Minnesota Ku Klux Klan (KKK) member John Abarr recently claimed that he wants to usher in a less hateful, more inclusive KKK.
Abarr formed a new KKK satellite group called the Rocky Mountain Knights that he said is free from any form of discrimination.
"The KKK is for a strong America," Abarr told the Great Falls Tribune. "White supremacy is the old Klan. This is the new Klan."
Abarr has allegedly distributed racist literature in the past, and campaigned for the northwest to be purged of minorities. But now, Abarr says his views have changed.
Last year, the former congressional hopeful met with NAACP leaders to determine if the groups could work together. Montana Human Rights Network Co-Director Rachel Carroll-Rivas believes Abarr's alleged change of heart is an act.
"We have actually worked with a few defecting members of white supremacist groups in the past, and it always starts with an apology," Carroll-Rivas explained. "And he hasn't done that."
The fact that the Rocky Mountain Knights is still a KKK organisation was also troubling to the human rights activist.
"He's still using the label and engaging in the ritual of using the hoods and robes and not apologising for the hurt he's done in Montana," she continued. "I don't take his message of reform seriously."
The Southern Poverty Law Center's Heidi Beirich agreed.
"I just think it's a ridiculous publicity stunt," she stated. "The only thing [the KKK] has ever done is discriminate. It's the oldest domestic terrorist organisation in the U.S.
"It's done nothing but make life miserable for minorities so this idea that Jews or minorities could join ... it's absurd."
United Klans of America leader Bradley Jenkins also criticised Abarr's initiative as contrary to the group's beliefs.
"He's trying to rebrand himself, not the Klan," Jenkins said. "This man is violating the constitution of our organisation."
Abarr did not respond to ABC News' request for comment.
