Cop and Klan: East Ellijay Police Officer Supports the United Northern & Southern Knights

The Facebook profile for Tommy Long is a reservoir of “thin blue line” pro-police images, Right-wing and pro-Trump materials, plus anti-Muslim bigotry. Long’s profile image, a “Punisher” logo combined with a (pro-cop) blue line, neatly captures his general attitude. In August 2017, Officer Long posted an image of himself in uniform combined with a heart and the slogan “No place for hate” – a strange gesture given Long’s association with Klansmen.

 

Tommy Long’s Facebook page is connected to three profiles for Charles Geoffrey Denton, the “Imperial Wizard” (i.e. main national organizer) for the United Northern and Southern Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Long’s page is also connected to three Facebook profiles for Justin Stephen Blue Owens, the UNSKKKK “Grand Dragon” (main state orgainizer) for Georgia. Long not only knows these individuals; Long is aware that they are with the Klan and Long supports their organization’s efforts.

 

Tommy Long connected to “Geoff Denton” (Charles G Denton) on Facebook
Tommy Long connected to two profiles for “Cole Thornton,” Charles Denton’s Klan name
Tommy Long connected to three profiles for “Stephen Owens” (Justin S Owens)
Tommy Long is connected to one Facebook profile for Klan leader Charles G. Denton under the name “Geoff Denton,” plus two of Denton’s profiles as “Cole Thornton.” (Denton is listed as Imperial Wizard on the UNSKKKK website under the name “Cole Thornton.”) Although Charles Denton spent years doing Klan organizing from Florida, he currently resides in Ellijay, Georgia. Both the “Geoff Denton” profile and the two “Cole Thornton” Facebooks are unmistakably Ku Klux Klan pages.
 
 

 

Tommy Long “liked” a picture of Charles Denton in full Klan robes, as well as a photo album from a Klan event featuring armed security, so there is no doubt Long knows the full extent of Charles Denton’s white power activity.

 

Photo album from KKK event, liked by Tommy Long. “Knight Hawks” are Ku Klux Klan security.

 

As well as Officer Long’s association with Imperial Wizard Charles Denton/“Cole Thornton”, Long is also connected to Georgia UNSK “Grand Dragon” Justin Stephen Owens, who has multiple accounts on Facebook as “Stephen Owens.” Owens is blatant about his affiliation with the UNSKKKK, for example wearing a UNSK patch on his hat in one profile photo.

 

 
Justin Stephen Owens alongside Donna Phinney (Aryan Nations Worldwide) in 2016.

 

Justin Stephen Owens promotes the United Northern and Southern Knights KKK on Facebook, which police officer Tommy Long then “likes.”
While we do not have evidence that Tommy Long has been officially inducted into the UNSKKKK, the above shows a clear pattern of Longs sympathy and support for the organization. Klan and white supremacist groups have much to gain from bringing police officers into their circles: not merely numbers but the potential for intelligence, and the dream of steering policing even further against marginalized communities.

 

Its clear that Longs anti-hate rhetoric doesn’t mean much since he can’t recognize that someone being a KKK leader makes that person racist. And Longs support for lynching (a form of extra-judicial execution) suggests that his primary commitment is not to enforcing the law, but advancing the values he shares with the KKK through legal or illegal means. The East Ellijay Police Department must now decide what to do with their Klan-supporting officer.
 
If you have more information about white supremacist organizing in our state – including by police or corrections officers – please get in contact.