Leaders from local branches of the Ku Klux Klan and NAACP met in Casper, Wyoming on Saturday in what could be the first time members of the two groups “met in peace.”
President of the Casper branch of the NAACP Jimmy Simmons asked for a meeting between the two groups in June following reports of black men in Gillette allegedly being beaten up for being in the company of white women, according to the Casper Star-Tribune.
An organizer for the United Klans of America in Great Falls, Montana, John Abarr agreed to meet with Simmons to discuss accusations of violence against black men and KKK pamphlets that were being distributed.
The Star-Tribune reported after a brief introduction, Abarr made a point to prove he was apart of anti-racism groups.
However, he then continued to express his desire to secede from the United States.
“The northwest U.S. — Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon — should secede and form a territory.” Blacks can stay there, he supposes, but no more should be allowed in, to keep the region white. “States such as Georgia, which are primarily black, should secede from the union and become a black state,” he said.
Abarr continued, “A certain amount of segregation is a good thing, he says. White police should stay in white neighborhoods and black officers in black neighborhoods. Color-blindness doesn’t even make sense. Interracial marriage? No. It’s better if the races are kept separate. Completely opposed.”
“Because we want white babies,” he added.
During the conversation, Abarr expressed his views on marriage, saying he feels gay marriage and polygamy should both be legal.
The KKK organizer said he disagrees with violence against black men and that new recruits have left the Klan because it is not hateful enough.
Click here to read more on the meeting from the Star-Tribune.