Ex-cop: Film ‘relevant’ on ann’y of riots

The events depicted in Spike Lee's new movie “BlacKkKlansman” took place four decades ago, yet the film feels as relevant as ever.

That's because the crime drama — based on the real-life story of Ron Stallworth, an African-American detective who successfully infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in the late 1970s without revealing his true identity — premiered amid a wave of social and political turmoil in America, and nearly one year to the day of the horrific white nationalist rally that descended upon Charlottesville, Va.

“It's very relevant. It's very timely,” Stallworth told the Daily News of the film, which came out Friday. “I hope it raises people's awareness … and makes them realize that we can never sleep on this. We have to always be vigilant about the presence of these people in our nation and (their intentions). It's not to make America great again, it's to turn America to fight again.”

“I want them to be vigilant to this fact, and quite frankly, to stand up to it. Don't be afraid to talk about the subject of race,” he continued. “More importantly, don't be afraid to stand up to racism when you see it.”

Stallworth, who is portrayed by John David Washington in the film, was the first African-American cop in the history of the Colorado Springs Police Department. He managed to gain the trust and obtain membership in the local KKK chapter by speaking to them over the phone and sharing their hate-filled rhetoric.

Stallworth went on to chronicle his investigation in a book, “Black Klansman,” released in 2014.

“It means a lot,” Stallworth said of his story being brought to the big screen. “I was just a cop who had a job to do and did it to the best of my ability. The fact that someone has recognized it as being worthy of being told in a movie is an honor to me. All I did was write my story down. I never expected it to become part of the national conversation like this.”