state

where they belong and give them their own homeland.

And if your daughter, when she got older, came home and said, "I wanna go out with

a Black boy"...

I'd disown her. Wouldn't have nothing else to do with her

for the rest of my life.

Because of who she loved?

No, it's not love. If you, if you love, you love somebody of your own race.

Who decreed that?

Uh,

God decreed that.

Jesus decreed that.

I thought Jesus said love each other.

The... Jesus said love your neighbor, but if you read the Bible-

As yourself. You know, there's an argument to be made that by our

covering the Ku Klux Klan, we play into their hand.

We help them recruit. What, what do you make of that?

Every time you have a story on the front page of the local newspaper about a Klan

rally or something along those lines, uh, the Klan or that particular

group does get a member or two. On the other hand,

99.9% people who read about that are essentially inoculated

against them. I think it's, um, actually harming them more than it's

helping them

in the end.

Back in Mississippi, as night falls, Steve and his wife Nicole tell us

something stunning about Steve's 11-year-old daughter, who

is here for all of the night's proceedings.

Your 11-year-old daughter has a robe?

Mm-hmm.

She has her own robe.

Since she was eight.

And she chose-

She wanted it.

But do you think at 11 she can understand?

I think she understands-

Somewhat

... more than a lot of people. Children are very perceptive.

She, she-

She has a beautiful robe.

She, uh, she, she wants to be like her daddy.

Uh, this is the first time I've actually, actually robed up, so it's a little bit

big on me.

And now it's time for all members of the group to robe up.

Where you at, Mom?

I'm right here, Son. I'll get you.

I've read in some of the literature that there are some people who think

that if

Barack Obama is reelected, the Storm, something they call the Storm,

is gonna come.

Oh, it's gonna happen.

What's the Storm?

I fear it. War.

And he's gonna start it. He's gonna start it.

I, I fear it. I feel it. I feel it coming on, and,

and it ain't just me.

It's just, it... I, I

s- es go- it, it's gonna be another war in this co- in,

in, in, in, in this United

States of America if he gets elected back to office. It's gonna happen.

If he gets four more years, Barack Obama will ruin this country,

and white people will be in concentration camps.

And if you don't believe white people can't be in concentration camps,

people sadly

mistaken.

And his solution to avoid this supposed impending Storm is

an all-white South where all Blacks, Hispanics, and

Jews are banned, given someplace else, he says, to live in

America. I wanna make sure I understand you.

If the goal is white separatism-

Mm-hmm

... separating the races-

Mm-hmm

... the only way to separate the races is using violence.

Mm-hmm.

You're not gonna be able to just-

There's a p-

... say nicely, "Please leave."

If they, if they, if they will peacefully go, then yeah.

But if they won't peacefully go, that's the only way is through violence,

is

through making them go. That's it.

And you'd be willing to be part of that?

Mm-hmm.

It's a race war you're talking about-

Mm-hmm

... essentially.

Very much so.

His hero and predecessor was a convicted murderer and

former head of the Mississippi White Knights.

What do you think about Sam Bowers?

He was the greatest Klansman that ever lived.

Well, Sam Bowers was accused and convicted of murder.

I don't endorse murder.

What about other forms of violence?

I don't endorse murder.

I guess that means that other forms of violence may be okay.

You have to form your own opinion on that.

You stand right there.

These words seem particularly ominous as the members line up,

preparing to head into the woods to enact a tradition that has

haunted the American consciousness for more than a century.