In a bizarre recruitment drive, the Ku Klux Klan are inviting Jews, black people, homosexuals and those of Hispanic origin to join the white supremacist organization, International Business Times reported.
Citing the movement as a re-branding of "the new Klan," the extreme right-wing group is reportedly attempting to diversify and increase its membership, which had between 5,000 and 8,000 members in 2012.
"White supremacy is the old Klan. This is the new Klan. The KKK is for a strong America," said founder John Abarr, adding that the movement was created in a meeting with the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People.
"I thought it was a really good organization. I don't feel we need to be separate."
The new members, who will be required to be over the age of 18 and live in the Pacific Northwest, will still have to wear the traditional white robes, masks and conical hats while performing daily rituals.
Although the new rebranded organization, called the Rocky Mountain Knights, claims to stand for "a strong America" rather than irrational hatred, some Klan members are saying that the new moves are being made for Abarr to push his own political career forward. In 2011, the founder ran as a Republican for Montana's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, UK MailOnline reported.
"That man's going against everything the bylaws of the constitution of the KKK say. He's trying to hide behind the KKK to further his political career," said Bradley Jenkins, Imperial Wizard of the KKK.
But despite having a troubled history and being classified as a hate group, several black people attended a summit with civil rights groups and allegedly showed interest in joining the new KKK group, Abarr told the Great Falls Tribune.
Additionally, Abarr has organized a peace summit with religious groups and the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) next summer, Huffington Post reported.
Jimmy Simmons, a president of the Montana NAACP chapter, said that while he questioned the use of the letters KKK, if the peace summit took place, he would "take a strong look" at joining the Rocky Mountain Knights.
"If John Abarr was actually reformed, he could drop the label of the KKK," said Rachel Carroll-Rivas from the Montana Human Rights Network. "They know that their beliefs aren't popular, so they try to appear moderate. I think it's just a farce. Our mission for the last 24 years has been to shine a light on hatred."
Meanwhile, "the first Klan was founded in 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee, by six veterans of the Confederate Army," according to UK MailOnline. "Similar groups spread throughout the South as an insurgent movement during the Reconstruction era in the United States. "
"As a secret vigilante group, the Klan targeted freedmen and their allies and sought to restore white supremacy by threats and violence, including murder, against black and white Republicans."
