JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A man who went undercover for the FBI, infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan, told the Associated Press that extremists have infiltrated Florida law enforcement agencies.
That former uncover informant told the AP that he wanted to go public to protect himself and his family.
“The main reason is to get this information out to the general public before something does happen to me,” Joseph Moore said. “If you want to know why people don’t trust the police, it’s because they have a relative or a friend that they witness being targeted by an extremist who happened to have a badge and a gun.”
Edward Exson, 90, a former member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, remembers what it was like growing up under Jim Crow in Jacksonville.
“It was horrible. It was horrible,” he told News4JAX.
He recalls going to the doctor in the spot where city hall now stands, where he and his mother were made to wait in the closet rather than the segregated waiting room.
When News4JAX told Exon about Moore, who exposed how three Klansmen who used to work in prisons, tried to murder a Black inmate -- he wasn’t surprised.
“We’re still in history. We’re repeating it every day,” Exon said.
Mark Caruso, former Department of Corrections employee, says he thinks there needs to be better vetting of prison employees.
“As long as you have a GED or a high school diploma, no felony background, you can pretty much get hired,” he said.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Florida was home to 68 hate groups in 2020, including multiple chapters of the Ku Klux Klan as well as white nationalist groups, such as Patriot Front, Revolt Through Tradition and the Proud Boys.
These groups seem to operate in the shadows. It’s hard to find them online. A page for Revolt Through Tradition on Telegram even has members’ faces blurred.
The Southern Poverty Law Center defines white nationalists as those who want to reverse changing demographics and the loss of absolute white dominance.
The non-profit found nearly a third of Americans know someone who believes whites are the superior race.
Exson says the antidote to hate is education, and he’s calling on young people to turn things around.
“Try to get as much education as you can get, where you can accept a leadership role and lead your people differently,” he said.
Here in Jacksonville, the SPLC found seven hate groups, including one Neo-Confederate organization.
Florida had the second highest number of hate groups last year, second to California.