Police and the El Paso, Texas, branch of the NAACP are condemning a group of people, possibly including youths, who were shown wearing Ku Klux Klan-style white robes and hoods in now-viral social media videos.The videos show the group walking on a neighborhood street, which police indicated is in El Paso.In one video, the person recording can be heard laughing and telling the group, “Y’all gotta yell something, güey.” (“Güey” is Spanish slang, most commonly used in Mexico, akin to “dude” in English.)Carl B.
Dwyer Jr., the NAACP’s El Paso branch president, held a news conference Monday morning to denounce the display as deeply hurtful to Black Americans, for whom the KKK has been a real-life terror since the Civil War.“Many believe that it’s just a joke,” he said after supporters joined in to sing “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the hymn often referred to as the “Black National Anthem.” “It hurts,” Dwyer said.“It hurts.”El Paso Police Chief Peter Pacillas said in a statement that the department was looking into whether the group, “reportedly including young people,” violated any laws, including disorderly conduct “or other applicable offenses.”“Symbols and language associated with the Ku Klux Klan represent a history of terror, violence, and racial hatred,” he said.
“They have no place in our community.Treating that history as a costume or a joke is unacceptable and contrary to the values of respect and safety that define El Paso.”Pastor Artie C.
Maxwell Jr., of El Paso’s Mount Zion Baptist Church, also spoke during Monday’s news conference and provided historical context for a city that briefly sympathized with the Confederacy.For SubscribersFOR SUBSCRIBERSMacklemore’s ‘Free Palestine’ tour gets massive welcome in Dublin, where pro-Palestinian support runs deepFOR SUBSCRIBERSBenjamin Netanyahu battles for political survivalFOR SUBSCRIBERSHow a California prison reform helped free a serial rapist calle...