Back. Nightline turning point continues. Here now, byron pitts. Good evening. Thank you for joining us. In a divided america, bigotry and the ku klux klan are not relics of a forgotten time. Tonight we head to a community in arkansas where the Confederate Flag still flies. As two black lives matter activists try to break bread with people who see them as less than human. Heres abcs steve osunsamosuns. Black lives matter black lives matter reporter its a hot summer day in one of the whitest communities in america, and activists waving flags that read black lives matter have come to this small town, and for the most part theyre not welcome. White power, white people white power black lives matter reporter this is boone county, arkansas, where the klan has its headquarters and where the racists have already installed their snipers on the rooftops in downtown harrison. And just around the corner from the sign that tells you where to tune in to white pride radio for the family, the sign says. I do this in good faith. Reporter aaron clark is worried it might get violent. If i can get all guns to be put up we got death threat after death threat after death threat. They said, i got a rifle for you down here, monkey. All sorts of things. Reporter clark says hes here to meet white people who he says dont understand the protests they see and the faraway culture thats beamed into their living rooms and on the devices in their pocket. Im coming to you in a positive form and a positive fashion, you know what im saying . Reporter this was mostly his idea, and he brought burgers to go with the bullhorns, inviting people to come eat lunch. I feel like food automatically creates a common ground, then we can figure out more Common Grounds from there. But from the jump we have a common ground, because im pretty sure everybody likes to eat. Reporter the men in trucks flying by with the Confederate Flags arent stopping. Hey, hey, ho, ho, this racist [ bleep ] has got to go reporter the only thing theyre bringing to this barbecue are their middle fingers. This is what they used to call a sundown town, where black americans had trouble staying alive if they were out after dark. It didnt take long before a militia showed up. We are not klan. We are not racist. Im here to stop you from burning buildings and hurting innocent people. We dont want that to happen. So if we can keep it out of our our areas, here in arkansas, thats what we want to do. Great question, lets talk about that. Reporter in the middle of all this, clarke turns to his phone and starts a live feed on facebook. Where he tries to invite people from across the county. Lets talk. You know what im saying . Im willing to meet anybody up. Ill stay down here, ill meet up with you guys, we can go get a beer or something. Go get a beer, go to the bar, we can sit down, we can talk, we can be adults. Reporter things start looking up when clarke learns that someone who he was hoping to meet might be coming to visit. A famous local pastor by the name of thomas robb. If i can have a civil dialogue with thomas robb, thats what im definitely going to do. Reporter 74yearold thomas robb is the pastor of the Christian Revival Center just outside harrison. Hes better known as the National Director of the ku klux klan. He took over the job after david duke left the position in the 1980s and is seen here in an interview with sky news three years ago. This here is our office. And we do clerical work here, membership applications. Reporter robb isnt just any racist, hes the most grand dragon of racists, who longer wears a hood and likes to sound as hes making sense, as he did in this interview with the kansas city star. Blacks by their nature probably prefer being around other blacks. Because they can relate to them. Theres always going to be some thats going to want to go hang out with the white group. But by whole, people prefer being around their own kind, and nothing wrong with that. Its real. Its natural. It sounds like what you guys are doing is saying to people, come meet us. Yes. Come talk to us, come meet me, come shake my hand, come see for yourself that i am not antiamerican, i am not hatefilled, i am not a terrorist. I love my community. And i want the best for all of us. And aaron and i do this because we want a better life for our children. Exactly. And one thing that i learned about is really through conversations that i realized, that they dont really know anything about people of color. So what we want to do, and our mission is to go against the narrative. We want to come and say exactly like you said. Hey, come meet us. Reporter the first black person to ever meet many of this areas longtime residents is this man, kevin cherray, retired federal forest ranger who first moved here in the 70s and says it didnt always go well. Hes since joined a task force the city has set up to help repair its image. Weve got to get people to be willing to be uncomfortable. Theyve got to be willing to learn and find out what they dont know. Reporter he says that communities all across this country are a