Thomas Robb

Thomas Robb, also known as Thom Robb,^[1] (born 1946) is the national director of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan,^[2] and a pastor at the Christian Revival Center.

Early life

Robb was born in Detroit, Michigan into a Baptist family and grew up in Tucson, Arizona.

Robb's parents shared some political views with Joseph McCarthy, Gerald L. K. Smith, Kenneth Goff, and Conde McGinley. Robb claims to have become awakened to the "Myth of the Holocaust" at the age of 13 while reading Conde McGinley's anti-Communist and antisemitic paper Common Sense which actively promoted Holocaust denial. While still in high school he was an outspoken supporter of segregationist ideals and an active member of the John Birch Society.

Activities

After completing high school he received a scholarship to attended the Soldiers of the Cross Training Institute in Evergreen, Colorado. The school was founded by Dr. Kenneth Goff. Robb attended the school and earned bachelor and doctorate degrees in theology from studies at the school and private tutelage with Dr. Roy Gillaspie of Bellflower, California. It was while in Bellflower, he first became acquainted with Ralph Forbes an associate and west coast organizer of George Lincoln Rockwell's National Socialist White People's Party. Returning to Tucson he began publishing The Message of Old Monthly which he later re-branded as The Torch.

In 1971, Robb relocated to Boone County, Arkansas. He has stated that the reason for the move was to be centrally located in the heartland of America from which he would build his ministry. Robb also has stated that he wanted his children to be raised in a rural environment and his move away from Tucson was a result of a growing awareness of illegal aliens “invading” America.

In 1986, Robb organized a protest against the Martin Luther King National Holiday in Pulaski, Tennessee, which is the birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan. The event eventually became known as the White Christian Heritage Festival, held each October in Pulaski.^[3] Over the years Robb has developed a close relationship with other extremists including, J. B. Stoner, Ed Fields, Don Black, David Duke, Willis Carto, Michael Collins Piper, Canadian extremist Paul Fromm and former Croatian diplomat Tomislav Sunic.

Robb defends the Klan as a harmless organization, claiming that it is "gentle, upbeat, and friendly".^[4] When featured in the PBS documentary Banished, Robb compared a Klan hood to a businessman's tie, claiming that "it's just tradition."^[5] Robb is a pastor who believes in creationism, "or as some call it intelligent design," and rejects evolution as "an attack upon our faith."^[6] He is the pastor of a church, Christian Revival Center,^[7] and broadcasts on www.KKKradio.com.

Recent attention has focused on his family, such as his daughter Rachel Pendergraft and his granddaughters, Charity and Shelby Pendergraft, who have recently formed a "white nationalist" band called Heritage Connection.^[8]

In the early 1990s, Robb began to pioneer the concept that white people were being targeted for genocide, a theme that has gained popularity in recent years among white extremists.

References