“Black Klansman’s”  2nd Book to be Adapted for the Screen

In 2017 Spike Lee adapted the book “Black Klansman” into a critically acclaimed movie.  The book is El Paso native Ron Stallworth’s true story about becoming the first black officer on the Colorado Springs police force.  In the movie, Stallworth (played by John David Washington) infiltrates a local Ku Klux Klan chapter. Via telephone, he becomes a member of the Klan and is even issued a membership card.

Stallworth’s 2^nd book, “The Gangs of Zion” is about his work in Utah in the 1990s taking on L.A. street gangs and crack cocaine which were making inroads into largely Mormon communities.

Now, that 2^nd book is going to be adapted into a Hulu series.

Stallworth, who graduated from Austin High School in 1971, says that the “Gangs of Zion” adaptation is a “done deal”. He also has thoughts about who he’d like to see in the main role of Ron Stallworth.

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“First, I’d like to see John David Washington”, Stallworth said in an interview with El Paso Matters.

Other actors, if Washington is unable to reprise the role, include Michael B. Jordan, and O’Shea Jackson Jr. (son of Ice Cube) and Aldis Hodge from the TNT series “Leverage”.

The Hulu adaptation, for now titled “Hip Hop Cop”, is currently “in development” and details about the series is scant.  One of the producers of the series is rapper Curtis Jackson, a.k.a 50 Cent.

Stallworth told EP Matters that originally 50 Cent was going to star in the series but that he had to “step back because of other commitments”.