Colorado’s paradoxically progressive and also unprogressive history includes a governor in the 1920s who was a member of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).  

With an enormous white population, Colorado is not famous for racial hatred today and it seems the Klansmen are long gone in the centennial state.  But with anti-illegal-immigration politicians like Tom Tancredo (R-Littleton), it is not difficult to find reasons for hate.

My friend Daryl Davis, an African-American musician who has written one of the most famous books on the Klan, sent me the following update on April 22, 2007 about the current situation of the KKK in Colorado:

Colorado is beginning to pick up a little with their KKK and White Supremacist activity.  They had been very cautious lately because they were infiltrated a while back and almost wiped out.  So they’ve gone more underground lately.  However there’s a group of Klan operating out of Olathe, Colorado and they are growing in numbers around the state, capitalizing on their stand against illegal immigration.