1975. Geraldo Rivera’s Good Night America program with a segment covering the recent Klu Klux Klan-sponsored cross burning outside New Orleans.
“It’s much more complicated than that, and in a way it’s much more frigthening than the old stereotypes…”
An introduction brings us into the Patriot Book Store, the KKK’s headquarters in New Orleans, and it’s smooth-talking leader David Duke. Some of the books are shown as Mr. Duke defends that literature, and the office manager speaks about her beliefs, sincere as they seem. A youth stops by, maybe thanks to a recent press blitz, he thinks the KKK is just a regular organization like any other.
Mr. Dukes says blacks and whites are fundamentally incompatible, if some want to stay in the country they could, but shouldn’t infringe on the white way of life, standards, values. He seems to look forward to a day when America is an all-white country.
The tail end of this clip shows a cross burning, and closes with a reminder. In the new Klu Klux Klan, the violence is not directed just against black people — it’s against the consciences of all good thinking people anywhere.
David Duke has held political office in Louisiana and continues to be active.
This day, Geraldo’s Television History.