By Nate Thayer

July 14, 2016

Life—and people—are complicated.

 

Let’s take Black Lives Matter and the Ku Klux Klan for example: depending on who one is talking to, they are either evil incarnate or people fighting in defense of their beleaguered people.

 

But it is both easy and lazy to demonize people into simplistic black and white, as it were, goofball caricatures in order to dismiss them as the enemy.

 

The truth is they are neither. They are angry and fed up, for different reasons, but they are average people not much different from you or me, however uncomfortable that might be for everyone. They are people whose personal biographies include being right and being wrong, having erred and done good things, having suffered and having overcome and having triumphed. That is the difficult part; to accept people as essentially the same. Everyone needs someone to blame their problems on. For BLM, it is the cops. For the KKK, it is Blacks and outsiders to their world in general.

 

I am pretty sure, neither group actually knows anyone else in the other—like two ships passing in the night.

 

Frank Ancona personifies evil to many. Ancona is a racist. He is the Imperial Wizard of the largest Ku Klux Klan group in America, the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, headquartered in Missouri.

For many, that is the end of the story. But it isn’t.

 

I have gotten to know Frank Ancona over the last two years and I consider him a friend. This has caused both of us problems, not that either of us really care. I have had my social media accounts hacked, accused of being a KKK member and shill, been slandered with thousands of vicious Tweets and FB messages, had legal charges falsely filed against me by white wannabee BLM supporters affiliated with the so-called Anonymous group of disorganized knuckleheads, accusing me of stalking and threatening them and had legal restraining orders issued for trying to simply speak to them, condemning me for even speaking with Ancona and giving his voice a forum.

Ancona has been accused of being a FBI plant, a Jew in self-denial, a tool of the Jewish controlled media, and other things for having anything to do with me. Those accusations come from both other Klan groups and people in the anti-racist activist community.

 

We speak often—often to just check in because—and I will risk speaking for Ancona here—we find each other interesting.

 

Frank listens and he speaks his mind, as do I. On political matters, we agree on pretty much nothing. But we have sincere discussions. Neither of us is shy to speak our mind, or tell the other we disagree when we do—which is often. But we also have much common ground. And we treat each other with respect. And we listen to each other and we try to understand why the other thinks or believes in the things we do.

 

It is called a discussion, something lacking in this new fangled world of social media where confrontation and incendiary smack talk is the norm.

 

Frank Ancona can be a hateful rabble-rouser. Honestly, I think it is part bluff, part looking for answers on who to blame for his legitimate complaints about government and how the powers that be ignore the plight of the white working class and white working poor in America.

 

Frank Ancona is a big supporter of Donald Trump. To me, Trump is a dangerous sociopath and huckster who poses a genuine threat to world peace.

 

“Frank, what the fuck do you have in common with a loud mouth egoist who inherited 98,000 apartments from his Daddy when he turned 18, has never been to Missouri before he ran for president, is driven around by a chauffeur in a limo, has never held a real job, and has absolutely no clue what problems the rest of us face in life?” I said to him recently. “I think you have the wrong enemy. It isn’t the black guy down the street who is causing you problems. It is Wall Street and the New York and Washington elite powers that be. You really should be a communist.”

 

Ancona is not a communist. He is a hard-working, white working class American who lives in the long ignored swath of the U.S between New York and Washington, D.C, and California.

 

Ancona works third shift driving about 500 miles a night to pick up car parts and deliver them to dealerships throughout the state of Missouri. He often doesn’t get home until 4 or 5 in the morning. Then there are his other responsibilities as Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.

 

A few weeks ago, Ancona was working driving car parts from one location to another near St Louis when he was faced with a horrible incident. The driver in front of him lost control of their car and a terrible accident ensued.

“It was awful. I was driving south on highway 55 out of St Louis at about 7:30 PM. Highway 55 is a 4 lane highway and is very busy that time of day. All of sudden the car in front of me accelerated and swerved left and plowed into a concrete median barrier, went in the air and did a 360, and crashed into the median strip,” he told me when I contacted him tonight about the incident.

