The National Association for the Advancement of White People (NAAWP) is a white supremacist organization established in 1979 by former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke, deriving its name from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. It is considered a racist hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. History and formation In December, 1979, Grand Wizard David Duke, left the Klan to make his own organization. Duke was unsatisfied with the Ku Klux Klan's public image, especially following the November 1979 clash in Greensboro between Ku Klux Klan Knights and the Communist Workers Party, which left 5 dead. Additionally, Duke's reputation within the Klan had been damaged, due to a scandal orchestrated by long-time rival Bill Wilkinson, who had agreed to pay $35,000 (which Duke intended on using to fund the NAAWP) in exchange for a list of Klan members' names and addresses, which are typically highly protected and private due to safety and anonymity reasons. Three days after Wilkinson exposed Duke, Duke resigned as Grand Wizard, stating "I'm resigning because I don't think the Klan Can succeed at this point... because of its violent image and because of people like Bill Wilkinson". On the 20th of December, Duke incorporated the NAAWP as a non profit organization. In a letter sent to all members of the Ku Klux Klan when he left, Duke enclosed the first issue of the pre-existing NAAWP newspaper, titled the NAAWP News. He wrote: As the Ku Klux Klan declined in the 1980s, many members followed Duke into the newly formed group. Duke aimed to make the NAAWP more modern and palatable to the public in order to gain support and respect, however, it has still been described as "simply the Klan without sheets". Leadership It is believed that Duke stepped away from the NAAWP at some point in the mid 1990s, passing leadership to Paul Allen. Duke went on to focus on his political career. Paul Allen In 1997, an ABC Prime Time Live report of NAAWP and Ku Klux Klan members meeting with each other at NAAWP official Dan Daniels' Florida ranch called the loyalties of the NAAWP's leaders into question. Daniels stepped back from both the NAAWP, and his job as the sheriff of Polk County, Florida. Allen instructed all local NAAWP leaders to avoid portraying themselves as racists or extremists in public at all costs, in order