KKK leader threatens to ‘burn’ Latina journalist, the first black person on his property
The Washington Post reports on an interesting media interaction. Christopher Barker, a leader of a Ku Klux Klan chapter in North Carolina, agreed to meet for an interview at his home late last month with Ilia Calderón, a Colombian news anchor for Univision based in Miami. He was told the interview would be conducted by a Hispanic “woman of color.”
But when Barker saw Calderón step out of a car and onto his property near Yanceyville, N.C., the KKK leader appeared taken aback, according to Calderón and her producer, María Martínez-Guzmán. He had expected someone like the rest of the predominately Hispanic, lighter-skinned news crew, they said.
But Calderón is black. Barker told her she was the first black person to step on his land in his 20 years of living there.
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.
Univision planned the interview with Barker and his wife, Amanda Barker, months in advance to provide viewers with an up-close look into a white supremacist’s views, Calderón told The Washington Post.
KJ