LIFE - LIFE Goes Inside Today's KKK

Donning Klan Robes

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 03:00:00 EDT

The Department of Homeland Security recently issued a chilling report: Americans, it said, can expect an upsurge in "rightwing extremism" from White nationalists, militias, and groups like the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan, of course, has had a hand in some of the nation's most infamous acts of racial terror and murder. But what does the KKK look like today? Photographer Anthony Karen has documented the modern-day Klan in their homes, at rallies, and at Klan gatherings, taking us deep inside a world we would otherwise never see -- a world most of us might not even want to know about. The unnerving photos featured here, exclusively on LIFE.com, are from his new book, "The Invisible Empire: Ku Klux Klan." "The majority of people I've come across," Karen told LIFE, "you'd only know they were in the Klan if they decided to share that."

Swastika Sole

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 03:00:00 EDT

Karen spent four years photographing the Klan in cities and small towns in 25 states, Canada, and Germany. "I still approach the Klan members as I did during the first rally I attended," Karen told LIFE, explaining the unprecedented access he's been granted. "I keep my camera off to the side, and I go up and introduce myself, or catch up with people I know from previous events. But there’s no real secret to how I've gotten this access: it's all about honesty and being interested in what people have to say. People notice things like that."

The Cross and Flames

Sat, 10 Jun 2006 03:00:00 EDT

Hooded figures in a clearing, forming a circle around a cross engulfed in flames. The image, for so many Americans, is the Klan, and represents ritualized intimidation. But among Klan members, "the term 'cross burning' is offensive," Karen says. "They prefer 'cross lighting.' In their eyes, the lighting dispels darkness, bearing witness to the light of Christ."

Child in Klan Robes

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 03:00:00 EDT

Of the children Karen has encountered while photographing the Klan, and what they might think or feel about their place in the group's legacy, he says: "I don't feel it's appropriate for me to get into discussions with someone's child. One aspect of my interaction is that I never ask names, or interview people. My information comes naturally from routine conversations. I think pulling out a pen and paper changes the relationship between photographer and subject -- especially in this case."

Confronting the Klan

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 03:00:00 EDT

"I don't have to believe what they believe," Karen says of the Klan and, by extension, all of the people and groups he has documented and chronicled in his photography. "But I feel obliged to observe without judgment. I do get invited to events, to rallies, and if I'm not invited, I always ask if it's okay if I show up. I never just go and start shooting. You need to develop a relationship, of sorts, before poking a camera in someone's face."

White Power Tattoo

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 03:00:00 EDT

Of his photography, so much of which focuses on marginalized, or self-marginalizing, groups (voodoo practitioners, Haitian slaughterhouse workers, seal hunters), Karen says: "I guess I prefer stories with a little edge to them. I find it extremely interesting to document a controversial belief system -- to capture people when they're in a vulnerable state, running on raw emotion. It's about being allowed into someone's personal space, respecting that trust, being grateful for the chance to see something that most don't get to see."

Noose, Chain, Door

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 03:00:00 EDT

"When I noticed that noose, I saw symbolism," Karen says of this photo of a Klan member's home. "The noose on its own delivers a powerful message. But when I stepped back a few feet, and included part of the homeowner's door in the photograph, it became something else. Something more personal. I might document a child at play, or a husband who happens to be a Klan member embracing his pregnant wife, but those photos don't mean that I'm trying to show the Klan in a specific light. And the same holds true for the picture of the noose -- it's symbolic of the Klan's history, of course, but there's also symbolism as it applies to a person who would hang it outside his home."

Klan Rally and Counter-Demonstrators

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 03:00:00 EDT

On being present at rallies when counter-demonstrators protest against the Klan or other extremist groups, Karen remembers: "I had one incident while photographing a neo-Nazi demonstration. The police had already left when a large group of anti-fascist protesters surrounded some of the Nazi members, and things escalated from there. I started taking pictures of the anti-fascists, and they got extremely upset, and one started to get aggressive with me. I told him that, as we were on public property and it was an active demonstration, I would take images of whatever I wanted, and if he touched my camera I'd break his arm."

Cross Lighting: The Event

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 03:00:00 EDT

"Shortly before the cross lighting," Karen says of the ritual most closely associated in the public mind with the Klan, "members put on their robes and form a line to accept the flame from the Imperial Wizard (leader). Members then circle the cross while bagpipes play. After several of these passes, they approach the cross and place their torches at its base. They fall back to form a larger circle and, depending on the group, they might kneel or stand with their arms extended until the flames start to fade."

Racist Tattoos and the Real World

Sat, 26 Aug 2006 03:00:00 EDT

"I asked this guy how, in practical terms, he manages to function in the 'real world' looking the way he does," say Karen. "His answer was pretty much the same as others I've come across: They might be self-employed, as he was, or work in telemarketing or another job that doesn't put them in the public eye, or that allows them to wear clothing that keeps the tattoos out of sight."

Klan Wedding

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 03:00:00 EDT

"The couple got married the day before hurricane Gustuv made landfall in Louisiana in 2008," Karen says of the newlyweds portrayed here. "It was a traditional Klan ceremony, with vows exchanged in front of a fiery cross, performed at a remote hunting camp in the middle of a nature preserve. The bride was dead-set on taking her wedding portrait with cypress trees in the background, so she put her husband and me on the back of an ATV and took us on a death-defying ride to find the perfect spot." See more of Anthony Karen's work at the powerHouse Books website.