John Safran - Godll Cut You Down: The Tangled Tale of a White Supremacist, a Black Hustler, a Murder, and How I Lost a Year in Mississippi

THE BEGINNING

T his story begins when Im ten years old. Im at a bar mitzvah with my family. And my dad taps me on the shoulder and points to a guy by the buffet, scooping food onto his plate.

See that man? my dad whispers.

Yes, I say.

See the tie hes wearing?

Yes.

See that little symbol on his tie?

Yes, I reply, squinting my eyes.

Thats the Freemason symbol, he says. Theyre a secret society. They dont like it when you ask them about it.

Wow.

Go up and ask him about it, he tells me.

So I shuffle over to the guy and ask if hes a Freemason.

Yes, um, he splutters, his eyes darting about. But, listen, we dont do anything unusual. He then backs away from the buffet and creeps out of the room.

In that moment I learned there are secret worlds out there. We can glance over a landscape and think were seeing everything, but there are realms operating just out of our lines of sight.

I became hooked on secret worlds. And the clunky encounter with the Freemason taught me you can ask questions even when youre not supposed to. Thats why I became what I became, a documentary filmmaker of sorts. I say of sorts because mine are not the straightest of documentaries. I often ask dangerous people indelicate questions and try not to get thumped. And I often ask them about race. Im a bit of a Race Trekkielike a sci-fi Trekkie, but with race, not space.

So the murder at hand? That part of the story beginsalthough I didnt know it at the timeabout ten years ago. I was filming a segment for a television series called John Safran vs God, in which I tried to join the secret world of the Ku Klux Klan even though Im a Jew.

Im boxed in at the Ku Klux Klan compound in Orange County, California. Swastika flags run along the wall. I sit across the desk from the Grand Dragon, a man called Chris. Jesus Christ eyeballs me from the painting hanging behind the Grand Dragon. Four Klansmen stand at attention along the edge of the room.

Im a little confused about who can and cant join the Klan, I tell the Grand Dragon. Are you allowed to join the Klan if youre not American?

Yes, absolutely! he assures me.

And what about if youre Catholic?

You know, Catholics are every bit as Christian as anyone else, he says. Sure.

And what happens, I ask, trying hard not to squirm in my seat, if you were brought up Jewish but you dont do anything Jewish anymore? Because thats where Im at.

The Grand Dragon shoots his eyes to his fellow Klansmen.

Was your mother Jewish? he asks.

Yes, I say.

His face sours.

Jewish life flows through Jewish women, he says, pointing to a Biblical Racial Identity chart pinned up next to his desk. Jews are from their father, the devil. Theyre from the Synagogue of Satan.

So I cant join the Klan? I ask.

The answer is no.

I lean forward.

I understand if someone came in here wearing a skullcap and said, Hey, can I join the Klan? that would be ridiculous. But I dont do anything Jewish anymore. I havent stepped in a synagogue since my bar mitzvah.

The Grand Dragon looks like hes about to breathe fire.