The Ku Klux Klan, the oldest American hate group in existence, has a message for those organizing Black Lives Matter rallies on the East End: "They should be ashamed of themselves."

Speaking Tuesday with Patch, Gary Monker, who said he is the Exalted Cyclops, or chief officer, in New York of the Loyal White Knights of the KKK, said many people have misconceptions about the organization.

And now the KKK, with its long history of murder and violence, plans to bring members to a Black Lives Matter rally scheduled for Sunday in Westhampton Beach, according to a man identifying himself as a high-ranking KKK member. That rally is slated to begin at noon at the traffic circle near Village Hall.

The Klan, though, has long been recognized as one of the most vile hate groups in the United States, judged so by, among others, The Southern Poverty Law Center.

"We're the only organization right now standing up for whites, upholding the second amendment of the Constitution," he said. "We are not a hate group. We are Christian and we're trying to restore America back to what it used to be."

Monker said the Black Lives Matter groups and the Black Panthers are "a contradiction. They always say they have peaceful protests but nothing is ever peaceful. They rape, pilfer, loot. They're rioting and using this as an excuse to do wrong. It's not right."

"Although black Americans have typically been the Klan's primary target, it also has attacked Jews, immigrants, gays and lesbians and, until recently, Catholics," the law center's web site says. "Over the years since it was formed in December 1865, the Klan has typically seen itself as a Christian organization, although in modern times Klan groups are motivated by a variety of theological and political ideologies.

Those statements, like much of what Monker says, are false. There have been no known reports of rape at any of the dozens of Black Lives Matter protests, which have on occasion been disruptive, to be sure, but rarely violent.

As for the KKK, Monker said his group is misunderstood, pulling out the same claim it did when it was murdering blacks during its horrendously violent first resurgence in the 1920s. "All we're trying to do is help others and we get thrown under a bus, persecuted," he said. "We build churches, schools in the communities."

He claims the group has 2,500 members on Long Island and 4,000 in upstate New York.

"Obama has been our biggest recruiting tool. Black Lives Matter, the Black Panthers — black on white crime that's being swept under the rug. They're erasing our history and taking down our national monuments."

The goal of the KKK, Monker said, is to "end the corruption," something he said that can only be done by dismantling the federal reserve and the Internal Revenue Service.

The educational system, Monker said, "is failing us. They dumb down test scores with affirmative action," something that leads to a lack of quality and performance in the workplace, he said.

In fact, affirmative action has zero to do with the altering the test scores of whites.

As for government, Monker said neither presidential candidate is a viable option; hope lies in voting for local elected officials, he said. "Everything needs to be cleaned out and rebuilt. There's so much corruption. I don't care if you vote Democrat or Republican, you're still voting for the same two-headed beast."

A secret society

The KKK, Monker said, is a secret society; members wear robes and hoods.

But the public has misconceptions, he added.

"We light crosses. We don't burn them. It's a part of our ceremony, our religion," he said. "The community thinks we're out to fight against them. We've been mislabeled. It's the community that we are fighting for, for police. We believe in law and order," he said.

The Black Lives Matter movement has scared many, including white children, who are targeted on Long Island, Monker said. "They're scared. It's bad to be white now on Long Island. They get white guilt shoved down their throats," Monker said. "Automatically, if people see a white kid they think their parents are cops and say, 'Let's go beat the crap out of them.'"

From the Law Center:

Since the 1970s the Klan has been greatly weakened by internal conflicts, court cases, a seemingly endless series of splits and government infiltration. While some factions have preserved an openly racist and militant approach, others have tried to enter the mainstream, cloaking their racism as mere "civil rights for whites." Today, the Center estimates that there are between 5,000 and 8,000 Klan members, split among dozens of different - and often warring - organizations that use the Klan name.

'We do this for God'

The main message Monker hopes to spread is that the KKK is "not a hate group. We do this out of love for our race and our county. We do this for God. God is always number one."

When asked how he would counter those who say the KKK is known for violence, Monker said, "We don't believe in violence. But we do believe in self-defense."

That has been a common refrain over the decades from Klan members, who use an expanded definition of self-defense to include preventing the exercise of basic civil rights by minorities.

He added, "A lot of people say we're cowards. We're not cowards. And we don't hide behind the masks. We do the goodwill of humanity anonymously, for unselfish reasons."

A growing membership is a testament to the support the organization has been receiving, Monker said. "The numbers are so good that eventually we'll have another march in DC and New York City and we will not get chased out. We've been around 150 years and we'll be around another 300 years."

Black Lives Matter rally organizer speaks out

Responding to Monker's accusations regarding Black Lives Matter rallies and violence, Vanessa Vascez-Corleone, who has organized the Black Lives Matter rallies across the East End, says that there has been "absolutely no violence. Where is he getting his information?"

Even across the country, the majority of rallies have been marked by peace and unity, she said.



"As for drugs and rape, those are all separate issues in everyone's community, including the white community so that's irrelevant," she said.