 

Just to be clear and stave off the cynics reading this: Frank Ancona has never mentioned the incident to me, despite us having spoken several times since it took place on June 23^rd. But I was aware of it, because Ancona’s wife had posted an appeal to locate the woman driver, where she outlined the accident and her husband’s involvement several weeks ago.

 

“If anyone knows an Amber Woolsey from St Louis, age 27, please let me know how to reach her family. I checked Facebook for a profile but couldn’t find one. Last night, about 8:15 at hwy 55 and Butler Hill road there was a very bad accident. A young girl slammed into one of the concrete barriers. She was knocked unconscious and the car hit so hard that both her front doors locked and wouldn’t open. My husband was there and he was trying to get her out of the car. He finally got the door open and just in time cause the car caught on fire. He said she started having seizures and never woke up while waiting on help. I pulled up the accident report on the internet and it says she is in serious condition. My husband would just like to reach her family and to know if she pulls thru this. If for some reason she doesn’t and she’s got kids we would like to help them out,” wrote Malissa Ancona the next day, June 24.

Tonight, the driver of the vehicle posted this on Facebook:

 

“So, I’m about to speak on something that very few people know about, but it wouldn’t be right to not give (them) the praise they deserve… I have already individually given them my personal words and am FOREVER GRATEFUL & THANKFUL to Frank Ancona…and to Frank’s Wife Malissa Ancona for finding me on Facebook. Without you finding me, I would have never known what happen and never got to THANK YOU ALL!! On June 23rd I was in a horrible car accident, one that many people say I shouldn’t have survived & I truly believe the only reason I did was God is giving me another chance, also I got some amazing guardian angels but most of all because of 2 men that didn’t give up just because the fire got bigger and everyone else took off running. I was stuck inside the car with it on fire, unconscious, stuck under the steering wheel, and the doors were stuck closed. I remember the airbag hitting my face and after that I woke up hours later in the ER not knowing what was going on because I couldn’t even open, nor see out of my eyes the first 2 days. (I had) 2 horrible black eyes, teeth went through lip, 6 broken ribs, whole left side bruised beat up and burned, right shattered knee cap. I was there until June 27th leaving with so many injuries still but I was alive and had a whole new feeling and outlook on life. When leaving I asked is there anyway I can find out who saved my life. The hospital wouldn’t give me any answers. Well my purse and phone and all my belongs went with the car so it wasn’t until about a week later I was even on Facebook, when I saw a woman asking if anyone knew me personally. It didn’t even cross my mind. It was Malissa. June 23rd will be a day I WILL NEVER FORGET… to get a second chance at life!! Not take things for granted and really appreciate it all. And that’s exactly what I’ve been doing everyday since. I have a complete different mindset and outlook on life. I am so blessed and thankful to even be breathing at this moment. I gained 2 more guardian angels that day and I know I will never be able to repay you or really show you how much it means to me but I can’t express enough… THANK YOU AGAIN!!! It truly was a blessing in disguise and a lot of people don’t get a second chance. I can’t wait to meet you in all person one day. I plan on getting June 23rd 2016 with a few words (tattooed) on my right side where all my broken ribs are right now. Not anytime soon but one day, and I also just found out today that Frank trained in the Army as a Combat Medic. Thank you for your service to our Country. As I wrap this up I’m in tears but blessed, thankful tears. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SAVING MY LIFE THAT DAY!”

The message showed up on my Facebook page, as both Frank Ancona and his wife Malissa were tagged on Amber Woolsey’s post, and I am FB friends with both of them.

 

So I called Frank and he told me what had happened that June 23 night a few weeks ago.

