PRAISE FOR CONSUMED BY HATE, REDEEMED BY LOVE
“As a kid in Mississippi in the late 1960’s, I remember the men of our church discussing the Klan’s bombing campaign against the Jews. The men did not disapprove. Later, I would use this fascinating chapter of civil rights history as the backdrop for my novel, The Chamber. Now, one of the bombers, Thomas Tarrants tells the real story in this remarkable memoir. It is riveting, inspiring, at times hard to believe but utterly true, and it gives some measure of hope in these rancorous times.”
—JOHN GRISHAM
“The amazing story of how God delivered my friend Tom Tarrants from racism and hatred and gave him a heart of love and friendship for people of all colors and backgrounds. This book gives hope for what God can do.”
—DR. JOHN PERKINS, PRESIDENT EMERITUS OF THE JOHN PERKINS FOUNDATION AND COFOUNDER EMERITUS OF THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION
“This gripping and inspiring story is as timely as today’s headlines. My friend Tom Tarrants is a trophy of God’s grace—and testament to how God not only changes our eternity but can transform our hearts and minds for today. So put on your seatbelt and prepare to enter into one of the most extraordinary true stories you’ll ever encounter!”
—LEE STROBEL, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE CASE FOR CHRIST AND THE CASE FOR GRACE
“Most of us have never been part of a racist domestic terrorist cell. For all of us, though, the story of this book is our story. We were, all of us, alienated from God and hiding from him behind something, whether white supremacist hatred or career advancement, sexual promiscuity or self-righteous religion. The same Christ confronts all of us, and the same gospel can transform. This book, of the transition from a Ku Klux Klansman to a gospel Christian, is a riveting narrative. You will be gripped by the story and, I hope, by the Story behind the story. This is the path from burning crosses to the cross of Christ himself, from raging hate to amazing grace. How I love that story. You will too.”
—RUSSELL MOORE, PRESIDENT OF THE ETHICS AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY COMMISSION OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION
“The dramatic story of Tom Tarrants’s conversion from terrorist to advocate for peace is simply astonishing. It is also essential reading for these times. If you want to understand how the evil of extremist thought works—and how the gospel of God’s grace can overcome it—read this book.”
—MARK BATTERSON, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE CIRCLE MAKER AND LEAD PASTOR OF NATIONAL COMMUNITY CHURCH
“Reveals how easily a political ideology can grow into a radical, extreme, life-taking worldview, all the while masquerading as some supposed form of a ‘Christian’ faith. A powerful story!”
—ERIC C. REDMOND, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF BIBLE AT THE MOODY BIBLE INSTITUTE, CHICAGO
“A rivetingly told tale. Will America ever be free of its ‘original sin’ of racism? Tarrants goes on record against himself, shining the light on the dark workings of his own radicalization as a domestic terrorist. But in showing how grace and forgiveness broke into his own life to give him a second chance, he points the way for all who strive to rid America of this terrible scourge and the hatred that it breeds.”
—OS GUINNESS, AUTHOR OF LAST CALL FOR LIBERTY
“At a time when the blight of hatred, racial division, and tribalistic contempt spreads and seeps into our politics, communities, and churches, Tom Tarrants’s extraordinary, often horrifying, and miraculous story offers both insight and instruction. He shows the ways in which hate warps the mind and corrupts the heart, as well as the allure of scapegoating and rigid ideology and the human carnage left in their wake. But this is ultimately a story of amazing grace—how one blinded by hate learned to see, to love, and to reconcile. And it offers hope, showing the possibilities for the flowering of such grace, even on the cultural battlefields of our own riven land.”
—CHERIE HARDER, PRESIDENT OF THE TRINITY FORUM, WASHINGTON, DC
“When I met Tom Tarrants at Parchman prison so many years ago, I sensed him as a pleasant, well-mannered, and intelligent man. I wondered why he was there. I did not have any sense of how our lives would intersect. Only later did I learn the depths to which the demons of racism had driven him. This riveting story of a journey from darkness into light is about the total renovation that God’s grace can bring about—of mind, heart, and soul. What impresses me as much as Tom’s initial journey into faith is his renouncing the temptations of celebrity status and desire to live as a humble disciple of Jesus, quietly guiding others on the same path. This is a needed story for our time.”
—LEIGHTON FORD, PRESIDENT OF LEIGHTON FORD MINISTRIES
“From racism to reconciliation. From Klan-inspired hatred to passionate love with understanding. Tom Tarrants’s story and reflections show that there is hope for our times, even in the midst of rancor and division. This is a must-read for the church in America!”