She added: "Everything he's saying is ignorant. It's hard to respond to ignorance."

Vascez-Corleone said she's looking forward to seeing the KKK at Sunday's rally. "I would like to invite them to the rally. I honestly don't believe they're going to show up. I hope they come out of hiding."

When asked where the KKK would gather, Monker said the location was secret.

"I want them to come out of hiding to prove that they're not cowards. What's the point of having a secret rally, or a secret location. This secretiveness, it's crazy," Vascez-Corleone said. "We're going to stand our ground. We know how to exercise our freedom of speech in public in front of them, and they should do the same."

When asked about the KKK's history of racism, Vascez-Corleone said: "They don't scare anybody anymore. This isn't 50 years ago when they would march down the street and kill black people and get away with it. Now, the minority is the majority, and if they did try to march down the street, they probably wouldn't make it to the end of the block."



Of the reported number of 2,500 KKK members allegedly on Long Island, Vascez-Corleone said, "That's a little number. We're in the hundreds of thousands."

She organized the Westhampton Beach rally after KKK flyers were recently found in residents' driveways.

"The reason we want to go there is because of the KKK thinking it's okay to pass out their racist pamphlets at a time like this," Vascez-Corleone said; her rallies have been marked by a goal of peace and unity.

"We feel like they're doing that as a way to mock the Black Lives Matter movement," she said, of the KKK flyers. "But we're not hiding in the shadows, having secret meetings. We're right out in the street."

Westhampton Beach residents were disturbed recently when they found the KKK flyers outside their homes.

According to Westhampton Beach Village Police, officers responded to a Beach Lane residence on July 24 at 1:08 p.m.

In addition, the Westhampton Beach Police Department received a second, walk-in complaint at Westhampton Beach headquarters from another Beach Lane resident; both complaints involved receiving a flyer inside a plastic, resealable bag, found in driveways. The flyer depicted it was from the KKK, police said.

"There is no crime at this time as the incident falls under freedom of speech; however, the throwing of the bags on private property can be portrayed as littering in the village code," police said.

Westhampton Beach Police detectives are investigating the incidents.

The KKK flyer was also forwarded by the Westhampton Beach Police Department to Suffolk County Police Hate Crimes for intelligence gathering.

Resident Alison Akant, who works as a diversity consultant, lives on Beach Lane and said her husband drove into the driveway when he noticed a little sandwich sized baggie containing colorful rocks and a flyer from the KKK.

The flyer states that "Black Lives Matter, Black Panthers are telling followers to kill white people and police officers in the name of justice" for the killing of black individuals by police officers in the line of duty. The flyer states that the black individuals "were not innocent, they were thugs breaking the law and standing up against police."

The flyer also lists a North Carolina-based phone number. When called, that number connects to a recording by the KKK, urging individuals to go to the KKK website, the Loyal White Knights of the KKK.

"We hate drugs, homosexuality, abortion and race-mixing, because these things go against God's law and they are destroying all white nations," the web site states. "But rather than focus on hate, we try to focus on the love of our race. We Love for our Lord and Savior and our Country.

"Our goal is to help restore America to a White Christian nation, founded on God's word. This does not mean that we want to see anything bad happen to the darker races ... we simply want to live separate from them ... As GOD intended."



On the East End, a series of "Black Lives Matter" marches and rallies, including one held in Southampton, have brought the community, Klan members not included, together with a unified message for peace.



The rallies include poetry, with participants, including children, holding signs.

Co-organizer Donna Stovall met in advance with Southampton Village Police Det. Sgt. Herm Lamison to discuss the route; she also met with East Hampton Village police in advance of a rally in East Hampton that took place earlier in July.

The Southampton vigil followed the two events held earlier in July on the South Fork.

Chanting "Hands up, don't shoot," "No justice, No peace," "Black lives matter, All lives matter, Blue lives matter," a group joined together, waved signs, stood on the sidewalk and marched down streets in both East Hampton and Bridgehampton as some motorists honked in support.

The first took place at the park near the Stop and Shop in East Hampton Village and was the second gathering organized by Vascez-Corleone, 28, of Riverhead, who planned a similar peaceful demonstration a week earlier in Riverhead.

The East Hampton rally, also organized by Stovall, was focused on diversity and peace, and meant to raise awareness. Stovall said the rallies are critical.

"They're so important, because they're bringing the community and the police departments closer together," she said.

A second event, presented by Racial Justice East End, a "Community March & Vigil to Support Black Lives Matter" as well as Alton Sterling and Philandro Castile, took place the same day, beginning at the Unitarian Universalist Meetinghouse on Sag Harbor Turnpike. A march continued to the Hampton Library on Main Road in Bridgehampton, where a vigil took place.

The demonstration in Riverhead drew more than 100 people, carrying signs and peacefully mobilizing to bring unity after the killings of black men at the hands of law enforcement.

Photo courtesy of Gary Monker.