lot more like harrison than theyd like to admit. With white americans, who have never really bothered to get to know many people of other races. When im able to share my experiences with people, especially now they know me, theyre comfortable with me. And all of a sudden the issue of the Confederate Flag comes up. And i can tell them, look, you have to understand that when i see that flag, theres a certain level of fear that exists. Because growing up in new orleans, if you saw a car coming down the street with the flag, you got out of the way. We also knew that wherever there was a lynching, that flag was present. And when people hear that stuff happened to me, its like, wow. Now its a different meaning to them. Because, this is kevin, our friend. Theyre more willing to believe what youre saying. But either way, we have to talk. And weav be g to listen. Yes. Reporter its harder to misunderstand someone when you realize they share some of your worries and many of your goals and theyre trying to get that across in the protests in the streets. But sociologists explain that americans of all colors are proving every day that what this klansman said is true that people gravitate toward their own kind. Weve actually just completed a study a few years ago in the Metro Detroit area that measured the ethnicity of peoples networks. Reporter i spoke with christina rusch, researcher at eastern michigan university. We specifically asked them whether or not the person that they identify as close and important to them is of the same race and or ethnicity as them. And what we found is that for both whites and blacks in america, over 95 of their networks are comprised of the same race. When i look at the facebook pages of some of my white friends, this person who is supportive of black lives matter, i can look through sometimes years and decades of photos and not see that person standing next to anybody who looks like me. And its stunning to me. Yes. It makes a lot of sense. You know, im not surprised that when you look at facebook posts, you tend to see it to be of the same race as the person who youre looking at. Because i think theres been a lot of research to show that for the most part, peoples social networks are very homogenous when it comes to race and ethnicity. Reporter pull out your phone right now, scroll through the pictures, and see for yourself. How many black friends do your white friends really have . Its not just the personal relationships. I think the larger media and societal portrayals of these groups also play a big role in how we understand people who are different than us. Because they immediately shape how were going to react to the person were coming into contact with. Reporter she says that black and brown americans do this too, and will often avoid Real Relationships with white americans because it can be tiring to teach their experience. Explain to me why its more difficult for white americans to have diverse social gaza strips and groups. I think that is in large part just a result of the numbers. White americans are still numerically the majority. And the opportunities that they have to come into contact with people who are different than them are just far fewer. They dont have to interact with people who are different than them in order to have opportunities, whereas individuals who are of racial or ethnic minority groups, they have to. Reporter back at the barbecue in harrison, thomas robb never showed. W tld you goo dinner to his husbaouse . Yes in an instant, yes. If he invited me to dinner in his house, i would go and sit down and eat with him. The head of the klan . I would sit down and eat dinner with him and try and listen to what he had to say about what his organization is telling, what do you feel about us, why do you hate us . You have to make them face their own demons. Reporter in the end, not a bullet was fired, no punches were thrown, and clarke and his group made friends with the militia. You brought me that gatorade, didnt you, man . Hey, i appreciate that. You have to make them question themselves, and you cant do that if you dont talk to them. Coming up, one womans journey through her racist past to a moment of change. 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For a young woman in virginia, confronting her past meant erasing a hateful tattoo. But her show of redemption only happened after facing people hurt by that hate. Here again is abcs steve osunsami. Hey, hows it going . Hi. Andrea. Very nice to meet you. Come back here and lets talk about this drawing. Reporter andrea ihouse is on a powerful journey. This is the design i came up for you. Most of the coverup is going to be in this area i have to live every day with the guilt of being brought up racist. Reporter it took her years to get to this virginia Tattoo Parlor where she says it feels like shes about to be cleansed. Its very literally erasing the hate. When its physically, and you know, youre able to see that washed away from your body, its almost like being baptized. Reporter she was just 17 years old when she had the