'Disturbing, Unacceptable': KKK Costumes Spark Outrage in El Paso; Rep. Escobar Condemns Incident as Local NAACP Schedules Monday News Conference
EL PASO — A group of possibly teenagers costumed in Ku Klux Klan robes at what appears to be a Halloween gathering in El Paso has drawn condemnation from U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar and the El Paso branch of the NAACP, the El Paso Times reported. Video clips and photos on social media depict about six persons in pointy white KKK robes, first in what appears to be a backyard and then walking as a group down a dark neighborhood street; the FitFam El Paso social media page claimed the location was the East Side.
The El Paso branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is scheduled to hold a news conference on Monday, October 26, to formally address the incident. In a statement posted on Facebook on Sunday, October 25, Escobar said: "The reports of teenagers wearing Ku Klux Klan regalia and allegedly shouting racial slurs in our community are deeply disturbing and unacceptable." She added: "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 said El Paso is a community built on diversity, resilience and respect for neighbors, and that no one should have to fear being targeted or harassed because of who they are or what they look like. The Ku Klux Klan is a white supremacist hate group dating back to 1865, the paper noted; its archives show the Klan openly fielded candidates for mayor and various other city offices in El Paso more than 100 years ago and lost in the election of 1923.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：德克萨斯州 El Paso 市中心天际线（资料图）。照片：Quintin Soloviev，CC BY 4.0，经维基共享资源。 / The downtown El Paso, Texas, skyline (file photo). Photo: Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
- 2026-10-26'Disturbing, Unacceptable': KKK Costumes Spark Outrage in El Paso; Rep. Escobar Condemns Incident as Local NAACP Schedules Monday News ConferenceThis story
- 2026-10-26Follow-Up: El Paso NAACP Holds Courthouse News Conference Over KKK Costumes, Calls Robes a 'Symbol of Hatred,' Plans Town Hall on Discrimination
