Advocates in El Paso are calling on residents to confront anti-Blackness and learn the history of white supremacy after a video of a group of teenagers went viral over the weekend. The teens were reported to be El Paso residents. They appeared in Ku Klux Klan regalia at a Halloween party on the Eastside and walked down the street yelling racial slurs. It is unclear when the incident happened.
The Instagram account @TheRealFitFamElPaso posted photos and video clips of the incident on Sunday. The post received more than 28,000 likes and 5,000 comments before it was removed. Footage also spread to other social media accounts with thousands of followers. The El Paso police chief and other local leaders denounced the display the following day. Carl B. Dwyer Jr., president of the NAACP El Paso chapter, also spoke about the incident outside the El Paso County Courthouse. He and other community members said it is part of a broader problem of racism in the city, where some youths use the N-word in everyday speech.
Tephanie Hopper, an NAACP El Paso member and owner of Colorful Chapters bookstore, said that if parents allow children to use racial slurs at home, the children will use them in public. She said addressing racism will take the whole community, including principals and superintendents who support teachers. Some advocates said they hope the incident becomes a teaching moment. Black people make up less than 4% of El Paso's population.