—DENNIS P. HOLLINGER, PHD, PRESIDENT AND COLMAN M. MOCKLER DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR OF CHRISTIAN ETHICS, GORDON-CONWELL SEMINARY
© 2019 by Thomas A. Tarrants
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CONTENTS
Introduction
PART 1: SEEING GOD WORK IN THE EXTRAORDINARY: 1968–1976 Chapter 1: Ambushed!
Chapter 2: An Undeserved Mercy
Chapter 3: Paying the Price
Chapter 4: Seeds of Fear and Anger
Chapter 5: Descending into Darkness
Chapter 6: Opening Skirmishes
Chapter 7: Into the Thick of Battle
Chapter 8: Off to Prison
Chapter 9: Prison Life
Chapter 10: Biding My Time and Preparing
Chapter 11: Escape!
Chapter 12: Maximum Security—Again
Chapter 13: Encounter with Truth and Light
Chapter 14: New Life!
Chapter 15: New Friends
Chapter 16: New Possibilities
Chapter 17: Free at Last!
PART 2: SEEING GOD WORK IN THE ORDINARY: 1977–2019 Chapter 18: Ole Miss: A Happy Change
Chapter 19: A New Direction
Chapter 20: Making Sense of It All
Conclusion: The Challenge We Face Today
Acknowledgments
Notes
About the Author
INTRODUCTION
About fifteen years ago, former White House aide and Watergate figure Chuck Colson said to me, “You must get your life story back in print.” He was referring to a book I had written in the late 1970s that described the events of my life up to that point. It was an account of God’s grace and love to me when I was a hate-filled terrorist, and of how he miraculously spared my life on two occasions and brought me to faith in his Son. Chuck and I had been friends for many years, so I listened politely, but the idea didn’t resonate with me. I had had enough publicity to last two lifetimes, and the last thing I wanted was more.
But in the years following Chuck’s exhortation, at least half a dozen people who didn’t know one another said essentially the same thing to me, leading me to conclude that God might be trying to send me a message. So, after much prayer and reflection, I set out to revise the original book and update it to cover some of God’s additional workings in my life during the forty years since 1976, the last year the earlier book covered. Cardiac and neurological issues along the way slowed the process, but exceptional medical treatment and the prayers of my family and friends enabled me to complete the writing.*
However, as I was finishing the book and exploring publishers, I began to see a significant resurgence of the racism, anti-Semitism, and political extremism that I had been a part of during the turbulent 1960s. This set off alarm bells in me not only for the societal impact but also for its seductive potential for some in the church. So, I decided to revise the book to be both an account of personal conversion and transformation and a cautionary tale for Christians today. It is also a story of hope. And yes, no matter what we may face in life, there is hope—hope in a loving and all-powerful God, for whom nothing is impossible.
The chapters ahead give a vivid and gripping account of how, in a period with similarities to our own, I was seduced by extremist ideology, became a terrorist, and in prison had a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ that took me in a very different direction. The book concludes with a brief look at three elements of America’s current social upheaval and suggestions about how to avoid becoming ensnared and respond in a way that glorifies God.
Part 1
SEEING GOD WORK IN THE EXTRAORDINARY
1968–1976
1
AMBUSHED!
On a miserably hot and humid Mississippi afternoon, June 29, 1968, Kathy Ainsworth and I met over dinner to discuss our plan to bomb the house of a prominent Jewish leader in Meridian, Mississippi. We had been introduced a couple of years earlier and were both dedicated to “the Cause”—the cause of preserving America and white supremacy. This meant fighting against the civil rights movement, the liberals, and the Communist-Jewish conspiracy that was trying to destroy our nation. We saw ourselves as patriots, fighting for God and country. Neither of us had any idea of what awaited us just a few hours later.
Meyer Davidson was a wealthy, successful businessman in what was then a city of some forty thousand people. Several weeks earlier he had spoken out with great indignation after the bombing of Meridian’s Jewish synagogue, Temple Beth Israel. Davidson publicly attacked Mississippi’s White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, described by the FBI as the most violent right-wing terrorist organization in the United States. He denounced its members, calling them maniacs. He also launched a fund-raising drive that raised $80,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the temple bombing.
Even though I wasn’t an official member of the Mississippi Klan, I might as well have been. I had good friends who were, and I shared their views and concerns. Davidson’s denunciation infuriated all of us. Such a public attack and aggressive action against the Klan would have been sufficient provocation for a violent response. But other, more practical considerations had also influenced the decision to bomb his house and my readiness to be part of the plot.
