A disturbing new report out today about intolerance. It says after
years of decline, the Ku Klux Klan is making a comeback. It also pinpoints the
reason why.
And in our people you should know segment, you're going to meet the very
first Arab-American to be put in charge of her state's homeland security
department.
Tonight's edition of "Larry King Live" includes friends and colleagues of
arrested astronaut Lisa Nowak. We'll be right back.
ZAHN: We are bringing a frightening new trend out in the open tonight.
Today the Anti-Defamation League released a brand new report that shows that the
Ku Klux Klan is on the rebound and recruiting new members at an alarming rate.
So what's their new strategy? Here's Deborah Feyerick.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're going to make y'all number two if you don't
get them out of here.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the newest marketing
tool for hate groups, illegal immigration, a topic so divisive the KKK has been
signing new members, some say, at a rate not seen since the 1960s. Ray Larson is
imperial wizard of the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana. Did a light bulb go off in your
head that said, this is our new issue?
RAY LARSEN, IMPERIAL WIZARD, Ku Klux Klan: Absolutely. Illegal immigrants
is bringing us far more members than we did when we were just totally against
any ethnic group.
FEYERICK: Larsen, a retired rail worker said he joined the Klan in 1960 at
the urging of his wife. Forty six years later he's strongly committed to the
KKK's future. So illegal immigrants will become a bigger part of the message
than, let's say, trying to attract people by hating blacks.
LARSEN: That's correct.
FEYERICK: Or hating gays?
LARSEN: Right.
FEYERICK: Or by hating Jews, for that matter.
LARSEN: Right.
FEYERICK: All right, so you found a winning strategy?
LARSEN: Yes, ma'am.
FEYERICK: A strategy that included staging this rally in Russellville,
Alabama, just 24 hours after last year's national day without immigrants when
racial tension in some communities ran especially high, so high, Larsen says he
ran out of membership applications.
LARSEN: Only took 100 of them to Russellville. I never dreamed that thing
was going to be that big.
FEYERICK: There's no way to verify how many rally attendees actually became
Klan members. But the response supports what the Anti-Defamation League calls
surprising and troubling findings in its new report about the KKK. In it, the
ADL warns of a, quote, noticeable spike in activity by Klan chapters across the
country, many of them exploiting illegal immigration. As a reformed member of
the Aryan Nation, Floyd Cochran knows firsthand what fuels hate groups like the
KKK. He tracks them on his website,
eyeonhate.com. FLOYD COCHRAN,
WWW.EYEONHATE.COM: A good percentage of the
people who are joining hate groups today are under the age of 25. More often
than not, they're young white males, which is a segment of society that more
often than not feels like they are left out. Politicians don't come and talk to
young white males.
FEYERICK: The Southern Poverty Law Center which tracks hate crimes found
that between 2000 and 2005, Klan chapters grew by 63 percent, a spike which some
believe is the result of the heated debate on immigration, which at times uses
hateful language.
CESAR PARALES, PUERTO RICAN LEGAL DEF. FUND: When you start using terms,
when you start saying, this is an invasion, these are cockroaches coming into
our land, you are using obviously racist language. You're trying to make people
hate others and that is your real intent.
FEYERICK: That's Larsen's plan.
LARSEN: I'm going to be very emotional right from the get-go, yes.
FEYERICK: Entice new members who hate illegal immigrants, then brainwash
them to hate others like blacks, Jews and gays once they're hooked. By making
illegal immigration your issue, is this to ensure the survival of the KKK?
LARSEN: To ensure it, no. To assist us, yes.
FEYERICK: An effective marketing tool that taps into a dangerous mindset.
Deborah Feyerick, CNN, South Bend, Indiana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)