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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Klansman and blackface at legion party rile public
CAMPBELLFORD, Ont. -- A small-town Ontario restaurant owner says he was "blown away" when a person in Ku Klux Klan robes leading a man in blackface by a rope was awarded first prize at a Royal Canadian Legion Halloween party.
"When I saw it and put down my beer and left and was walking out -- I never felt as alone as I have in my life," Mark Andrade said of the troubling spectacle he witnessed at a Campbellford, Ont., legion on Saturday night.
Andrade, who is black, said he arrived at the legion for a beer with friends at about 11:30 p.m.
"I had a swig, turned around and they were doing the parade of the costumes to pick the best," he said.
One person was dressed as a Klansman, with hood, a Confederate flag on their back and a rope in their hand.
"At the other end of that rope was a guy in blackface... with the noose around his neck," Andrade said.
The person dressed as a Klansman and the man in blackface won first prize, said Andrade. "I was blown away."
Andrade said it was his understanding the people in the offensive costumes were not legion members.
Legion officials in the eastern Ontario town, who could not be reached for comment, reportedly issued an apology Tuesday. Andrade said he called the legion to complain and the president "told me I was about the 400th call she'd received since Saturday night."
-- The Canadian Press
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 3, 2010 A11
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