Two weeks ago, four Fort Lauderdale Police officers lost their jobs after an ex-girlfriend of one of them turned in racist text messages among them as well as a video showing racist imagery: dogs sicced on blacks, Ku Klux Klan hoods, etc. An interesting detail from the internal affairs report was allegations from the ex that Alex Alvarez "was obsessed with the KKK and would call a number to listen to 'jokes' or a 'white power message.'"
The idea of a Stuart Smiley offering positive affirmations to racists would be hilarious if it weren't real — and if the consequences weren't so horrific.
Blacks have been disproportionately targeted for arrests in Fort Lauderdale, and community leaders are now saying that the racism is deep and systemic. The NAACP, the FBI, and the Public Defender's Office are all involved in deeper reviews of the department.
Additionally, yesterday, three officers — Thomas Jordan Driver, 25; David Elliot Morgan, 47; and Charles Thomas Newcomb, 42 — with the Florida Department of Corrections in Lake Butler, near Gainesville, were arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit murder. They were found to be members of a group called the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and had plotted to kill a black inmate who'd fought with Driver. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi will prosecute the case.
Well... what do you know? This KKK group has a hotline. And it's not the only one.
Going back to the case of the Fort Lauderdale cops, the passage from the internal affairs file reads:
Ms. Perez stressed that Officer Alvarez was fascinated with the feature film Django Unchained and referred to himself as Master Candie, the role of a slave owner played by Leonardo diCaprio. She relayed Officer Alvarez believed "black people should be slaves." She further stated "he was obsessed with the KKK and would call a number to listen to "jokes" or a "white power message." Ms. Perez also advised Officer Alvarez refused to watch the new release of the movie Annie due to the main characters being played by black actors and refused to eat at restaurants where black patrons were present.
Is the Traditional American Knights' hotline the one Alvarez called?
Yesterday the message it offered said:
"Thank you for calling the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. We are unapologetically committed to the interests and values of the white race. We are determined to maintain and enrich our cultural and racial heritage. White people will simply not buy the equality propaganda anymore and have begun to doubt some of the anti-Klan hysteria that has been fed to us in television and movies. The Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan is simply a movement of white people for the highest standards of western christian civilization."
It then gives options to order an information packet. If pressed, an automated receptionist says "all of our agents are busy helping other customers. Please hold for the next available agent." Callers can also check the status of an application to the group.
A message left for the group was not immediately returned yesterday afternoon.
A quick search revealed this isn't the only such KKK hotline. Another — 252-492-7000 — seems to operate out of North Carolina. Regulars say the message changes every few days.
Could this be the one Alvarez had on speed dial?
Yesterday, it said:
"You have reached 492-7000, the Ku Klux Klan hotline. Ladies and gentlemen, ever since the federal government forced immigration on the citizens of the United States, our country has gone down. First of all, most niggers as well as whites were opposed to immigration, so to be fair [unintelligible] decided to give the people a choice. They called it freedom of choice. Little white and black children could go to any school they choose to. This lasted for one year. After that, neither had any freedom or choice. After both sides had lost the right to be separate; our sorry politicians decided to take that freedom of religion away from both the whites and the blacks. So they did away with prayer in schools. No more praying to God and Jesus Christ in public schools. Now some Republican in Mecklenburg in North Carolina wants to force our children to be vaccinated, even though it's been proven that children who are not vaccinated are healthier. What will be next? Our guns and ammunition? Probably. The gay rights bill is an example of our lost rights. North Carolina voted the gay rights bill down by 62 percent — some states as much as 80 percent. All of this could be for it to be overturned by one or two people. This is how you spell communism and democracy. It has also been proven that white women who marry outside of their race are 11 times more likely to be killed by their mate. Remember: Only the inferior white women date out of their race. Be proud of your heritage! Don't be a race-mixing slut! Hail victory and white power."
But wait — there are more! This guy found yet another:
