Follow-Up: El Paso NAACP Holds Courthouse News Conference Over KKK Costumes, Calls Robes a 'Symbol of Hatred,' Plans Town Hall on Discrimination
EL PASO, Texas — The El Paso branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People held a news conference on Monday morning in front of the El Paso County courthouse to address the case of possibly teenagers costumed in Ku Klux Klan robes at what appears to have been a Halloween gathering. Branch president Carl B. Dwyer Jr. said at the news conference that flaunting KKK symbolism is "inappropriate, wrong and deeply hurtful to the Black community."
"I served this country for 31 years as a United States Army soldier, fighting for freedom. And still to this day in 2026, we have people who think it's OK to don white sheets, white robes and white hats, emblematic of the most racist time and period of this country," Dwyer said. He said the incident kept him awake all night, thinking about what his forefathers went through with lynchings and cross burnings. He said he understands freedom of speech and hopes for education instead of repercussions, and wants to talk to those who wore the robes to find out why they thought it was OK to wear "a symbol of hatred."
About 25 members and supporters attended the news conference, including civic leaders, church pastors, El Paso city Reps. Chris Canales and Josh Acevedo and El Paso Independent School Board President Leah Hanany. "When hatred becomes a costume, silence becomes complacency," said Pastor Christopher White of Greater Faith Church in Northeast El Paso. April Frowner, president of the El Paso chapter of The Links, Incorporated, who grew up in El Paso, said she was "taken aback" when she saw images of young people in KKK robes and had never seen anything like that in her hometown; she said the KKK represents the same hatred that gave rise to the August 3, 2019, El Paso Walmart shooting that targeted Hispanics. State Sen. Cesar Blanco said in a statement on Monday that the behavior was not reflective of El Paso and that he was "extremely disappointed and disturbed" by it.
Branch vice president Diane Williams said the branch plans to host a town hall meeting to discuss discrimination, including incidents in schools, and will announce a date on its social media sites. GSM reported earlier on October 26 on the incident itself and Rep. Veronica Escobar's Sunday condemnation: about six people in pointy white robes first appeared in what looked like a backyard and then walked as a group down a dark neighborhood street, with the FitFam El Paso social media page claiming the location was the East Side.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：德州 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 Conference
- 2026-10-26Follow-Up: El Paso NAACP Holds Courthouse News Conference Over KKK Costumes, Calls Robes a 'Symbol of Hatred,' Plans Town Hall on DiscriminationThis story
