Thomas Robb (born 1946) is an American

white supremacist White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...

, Ku Klux Klan leader and

Christian Identity Christian Identity (also known as Identity Christianity) is an interpretation of Christianity which advocates the belief that only Celtic and Germanic peoples, such as the Anglo-Saxon, Nordic nations, or Aryan people and people of kindred blood, ...

pastor.Extremist Files: Thomas Robb
Southern Poverty Law Center. He is the National Director of The Knights Party, also known as the

Knights of the Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Catho ...

, taking control of the organization in 1989.

Early life

Robb was born in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

, and grew up in

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

. He attended college in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

Christian Identity and Klan activities

Robb is the pastor of the Christian Revival Center in

Zinc, Arkansas Zinc is a town near the east-central edge of Boone County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 92 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Harrison Micropolitan Statistical Area. A chapter of the Ku Klux Klan operates in Zinc. History Z ...

, a

center where Robb espouses racism and

antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

. Robb's "Thomas Robb Ministries" website declares that "the Anglo Saxon 'sic'' Germanic, Scandinavian, and kindred people are THE people of the Bible." In 1989, Robb took over the

, originally led by

David Duke David Ernest Duke (born July 1, 1950) is an American white supremacist, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, far-right politician, convicted felon, and former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. From 1989 to 1992, he was a membe ...

. In a bid to gain mainstream acceptance, he took the title of "National Director" instead of " Imperial Wizard", and chose to rename the organization "The Knights Party". He also decided to accept members via mail-in forms, rather than through initiation rites that had been common Klan practice in the past. Robb defends the Klan as a harmless organization, claiming that it is "gentle, upbeat, and friendly"; when featured in the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

documentary ''Banished'', Robb compared a Klan hood to a businessman's tie, claiming that "it's just tradition". Robb has maintained ties to other far-right groups; he has spoken at the Aryan Nations' annual "World Congress" of hate group leaders, appeared on

Jamie Kelso Jamie Kelso (June 8, 1948) is an American white supremacist and former Church of Scientology member of the Sea Org. He hosts daily web radio programs, including ''The Jamie Kelso Show'' on the Voice of Reason Broadcast Network, and is a senior m ...

's white supremacist Voice of Reason Radio Network, and contributed regularly to the white supremacist

Internet forum An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, and are at least temporar ...

'' Stormfront''. In 1996 Robb began to pioneer the concept that white people were being targeted for

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Lat ...

. In 2009, Robb's daughter Rachel Pendergraft and his granddaughters, Charity and Shelby Pendergraft, formed a "white nationalist" band called Heritage Connection. Robb's Party publishes ''The Crusader'', a quarterly publication. In November 2016, just days before the presidential election, Robb wrote a front-page article under the title "

Make America Great Again "Make America Great Again" or MAGA is an American political slogan popularized by Donald Trump in his successful 2016 presidential campaign. The slogan became a pop culture phenomenon, seeing widespread use and spawning numerous variants i ...

" in ''The Crusader'', devoted to a lengthy endorsement of

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

and Trump's message. The Trump campaign responded by denouncing ''The Crusader'' article.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robb, Thomas 1946 births Living people People from Boone County, Arkansas Politicians from Detroit Politicians from Tucson, Arizona American Christian creationists Christian Identity Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragons Activists from Arkansas Arkansas Independents Arizona Independents Colorado Independents