Kristen Cates

Great Falls (Mont.) Tribune

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — One of Montana's most well-known white supremacists is recruiting members for a new Ku Klux Klan, one which he said will be all-inclusive and shows he no longer holds supremacist views.

John Abarr claims he is a reformed man, which is why he's started a new KKK group called the Rocky Mountain Knights. Though he won't say exactly how many members this new KKK group has, the organization will not discriminate against people because of race, religion or sexual orientation.

"The KKK is for a strong America," Abarr said. "White supremacy is the old Klan. This is the new Klan."

Though he's long been involved in white supremacy organizations growing up in Wyoming and Montana, Abarr, of Great Falls, Mont., claims his opinions have slowly evolved. Last year he met with members of the NAACP in Casper, Wyo. It has inspired him to organize a peace summit with the NAACP and other religious groups in the summer of 2015.

"I thought it was a really good organization," Abarr told the NAACP. "I don't feel we need to be separate."

But officials at the Montana Human Rights Network are suspicious about Abarr's latest move. Rachel Carroll-Rivas, co-director of the group, said Abarr doesn't need to use the KKK to form a more inclusive organization.

"If John Abarr was actually reformed, he could drop the label of the KKK," she said.

Abarr said his chapter of the KKK is a fraternal organization seeking members who want to fight against a "new world order" or a one-world government, which he is afraid the federal government is trying to achieve.

Members who join still would be required to wear the robes and hoods and participate in the secret rituals, but Abarr said the Rocky Mountain Knights will be an open and non-discriminatory group.

He also said he is not the person behind the United Klans of America mailer that was delivered to homes in a Native American community in Havre, Mont., earlier this year.

Jimmy Simmons, one of the NAACP representatives who met with Abarr last year, believes he probably is trying to reform. If Abarr holds a peace summit next summer, Simmons said he would "take a strong look" at joining.

He supports Abarr trying to create an all-inclusive fraternal organization — to a certain extent.

"The use of the letters KKK instills fear in people," said Simmons.

Abarr's latest actions have enraged the United Klans of America, said Bradley Jenkins, imperial wizard for the organization. He agrees with the Montana Human Rights Network that Abarr should not be using the KKK title for his new organization — but for completely different reasons.

"That man's going against everything the bylaws of the constitution of the KKK say," said Jenkins. "He's trying to hide behind the KKK to further his political career."

Abarr just hopes people will give him a chance. If they get to know him, he said people will see his views have changed and he's ready to form a different KKK. He claims to have members from around the state joining the Rocky Mountain Knights. If anyone wants to join his organization, they just need to be 18 and live in the Pacific Northwest.

Carroll-Rivas said even with Abarr adapting a more tolerant viewpoint, she's still suspicious about the "new world order" statement, which she said has roots in anti-Semitism. Montana Human Rights Network was formed in the late 1980s in response to white supremacy groups popping up in Montana. Carroll-Rivas said Abarr's name and the history of organizations he has belonged to are well-known to her organization.

"They know that their beliefs aren't popular, so they try to appear moderate. I think it's just a farce," she said. "Our mission for the last 24 years has been to shine a light on hatred."