mark of White Supremacists tattooed on her back. Its an iron cross. Like when you look at neonazis today, and they might have a swastika tat too, they might have those two lightning bolt tattoos, they might have an iron cross. Did you know what it represented . I was aware of what people could take away from it, and that didnt bother me. Thats a problem. Reporter she didnt think much of it because of where and how she grew up. A mostly White Community in north carolina, where racism was a way of life. I was so indoctrinated. I was very brainwashed. So it was very acceptable to believe that africanamericans are just lower than white people. That gay people are an abomination. Immigrants arent welcome. Reporter but when she moved away to virginia in 2007, she had different people moving into her world. What was on your mind on the way to the tattoo shop when you were getting about to get it covered up . My best friend. Hm. Shes jewish. I dont love, you know, being the center of attention. I dont love being on camera. So when they brought this opportunity to me, i did not want to do it. And the reason that i did do it was because ive owed this to the people that ive offended. Are you excited . Reporter Jeremiah Hirsch is the tattoo artist fredericksburg whos doing this for free. Hes calling this the erase the hate campaign, and there are Holocaust Survivors in his family. Its heartbreaking. To hear about her upbringing. To be raised in such a hateful environment and think that thats okay. But so beautiful today to, like to erase that from her. Reporter all he asks is that she and others who hes helping make a small donation, 100 or more, to groups that help minorities. There has to be bridges built. Even with my parents being pastors, i remember going to church on sunday and, like, you would have the black congregation would be on this side of the church, and we would be on the other side. And i never fully understood that. Then when you look into the history of it, when, like, segregation was still in, and like when slavery was, they would have to sit upstairs. As weve seen segregation go away and more unity involved, why is there still this separation just because of like, is that what were used to . Reporter its in the meeting of different people and the understanding between those people where racism starts to die. And yes, even in gods house, where dr. Martin luther king himself once said that sunday is the most segregated day in america, it takes effort. Our pastor and our leader, pastor Kimberly Jones reporter this is Limitless Church in georgia. Yeah reporter pastor Kimberly Jones says there used to be no black members. When my mom and dad turned it over to me a few years ago, man, all white people. I looked out sunday. This place is packed. And i thought, look at this rainbow. Looks like heaven. What heavens going to look like. How did that happen . I dont even know. I really dont even know. The bible says reporter people of her church told us its because of moments like this. Thats pastor kim joining the protests over the Police Killings of black americans. One person can change the world, and thats you. They need to be heard. My people need to be heard. You said my people. But i wonder if its because these are truly your people. Theyre my people. Me as a caucasian, me as a white woman, my job is to fight for the ones around me so that they can have the same privileges that i have. Every time i even see a caucasian say all lives matter, i just wish for a second they could switch skin and walk in it for a second. Do a heart check. That racism will keep you out of heaven. Reporter Andrea Einhaus suffered through four hours of agonizing pain to cover the racism painted on her skin with a playful drawing that reminds her of a sister who died. Looks amazing, thank you. Reporter she wishes anyone who chooses only to judge her for what shes become today. What do you say to other people out there who might have Something Like that on them . I would say that it is certainly unfortunate that you have this tattoo, but that does not set the tone for your life. Your behavior does. And the way that you interact with people. So this doesnt have to control your life. And its okay to say you were wrong. Our thanks to steve o. Be sure to join our conversation with turningpointabc. Well be right back with a program note. Inate who you are , and youre going to find yourself where you need to be. The race is never over. The journey has no port. The adventure never ends, because we are always on the way. Your happy place. Find your breaking point. Then break it. Every emergenc gives you a potent blend of nutrients so you can emerge your best with emergenc. He calls on the nations antop health experts. S, working together, for all americans, is what joe does. 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Onomw nights nightline, the yearlong investigation into the murder of an american journalist. Who killed hull bearicat . Thats all for this evening. You can watch full episodes on hulu. Thanks for the company, america. Good night