Spike Lee’s 2018 film BlacKkKlansman tells the story of Ron Stallworth, a black police officer who successfully infiltrated and sabotaged a local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. It’s a true story, and it happened in 1979 in Colorado Springs, CO, where Stallworth was the first black officer in the Colorado Springs Police Department.
After Stallworth works his way up to the intelligence department, he sees a newspaper ad for a local chapter of the KKK and calls them. On the phone call, he acts like a hopeful Klan candidate, and he gets invited to a meeting with them. However, he is black, and obviously cannot show up to a meeting with the Klan. This is where his partner, Flip Zimmerman, comes in. Flip is white and Jewish, and he agrees to go to the meetings on behalf of Ron, who is the one talking with them over the phone. Over the course of the film, they successfully infiltrate the Klan and
dismantle it from within.
BlacKkKlansman explores race and identity in a very interesting way, and the characters of Stallworth and Zimmerman each have monumentally high stakes throughout. For Stallworth, it is more obvious, because he is black and is sabotaging a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. If he were to be found out, it would be very dangerous for him and he would certainly be harmed. For Zimmerman, the stakes are high in a different way. He is white, so overall, he is able to be safe around the Klansmen. However, he is Jewish, an identity that he needs to hide from the Kl
ansmen when he is with them. And, as he is the one going to the meetings, it is dangerous for him.
BlacKkKlansman is a potent exploration of race identity, an
d I think that the idea of “the Other” is constantly at play in the movie. Almost every character is Othered by another. The Ku Klux Klan Others just about everyone, from African-American Ron Stallworth to Jewish Flip Zimmerman.
BlacKkKlansman might seem absurd, but it is not. It is based on real events, and although Spike Lee added some things to make it more “cinematic,” the core story is 100% true. The film is hilarious, shocking, frightening, and emotional all at once, and it is a very critical exploration of identity in America.