The husband of the Mayor of Lahoma in the US state of Oklahoma has been caught dressed in the costume of the right wing extremist group, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).
Cary Sharp, married to Mayor Theresa Sharp was captured in both still and motion images with his friends wearing white robes and carrying burning torches with a cross.
The issue has sparked outrage and widespread condemnation by local residents who insist that strong measures should be taken to avoid lawlessness in the city.
The images have gone viral on Social Media and this has prompted a quick reaction from Mayor sharp to try and calm tension in the area.
Local news network, Koco reports that Mayor Sharp has issued a formal apology to the public on behalf of her husband.
“It happened on my property. You know, I don’t know what else to say other than I’m sorry to the community and I’m sorry to the public”, she said.
Mayor sharp also admitted that the actions of her husband and friends were highly unacceptable and that it had nothing to do with her office. She was further quoted as saying “it was the stupidity and actions of four separate individuals and it does not reflect on me or anyone else who is in the community.”
But despite the apology, local residents are still skeptical. Some residents told local media that the apology is not enough and that the mayor might have been aware of her husband’s affiliation to the group.
“There’s no way she didn’t know her husband and closest friends were like this. Birds of a feather, flock together,” a local resident named Pam Smith said.
“It’s not OK for anybody. The mayor needs to take responsibility for what her husband did”, an anonymous resident also said.
Cary Sharp himself has claimed that it was all part of a Halloween costume and that they did it as a form of a prank. Despite the glaring evidence in the images of a burning torch and cross being involved, Cary Sharp disputed using these elements in the exercise. He however apologized to the public.
Sharp told Koco “a cousin of mine came up with the idea of dressing up like KKK members and so we took a couple of sheets and cut holes in them and wore the sheets, and it was a very, very poor decision. I never realized it would have been so harmful. I truly apologize to everybody for this.”
This latest issue comes as Anonymous launches #OpKKK to reveal influential members of the extremist group across the US. Already, Anonymous has named four US State Senators Thom Tillis, John Cornyn, Dan Coats and Johnny Isakson in a list of public officials affiliated to the KKK.
several mayors of major US cities, including Madeline Rogero of Knoxville, Tennessee; Jim Gray of Lexington, Kentucky; Paul D. Fraim of Norfolk, Virginia; Kent Guinn of Ocala, Florida; and Tom Henry of Fort Wayne, Indiana have also been named by Anonymous.
In a statement addressed to the members of the KKK, Anonymous warned “Today we have shut down servers, gotten personal information on members of the KKK, and infiltrated your twitters and websites. And this is just the beginning. On November the 4th we will be having a twitter storm, spreading awareness about the operation. And on the 5th we shall release more than 1000 Ku Klux Klan members Names and websites, new and old. There is no place for racism now we’re more connected; the time to cooperate and better the world is now”.
The KKK is made up of three distinct past and present movements in the US that have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism and anti-immigration.
The group’s current manifestation is classified as a hate group by the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center. The group is estimated to have between 5,000 and 8,000 members as of 2012.
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This is disgusting, my kids will have nightmares, I am dissapointed satan.