BlacKkKlansman, renowned director Spike Lee's latest work, may be the latest example of this mephitic phenomenon. The film tells the tale of Ron Stallworth (played by John David Washington), the first African-American Officer and Detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department, who conducted several undercover operations from the latter half of the 1970s onwards.
Most famously, he infiltrated infamous white supremacist movement the Ku Klux Klan. In 1979, Stallworth saw a ‘wanted' ad in the local paper seeking to recruits for a new KKK chapter of the Ku Klux Klan opening in the city.
He called the phone number provided, posing as a racist white man who hated “blacks, Jews, Mexicans, Asians” — over the course of the conversation, he learned the individual founding the chapter was a soldier at nearby Fort Carson. Stallworth arranged to meet the man at a local bar, and sent a white undercover officer, wired to record any conversations, in his place.
The ploy was a success, and he continued to pose as a KKK member for the next nine months over the phone, while his white counterpart attended face-to-face meetings.
The assignment forms the basis of the new movie — but while a fascinating and entertaining story, which has received almost universal critical acclaim in its cinematic telling, crucial aspects of the historical record are altered and omitted.
No Hero
Some changes are mere creative license, attempts to raise stakes and…
