The bridal veil with raised hood, carrying the torches Klan Members: Photojournalist Anthony Karen has taken them all. For years he photographed members of the Ku Klux Klan. The pictures give an insight into a dark side of society.

Anthony Karen was about to give up. Again and again he had tried to contact to arrange a meeting. And was always met with disapproval. That was not surprising. Finally, Karen wanted access to the Ku Klux Klan, which is usually hardly willing to give outsiders insight.

Karen phoned nevertheless continue writing new emails. In 2005, his persistence paid off. He was allowed to photograph the lighting of a wooden cross at a meeting. The recordings pleased the Imperial Wizard, the head of another Klan group. From this point on, Karen had unrestricted access. Sometimes he could not believe how he could move freely in the environment of the organization itself, he says.

He used this space for photos in the following years, as it has probably not been given by the Ku Klux Klan. He accompanied Klansmen, went to meetings across the U.S., even to a meeting in Germany.

Klu Klux Klan US: “I feel I am obliged to observe without judgment”

Karen photographed the bride with the veil in Klan hood design, the groom, beer can in hand, next to it. The photographer documented how a Klan distributed flyers on a street corner, like a wooden cross was prepared for kindling. And he saw how new members were sworn blindfolded.

“The dark side of community is something to which very few outsiders have access. This makes it a perfect place for a visual storyteller,” says Karen. Often such issues would be shown and superficial sensation greedy, because of limited access to one-sided reporting lead.

Therefore, Karen is keen to remain neutral. “I do not believe what they (Klan members – Ed.). Believe But if I go into the personal space of a person, I feel obliged to observe without judgment” Therefore, it is important for him to use any cliches about the club from the backwoods of the American South. In the clan there is “rich and poor, intelligent and stupid, just like everywhere else.”

In addition, the subject of skin color do not stand alone in the spotlight, will often assumed. And illegal immigration, homosexuality or welfare fraud are often in focus. When it comes to blacks, were Klan members, especially marriages between whites and non-whites, and high crime rates in cities of important issues.

Around four million members in the twenties

The civil rights organization Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) observed the activities of individual active groups within the Ku Klux Klan. There are about the “Imperial Klan of America,” the “Brotherhood of clans” or the “Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.”

Founded at the end of the U.S. Civil War, it is the organization had set itself the aim of intimidating blacks in the U.S. South and deprive them of their civil rights. To do this you had any means: political assassinations, rape, arson attacks.

When racial discrimination and de facto status of blacks as second class citizens was enshrined by law, the Ku Klux Klan disbanded, according to the SPLC – to form up again in the twenties. Now it was against immigrants, especially Jews and Catholics. 1925 organized the Ku Klux Klan a “March on Washington”. At that time he was said to have up to four million members.

By the global economic crisis, scandals and leadership problems the Klan disappeared again into oblivion, only to get feed back into the sixties. It is directed against the civil rights movement in the United States and against the resolution of racial segregation – including bombings and murders.

“I am not defending the Klan of today”

The SPLC estimates that there are still about 5,000 to 8,000 Klan members, divided into rival groups. Some were still openly racist and militant and investigated the connection with neo-Nazi and right-wing extremist organizations. Others tried to conceal their views with the slogan “civil rights for whites”.

How to behave in the midst of this people? Photographer Karen admits that it was difficult to always be the calm, impartial observers. He did not suppress his emotions and confrontations not go out of the way.

The Klan members knew about that he should places like Haiti or Somalia, that he had many friends from different backgrounds on Facebook. He never hides his opinions. As a photojournalist, but there is a risk that one’s opinion in the pictures is one expression. “If I get angry or overly emotional, I put away my camera.”

Therefore, he can not understand even if he is accused, he plays down the Ku Klux Klan and give the organization a platform that is not attributable to her. “I’m not naive, and I’m not defending the Klan of today,” says Karen. It merely indicates a new perspective. And what a possible PR effect are taken: The critics might choose to ignore things. “Personally, I prefer to know what is happening around me.”