El Paso’s Ron Stallworth Talks New Book, ‘The Gangs of Zion’

Ron Stallworth is not your traditional best-selling author, if such a thing exists.

He grew up in El Paso and graduated from Austin High School in 1971. He moved back in 2017 after a career in law enforcement in Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona and Utah.

In 2014, while still living in Utah, he published “Black Klansman,” an account of his 1978-79 undercover investigation into the Ku Klux Klan while he was a police officer in Colorado Springs.

Spike Lee used Stallworth’s book as the basis for his 2018 film “BlacKkKlansman,” which earned Lee his first Oscar. As the film rolled out, Stallworth’s book was reissued in paperback and rose to No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list.

Stallworth was able to write the book largely because he had kept his records of the investigation, in defiance of an order to destroy them. His willingness to disobey orders he saw as unjust stayed with him throughout a thirty-year career in law enforcement.

He wrote “Black Klansman” after retiring from the Utah Department of Public Safety in 2005.

His latest book, “The Gangs Of Zion: A Black Cop’s Crusade in Mormon Country,” chronicles his career after leaving the Colorado Springs Police Department. It was published on September 17 by Legacy Lit, an imprint of Grand Central Publishing.

The book focuses on Stallworth’s investigation into gang activity in predominantly Mormon Utah, and the resistance he faced from law enforcement leaders and political officials. The book examines the influence of two key factors in the rise of gangs in Utah: the infiltration of California drug-trafficking street gangs and the growing influence of hip-hop music.

But it is also a memoir of a black police officer who found it difficult to be accepted in Utah’s small black community, or among his fellow police officers. A deeply private man, Stallworth writes about losing his first wife to cancer while his law enforcement bosses tried to strip him of his badge.

“The Gangs of Zion” is the latest selection from the El Paso Matters Book Club. El Paso Matters interviewed Stallworth about the book, his influences and what might happen next for him.

El Paso Business: For those who don’t know you yet, tell us a little about yourself.

Stallworth: Well, I was born in Chicago, raised in El Paso, attended Alta Vista School, Bassett Junior High, and graduated from Austin High School in 1971, where I met my current wife, Patsy Terrazas, who is also a ’71 graduated. I left El Paso in ’72, moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where I began my law enforcement career at the age of 19, eventually serving with the Colorado Springs Police Department from 1972 to 1980.

I then left Colorado Springs to pursue my goal of becoming an undercover police officer. I left Colorado Springs in 1980 for Phoenix, Arizona, where I worked for the state narcotics bureau. It later became known as the Arizona Criminal Intelligence Assistance Agency. Worked there for two years.

In 1982, I was hired by the Wyoming Attorney General’s Criminal Investigation Division, where I worked undercover on narcotics from ’82 to ’86. And in 1986, the state of Utah hired me into their Narcotics and Liquor Law Enforcement Bureau. There I ended my remaining career in the police.

El Paso Business: How did you become a writer?

Stallworth: All credit goes to the late Elroy Bode. I was a student of his, along with my wife, we were students of his in 1969 when we were sophomores. And Mr. Bode had a writing contest in his classes. The winner would receive a prize that Mr. Bode would choose. I can’t remember the topic, but I wrote my paper and he rated it as the best in his class and gave me the award, told me I had a talent for writing and encouraged me to continue with it. I’ve always kept that in mind. So when I finally wrote “Black Klansman” in 2013, that was what I had in mind: Mr. Bode’s encouraging words all those years before.

El Paso Business: What would he think of your literary success?

Stallworth: He lived long enough to see “Black Klansman” released. He didn’t get a copy of the revised edition that came out with the movie, but he knew there was a movie in the making, he knew who was going to play me in the movie, John David Washington. Every time I called him he was eager to update him on the latest updates. He told his wife to be quiet so he could hear all the details. He would ask me a lot of questions. Sadly, he died about a year before the film came out. But he knew they were making a movie about “Black Klansman.” And he was very proud, which made me happy.

El Paso Business: What are some of the key themes you want readers to take away from your book?

Stallworth: The most important thing is that you speak truth to power. The whole book is about senior political officials, business officials, government officials in one capacity or another, that I had to deal with. If I had allowed them to intimidate me and withdrawn, the important things I accomplished would not have been accomplished.

So the main theme of the book for me is: speak truth to power, and everything will take care of itself from there. You cannot be intimidated by people in high positions who want to oppress and abandon you because you are not their equal, if you will. I didn’t accept that.

El Paso Business: The book is set in Utah, but you frequently mention your roots in El Paso. How does your El Paso background influence the action of the book?

Stallworth: Believe it or not, my roots in El Paso have influenced every aspect of my life. When I had to testify before the Senate and House of Representatives committees of Congress during that period, I always mentioned in my statement to them the fact that I was from El Paso, Texas, and had graduated from Austin in ‘ 71. Secondary school. El Paso was the city, the community that taught me values. El Paso actually taught me right from wrong, told me how to distinguish between good and bad. And it’s where I built lifelong friendships and learned to pursue my dreams.

El Paso Business: Gangsta rap plays a crucial role in your book, and you developed an expertise in the music and its importance to black people and others who felt left behind. Who is your favorite hip-hop artist?

Stallworth: There are some that I like and, believe it or not, respect because of the nature of their lyrics, the meaning behind them. See, I’m ignoring the curse words in rap music. You have to look deeper when you listen to these songs. You have to look much deeper than just the fact that someone throws out the F-bomb or whatever. Ice Cube is, I think, a very prolific lyricist. He was the one who wrote the lyrics for ‘F- the Police’, ‘Gangster, Gangster’, ‘Straight Out of Compton’.

If you listen to his songs or read the lyrics throughout his songs, he is very focused on whatever the subject of the song is. He provides great commentary on the events that were happening in America at the time, and especially within the inner-city minority community. And it’s remarkable, when you consider that at the time he was doing all these things, he started at the age of 18.

I love DJ Quik. DJ Quik is a Treetop Blood gang member from Compton. His music is very, oh, the best way to describe it is very funk-oriented. If he were alive, he would feel right at home on a concert stage with James Brown. His music is very danceable, and I like his music too. His lyrics are very similar to Ice Cube’s, very defined, very focused on what’s happening in the community he’s a part of.

There’s a group called South Central Cartel, a bunch of Crips. They released about three or four albums and were doing really well at the time.

I like Public Enemy. Chuck D, the frontman of Public Enemy, wrote the text for my book. They are more black consciousness than gangster. They promote black consciousness, black ethics and black morals within the black community. That is the basic theme of their music. That’s why I like a lot of their stuff.