A member of the public was astonished to see someone dressed up as a member of the Ku Klux Klan at a South West pub on New Year’s Eve, Tuesday, December 31. The pubgoer said they saw two people dressed as Klansmen at a fancy dress event at the Chiverton Arms, in Cornwall, at around 7pm.
The pubgoer said: “We were in shock at first and couldn’t believe it. We spoke to a guy standing near us and he thought it was a game character as some people were dressed as Mario. No one seemed to take much notice and they did seem to know people and staff.”
The pubgoer, who was left “angry and annoyed” by the incident, said they could not be sure anyone else at the pub recognised that the pair were dressed as Klansmen. They left after just a couple of drinks as they were mortified to see the costumes, reports CornwallLive.
The pub landlord said that as soon as they realised someone was dressed that way they told them to remove the costume: “I’m the landlord and was made aware that one person was dressed like that and costume was removed. We put up a fancy dress 80s theme for the new year and we can’t tell people what to wear.
“We did though tell the person to remove it once we were aware. No complaints were made on the evening for us to deal with.”
The KKK (or ‘Ku Klux Klan’) are designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Centre. The notorious group began in 1865 when slavery was abolished in the United States.
The pub’s landlord said the costume was removed after they were made aware
(Image: Submitted)
The group began terrorising black people and in many cases were involved in lynch mobs. Lynch mobs would target black Americans (as well as other racial minority groups and white people who were sympathetic to racial equality) and murder them.
The NAACP says that 4,743 lynchings took place between 1882 and 1968. The KKK were also instrumental in upholding Jim Crow laws, which separated public spaces by race in some US states.
It is thought that up to four million people were part of the shameful organisation at its height. Today the group is on the decline, with the Southern Poverty Law Centre listing ten active groups in 2023.