You have to be pretty brave to head over to the house of Christopher Barker, a leader of a Ku Klux Klan chapter in North Carolina, to fire off some difficult questions.
That was the job given to Ilia Calderón, a Colombian news anchor for Miami-based channel Univision, and it was all rather terse from the get go.
According to the Washington Post Barker was expecting a “lighter-skinned” Hispanic reporter, and when he saw Ilia he commented that she was the first black person to step onto his land in the 20 years he had lived at the property.
Not exactly rolling out the welcoming mat, right?
Here’s that horrid exchange, before we carry on:
More on Barker:
Barker is the “imperial wizard” of the Loyal White Knights of the KKK in Pelham, N.C., a group that would later participate in a deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. Calderón is a U.S. citizen and Colombian immigrant…
Of course, when pressed on whether or not he was a racist, or the Klu Klux Klan was a hate group, his tone changed dramatically:
Barker denied that he led a hate group. Both he and his wife said they “don’t hate anyone,” were “not racist” and do not condone violence.
The couple would later attend the rally in Charlottesville (the one VICE covered so excellently), praising the man who drove the car that killed protester Heather Heyer.
Trump loves to talk about draining the swamp, but there are cesspools all across America teeming with his supporters.
[source:washpost]
