‘Your Kind Ain’t Welcome’: Pennsylvania KKK Group Swears They Never Targeted Kids at Halloween Parade, Then a Family Found This in Their Child’s Candy Bucket
A Ku Klux Klan women’s group that reportedly passed out recruitment cards during a Halloween parade in a Pennsylvania town denied putting the promotional material in a child’s candy bucket.
News of the Women of Ku Klux Klan’s presence at a parade in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, sparked outrage in the community and drew massive attention on social media after a couple who said they found an advertisement for the group in a bucket their five-year-old daughter used to collect candy at the event.
In a statement to WHP, the organization’s commander confirmed the group passed out recruitment materials to locals, but said they never handed any of those materials to children.
“Some ladies have reached out and said they saw your local news story about a W.K.K.K. card that was supposedly put into a child’s candy container,” the statement began. “We assure you that wasn’t the case at all. That’s not who we are. Children are precious and are not to be used as pawns. Not saying cards weren’t passed out in the local area. But not in that way. This is misinformation. It is not illegal to belong to the Women of the K.K.K. Our mission is to help support our family, our community and our beloved country. Thank you for reaching out. God bless the wonderful state of Pennsylvania.”
The girl’s father said he and his daughter were at the town’s annual Halloween parade on Oct. 14, where vendors drove by and tossed candy to children.
He didn’t see anyone place the recruitment card in the bucket, but discovered it when he got home and checked the container’s contents.
The card features the organization’s title among the words, “Invisible Empire,” “A Revival of the American Spirit,” and “family, country, liberty.”
It also had a phone number that, when dialed, directed callers to a voicemail:
“We are a patriotic movement that says what others fear to say or do. Together we can make a meaningful difference in the lives of our people. We are blue-collar Americans who love are country, family, and freedom.”
A friend of the family posted a photo of the card to social media, and news of the incident went viral. Mechanicsburg resident, Shagana Doyle, also took to TikTok about the pamphlets and the group’s presence at the parade and added that she’d be taking the matter to local leaders.
@shagisabadword like I am genuinely baffled. And Cbs is trying to lie in this news article saying that children were not provided these cards, but I know parents who said in their buckets the KKK cards were inside of them.
these cards were passed to children. And Facebook is trying to make it seem like this is not bad of a situation because they were not targeting children. THE KKK should not be walking in a Halloween parade at all
Residents were furious after learning about the recruitment efforts.
“Come drop it on my doorstep. Meet me in person and see what the **** happens,” one Mechanicsburg resident said.
“Who, why, are you kidding me? Don’t ever come around here, your kind ain’t welcome. You’re not welcome on my street. Please do not show your face here,” another neighbor added.
The Mechanicsburg Chamber of Commerce, which hosted the event, confirmed that no staffers or organizers were involved in the distribution of the card.
The town mayor and members of the Mechanicsburg Borough Council issued a joint statement a week after the parade, condemning the “reported distribution of hate-based literature” at what was supposed to be a family-friendly and inclusive event.
“We want to state clearly and without reservation that any message or organization promoting racism, intimidation or discrimination stands in direct opposition to the values of our community,” the statement read. “Our community is founded on the principle that all individuals are created equal and we strive to foster an environment of love, inclusion, and mutual respect. We celebrate the rich diversity of our residents and endeavor to ensure that everyone in our community feels safe, valued, and welcome.”
Residents who packed the council meeting to make their concerns known questioned why the individuals involved have not been cited or arrested.
“This is not a civil organization,” one resident said. “And the FBI has repeatedly said that these type of occurrences where propaganda has been introduced into communities is the first step and intimidation and violence shortly after that.”
Law enforcement has said that no laws were broken, and borough council members stressed that any arrests would be a violation of constitutional rights and could expose the town to lawsuits.