 

“I stopped. I got out of my car. Her legs were under the passenger front seat and her head was under the drivers front seat. most of the car was crushed and the doors were unable to open. A woman who was a registered nurse also stopped and got out and said ‘We can’t move her until the paramedics get here.’ The car was smoking and you could smell burning. I thought it was just the radiator, and then all of a sudden someone yelled ‘The car is on fire!’ I said to the RN ‘I can’t leave this woman burning in this car!’ I don’t know what would be worse—being paralyzed from being moved or left to burn to death alive in the car. I forced the door open. The heat was almost unbearable. I got flying glass in my eye,” he said during a telephone interview tonight as he was working his job route driving across Missouri. “Almost everyone was just driving along slowly around her and didn’t stop. People were just driving by. I yelled ‘stop the motherfuckers from driving down the highway!’ and then some people blocked the highway. I pulled her out of the car and lay her down on the highway. I pulled every muscle in my arm and shoulder.”

After the cops and paramedics arrived, Ancona left. “I knew her name because the RN had taken her cards out of her pocket. Her eyes were rolling back in her head. I wasn’t sure if she was even alive. She was unconscious. She had head injuries, concussion, shattered knee caps, broken ribs. I knew I had helped her out and probably saved her life, but I didn’t know if she lived or not and it was bothering me. I was having nightmares and couldn’t sleep. I kept praying for her. I am not a bible thumper, but I think I am a good Christian,” he said.

 

Some would disagree with that last contention. Frank Ancona doesn’t like Black people. He doesn’t like Jews. And he hates gays. He is a very big fan of both the 2nd amendment of the constitution which guarantees Americans the right to bear arms. And he is an ardent supporter of Donald Trump.

 

Those beliefs make Frank and I very different people, politically. I am always very curious, though, why Ancona believes these things, and we talk about it often. But it does not mean that I think Frank Ancona is a bad person.

 

The car accident driver did not know Ancona, of course, before her accident, but she thinks Frank is a very good person, as well. She sent Frank Ancona a personal message a couple of days ago:

 

“Hi Frank:

 

This is Amber Woolsey. Let me start by saying THANK YOU FOR SAVING MY LIFE…IN MORE THE ONE OCCASION. I meant to reach out to you weeks ago but life has been a little crazy since the accident and I just buried my sister last week. I am going to be completely honest with you and even though you don’t know me I feel like I owe you that. A little bit about me…I have been on my own since I was 15, had A’s and B’s in school but had to drop out. I got a management position very quickly. Always had no one to depend on but myself. Well, years go by and I end up hurting myself at work and end up on a workman’s comp case. My ex fiancé introduced me to something I wouldn’t even wish on my worst enemy. I was clueless but in the end it was my own decision. I have battled with addiction for years now. My sister just passing was over her losing her battle with addiction and she was doing amazing and had been for over a year. Anyway, I was sober for almost 4 years until that day you got out of your vehicle and pulled me from the car. I hear you were a REALLY BIG HUGE PART in getting me out of there. You were my Angel that day. Everyone tells me I shouldn’t have made it out of that accident alive. I couldn’t see out of my eyes for the first two days and I still have six broken ribs and not moving a lot still but it was my WAKE UP CALL!!!! I can’t believe I could be so stupid to do that shit again. But I did and I am going to be paying full responsibility for it, not just with my injuries but I can’t complain IM ALIVE. I get a second chance!!!! And I will NEVER take it for granted again. I want to be a Mom and a Wife someday. When I was leaving the hospital I was trying to find out who it was that got me out of that car but they wouldn’t tell me anything. Ever since the accident the craziest and strangest things keep happening. Like signs. When I finally got into FB a week later after the accident I had seen your wife had been asking people if they knew me personally. I couldn’t believe it that the people I wanted to thank so much had found me!!! I bawled my eyes out and had chills and goose bumps. I can’t express enough THANK YOU. I’m hoping what you know now still wouldn’t have changed what you did. Even though I’m an addict I still have a huge heart and I am a really good person. I can say that my addiction never took me to stealing and robbing, thank goodness. Right now I’m in Peoria IL. I wanted to come stay with my brother. That way, when my script from the hospital was gone I was nowhere near anyone or anything I know. As I write this I’m bawling my eyes out. I am SO GRATEFUL & THANKFUL & I think about you guys at least a couple of times a day because without you, I wouldn’t be here. I have so many family members that have my back and would never turn on me and I have a lot of love around me and I never realized that before. I was up front and honest with everyone, yeah it broke my Grandmas heart and many others but just being completely honest about it all makes me feel even more positive. If I wasn’t serious then I would see why I would lie but I was given a second chance and I know MANY people that didn’t get that second chance that I lost that I love deeply. When I get back to Saint Louis, I’d love to meet up with you guys and thank you in person. And, if you don’t mind, I’m going to put a thank you out on fb. I’m not going to go into much detail at all, but I think you guys should be noticed for what you did for me. I am forever grateful and thankful. I will NEVER forget you.”

