A group of possibly teenagers costumed in Ku Klux Klan robes at what appears to be a Halloween gathering in El Paso has drawn the condemnation of the U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar and the El Paso branch of the NAACP.
Video clips and photos on social media depict about six persons in pointy white KKK robes in what appears to be a backyard and walking as a group down a dark neighborhood street in what the FitFam El Paso social media page claimed was the East Side.
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The El Paso branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is scheduled to have a news conference on Monday, Oct. 26, to formally address the incident.
“The reports of teenagers wearing Ku Klux Klan regalia and allegedly shouting racial slurs in our community are deeply disturbing and unacceptable,” U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso in a statement posted Facebook on Sunday, Oct. 25.
“The KKK represents a shameful history of white supremacy, racial terror, and violence against Black Americans and other communities of color. Treating that history as a costume is not a joke,” she added.
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“El Paso is a community built on diversity, resilience, and respect for our neighbors,” Escobar said. “No one should have to fear being targeted or harassed because of who they are or what they look like and no El Pasoan is too young to understand that racism has no place in our community.”
On Nov. 1. 1922, members of American white supremacist secret society the Ku Klux Klan ceremonially initiate a new recruit at a meeting. While it’s unclear where this photo was taken, one of the reasons the KKK came to Worcester in 1924 was for an initiation ceremony.
The Ku Klux Klan is a white supremacist hate group that dates back to 1865 and has been described as the oldest terrorist group in the United States for its history of racist violence.
The KKK had a presence in El Paso more than 100 years ago when the Klan openly fielded candidates for mayor and various other city elected offices and lost in the election of 1923, according to El Paso Times archives.
Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com and @BorundaDaniel on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: ‘Disturbing, unacceptable.’ KKK costumes spark outrage in El Paso