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The Klansman: A flaw in the Plan
When you think about the Ku Klux Klan in America, what sort of images does your mind conjure up? Do you immediately think of some lawless group of hooded demons bent on committing mayhem and murder, burning crosses and raging “night rides” to terrorize African Americans and other racial minorities?
What if you were told about one man’s quest to found, promote, and build a Ku Klux Klan organization based on principles of non-violence and respect for law and order, and devoted entirely to the principles of justice and equality for all people? Who for ten years worked tirelessly to transform the Klan into a legitimate, law-abiding, conservative political advocacy organization that would rightly command the respect—and attention—of national leaders on both sides of the political aisle, as well as the American people?
Bill Wilkinson did just that.
A Flaw in the Plan is the untold story of one man’s fight against unwanted federal intervention into local schools and workplaces. Like many American parents of elementary school children in the early 1970s, Bill became highly alarmed at what he saw as the serious erosion of the quality of his children’s education as the direct result of forced busing as a means of achieving school integration. So he decided to do something about it. Tapping into an existing power base of people who already opposed any form of federal intervention into local governance, Bill founded the Invisible Empire Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, building that organization into the largest and most powerful Klan group in America within only a few short years.
But Bill’s group was uniquely different from any other Klan organization the nation had ever seen. Members were strictly prohibited from engaging in any illegal activities as well as from committing any acts of violence against anyone, for which they would face immediate expulsion. Boldly established as a tax-paying nonprofit corporation under the laws of the State of Louisiana, the IEKKKK instead intensely focused its efforts on constitutionally protected, publically transparent political activism and an aggressive recruitment campaign designed to fill their ranks with everyday hard-working American citizens from all walks of life.
However, A Flaw in the Plan is also the story of the withering opposition that Wilkinson faced from practically all angles of the political spectrum ranging from radical communist-inspired groups like the Maoist Communist Workers’ Party to liberal civil rights organizations like the NAACP and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Wilkinson’s group also endured relentless, obsessive scrutiny and obstruction of its activities by government at every level, from the federal Department of Justice and FBI right on down to elected state and local officials and local law enforcement—obstruction that illegally violated the IEKKKK’s constitutional rights of free speech and free assembly, as several court cases championed by the ACLU, and detailed in this book, would eventually prove. One of those cases was affirmed in Wilkinson’s favor by none other than the Supreme Court of the United States.
In the end, however, while describing in detail his earnest and honest efforts to fight against injustice and inequality that was happening not just in his local community but in cities and towns across the country, in this book Bill Wilkinson also acknowledges and explains why he was never able to successfully create a separate and altogether new and distinct identity for the Invisible Empire as a legitimate and respected political advocacy organization; why he was never able to throw off the yoke of ancient perceptions—and misperceptions—about who the members of the IEKKKK truly were and what the organization represented.
Finally, A Flaw in the Plan reveals many surprising details in the remarkable life of a radical political activist and U.S. Navy veteran.
What if you were told about one man’s quest to found, promote, and build a Ku Klux Klan organization based on principles of non-violence and respect for law and order, and devoted entirely to the principles of justice and equality for all people? Who for ten years worked tirelessly to transform the Klan into a legitimate, law-abiding, conservative political advocacy organization that would rightly command the respect—and attention—of national leaders on both sides of the political aisle, as well as the American people?
Bill Wilkinson did just that.
A Flaw in the Plan is the untold story of one man’s fight against unwanted federal intervention into local schools and workplaces. Like many American parents of elementary school children in the early 1970s, Bill became highly alarmed at what he saw as the serious erosion of the quality of his children’s education as the direct result of forced busing as a means of achieving school integration. So he decided to do something about it. Tapping into an existing power base of people who already opposed any form of federal intervention into local governance, Bill founded the Invisible Empire Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, building that organization into the largest and most powerful Klan group in America within only a few short years.
But Bill’s group was uniquely different from any other Klan organization the nation had ever seen. Members were strictly prohibited from engaging in any illegal activities as well as from committing any acts of violence against anyone, for which they would face immediate expulsion. Boldly established as a tax-paying nonprofit corporation under the laws of the State of Louisiana, the IEKKKK instead intensely focused its efforts on constitutionally protected, publically transparent political activism and an aggressive recruitment campaign designed to fill their ranks with everyday hard-working American citizens from all walks of life.
However, A Flaw in the Plan is also the story of the withering opposition that Wilkinson faced from practically all angles of the political spectrum ranging from radical communist-inspired groups like the Maoist Communist Workers’ Party to liberal civil rights organizations like the NAACP and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Wilkinson’s group also endured relentless, obsessive scrutiny and obstruction of its activities by government at every level, from the federal Department of Justice and FBI right on down to elected state and local officials and local law enforcement—obstruction that illegally violated the IEKKKK’s constitutional rights of free speech and free assembly, as several court cases championed by the ACLU, and detailed in this book, would eventually prove. One of those cases was affirmed in Wilkinson’s favor by none other than the Supreme Court of the United States.
In the end, however, while describing in detail his earnest and honest efforts to fight against injustice and inequality that was happening not just in his local community but in cities and towns across the country, in this book Bill Wilkinson also acknowledges and explains why he was never able to successfully create a separate and altogether new and distinct identity for the Invisible Empire as a legitimate and respected political advocacy organization; why he was never able to throw off the yoke of ancient perceptions—and misperceptions—about who the members of the IEKKKK truly were and what the organization represented.
Finally, A Flaw in the Plan reveals many surprising details in the remarkable life of a radical political activist and U.S. Navy veteran.
295 pages, Paperback
Published February 5, 2020
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