 

Ancona responded to Ms. Woolsey’s message. “Something just told me to stop even though I saw other people just going around. When we first arrived, there were a couple of RN’s out there as well and they said not to move you because if there was some type of damage to your spine that can paralyze you. At first it looked like just steam coming out of the radiator and we were trying to get the doors open and also make sure you had a pulse, and the next thing I knew somebody was screaming that the car was on fire and people started running away. There was no way I could leave someone in a car that was about to go up in flames and I told those ladies we had to get you out of there.”

 

Ms. Woolsey messaged in response: “I can’t thank you enough!!! I’m crying my eyes out because you could easily of just ran like everyone else. Without you there I wouldn’t be where I am today. Ever since that accident my eyes have been wide open to what’s really important. THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART AND I WILL MAKE SURE YOU NEVER REGRET SAYING MY LIFE!!”

 

Ancona: “Well, none of us are perfect and that’s why God sent his son to die for us including me and you probably figured out by now that I am a Klan member but I will tell you I would have saved whoever was in that car regardless of what race or whatever they were I don’t judge people like that and the organization I’m involved with is not what the media and government portray it to be. I was trained in the Army as a combat medic, too, so even though the car was on fire I still felt calm and I wasn’t really worried about myself at that point, to get you out.”

For those cynics out there, Frank has not mentioned this publicly anywhere. It was the woman who he saved who felt compelled to thank him publicly.

 

“Thank you for everything you have done for our country and being a Klan member doesn’t bother me either,” Amber Woolsey replied. I am pretty sure that Ms. Woolsey would have felt differently prior to her unfortunate encounter with Ancona.

 

Tonight, Amber Woolsey was responding to comments from friends on her FB post. “I wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for Frank Ancona. When Frank got me out of the car and carried me and laid me down on the highway I had a heartbeat but was unconscious but I don’t remember any of it. His wife tracked me down because they weren’t sure I even made it and she said he was having nightmares about it.”

 

I talked to Ancona tonight and asked him about the incident. “She texted me that she had problems with drugs. I said ‘look, everybody has got problems. I would have done that for anyone’”, he said.

 

“She asked to be friends on FB,” Ancona said. “That is when I told her I was a Klansman because, well, some people don’t like Klansmen and they keep track of who my friends are on FB and I thought she ought to know.”

 

 

I asked him “If it was a black woman would you have pulled her from a burning car?” He paused briefly and said sincerely. “Of course I would have.”

 

“She was pretty banged up. Her face was almost unrecognizable. Her teeth were coming out of her lips, eyes swollen and bruised. I saw her picture this week. She is a looker. It would have been easier to give her mouth-to-mouth, if I had known,” said Ancona, talking goofy teenage-boy smack.

 

“Hell, even if it were Hillary Clinton, I would have done the same thing. And if it were Trump’s daughter, Hell, I might even convert to Judaism to give her mouth to mouth.”

 

 

I believe him. Some will refuse to believe him and insist that the racist KKK leader is an enemy worthy of death. Frank Ancona will likely say the same about them–like two ships passing in the night.

 

We ended the conversation with this. “Perfect. Thanks, pal. This will make a good story. Even though you are still a racist with very goofy politics,” I told him.

 

“Lol. Yep,” he said. “Let’s talk soon, my friend. OK. I am here at my dock. I got to load up the parts.”

 

“Stay safe. Good hearing from you, my friend,” I said.

 

And the beat goes on……