A Kansas county commissioner has come under fire after he used the term “master race” while lecturing an African American consultant at a meeting this past week. Louis Klemp, commissioner of Leavenworth county, was criticizing Triveece Penelton’s land development plans on Tuesday, November 13th when he said, “I don’t want you to think I’m picking on you because we’re part of the master race. You know you’ve got a gap in your teeth. You’re the master race. Don’t ever forget that,” based on a video recording of the meeting.
The reference to a term so highly distinguished in Nazism and racism has left many criticizing him, including Kansas governor Jeff Colyer. In a public statement, Colyer said, “Racial and discriminative language have no place in our society, and most especially when spoken by someone holding a public office.” Along with being called out by the governor, mayor of Leavenworth, referred to Klemp as “an embarrassment” and is pushing for him to resign.
This is not the first time that Klemp has discussed tasteless and inappropriate subjects in a public forum. Klemp once began a monologue saying that his great-great-great grandfather had owned a slave and that many prominent slave-owners do not have holidays recognizing them. Attempting to prove his point, Klemp noted how there was holiday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., but not George Washington. Klemp has also explicitly said that confederate commander, Robert E. Lee, is “a wonderful part of history,” according to the NY Times.
Due to the racial tensions in America, it is unfortunately not surprising that a white civil servant would make such vulgar public comments. In the beginning of 2018, President Donald Trump referred to Haiti, El Salvador, and African countries as “sh*thole countries” and questioned why people are migrating from these countries to the United States. Despite many public officials and celebrities reprimanding Trump, his comments, like many others that are racist and extremist, were swept under the rug without any punishment. It is important that as United States citizens we hold our representatives accountable for their actions and words and do not let them get away with bigotry, racism, and misogyny.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/17/us/kansas-official-master-race.html
http://www.tonganoxiemirror.com/news/2017/oct/11/klemp-back-leavenworth-county-commission-appointme/