Since mid-January that year, Klansmen in Meridian had conducted a reign of terror that garnered attention all the way to Washington, DC. They had firebombed or burned eight black churches and three homes (two black families and one white family). This was part of a larger terror campaign that had been going on for several months in Mississippi. FBI director J. Edgar Hoover had ordered his organization to put a stop to it. A large number of federal agents were at work in Mississippi, assisted by state and local law enforcement agencies. Their initial efforts focused chiefly on Klansmen brothers Wayne and Raymond Roberts. Wayne had been recently convicted in the murders of James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, three civil rights workers who had been abducted in Philadelphia, Mississippi, in 1964. Even though Wayne was identified as the triggerman in those crimes, he was free on bond while his case was on appeal.
The Roberts brothers had been able to handle the pressure until the bombing of Temple Beth Israel and the national outcry following the Meyer Davidson news coverage. At that point, the Mississippi Public Safety commissioner sent a special group of state investigators, known as “the goon squad,” to Meridian to assist local police in pressuring the two men into cooperating. In an effort to cause them either to talk or make a mistake, this special squad followed them everywhere, watching their homes around the clock, visiting their workplaces, and in an interesting role reversal, quietly threatening the Klansmen’s lives.
The pressure soon took its toll. In mid-June Raymond Roberts went to Jackson several times to ask one of my friends for help. About a week later, my friend traveled to Meridian for further discussions with both Raymond and Wayne. They decided that something had to be done to relieve the pressure from law enforcement, and soon. They concluded the best thing would be yet another major act of violence against Jews, one consistent with the ongoing campaign of terror to make the act appear to be the work of those who bombed the synagogue. This time, however, the Roberts brothers, knowing in advance of the bombing, would have an airtight alibi—being seen publicly elsewhere with many witnesses. In theory, the focus of the investigation—and the harassment—would shift away from them.
Though I was not in Mississippi while these discussions were taking place, the choice of Meyer Davidson as the target was at least partly my doing. After his public comments about the Temple Beth Israel bombing, I had mentioned to other Klansmen that Meyer Davidson, because of his profile, would be a good target for some future operation. I saw it as a good opportunity to demonstrate what could happen to those who brazenly attacked the Klan. And it would also more generally send a message to Jews, who we believed were behind the civil rights movement. When I returned to the state and learned of the pressure being applied to the Roberts brothers, I decided to be one of two bombers for this attack, which was planned for a few days later at the end of June. Time was of the essence, the Roberts brothers said, because a grand jury was meeting soon and would probably indict them.
But my prospective partner in the operation was a well-known Klansman, and whenever a major act of
racial violence occurred, the FBI went straight to his house to see if he was home. To avoid compromising the operation and to relieve some of the pressure on him, at the last minute I suggested that he not go. That way he, like the Roberts brothers, would have an alibi when the bomb exploded and could greet the FBI when they came knocking on his door minutes later.
The only person who could replace him was Kathy Ainsworth, a trusted member of the Klan’s inner circle in Jackson. Kathy was a smart, attractive brunette in her midtwenties who taught at a local elementary school and was not on the FBI’s radar. Few people would have suspected her of Klan activities, as women were rarely involved in such things. She was proficient in intelligence gathering, clandestine operations, and the use of firearms. More important, she had experience in previous bombings. I drove to Kathy’s house in Jackson to explain the situation to her.
When I arrived, Kathy was preparing to make the long, hot drive to her hometown of Miami for vacation. Her husband, Ralph, who knew nothing of her terrorist activities, was away at a two-week National Guard training camp. I described the plan for the Davidson attack, explaining the need to replace my prospective partner, and asked, “Can you go with me on this mission? If so, we can drop off the bomb in Meridian, and then I will drive you on to Miami.”
“Yes, I can do it,” she said without hesitation. “And I can introduce you to some patriots down there.”
From my study of covert operations, I had learned that secrecy was the single most important factor in the success of terrorist activities. Information had to be tightly controlled and dispersed strictly on a need-to-know basis. Anyone not directly involved with an operation could not know about it. But in this case, that principle was not being followed. Although they would not be participating, both Raymond and Wayne Roberts knew the details of the operation. They were Klansmen—active terrorists themselves in the Meridian area. Part of the reason for this operation was to divert attention away from them. If anyone could be trusted, it was these two—or so I thought.
Consumed by Hate, Redeemed by Love Page 1