Shocking video shows a white woman dressed as Vice President Kamala Harris chained to a vehicle filled with others dressed as Secret Service members and former President Donald Trump.
According to reports, the video stemmed from an annual Halloween parade in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania sponsored by the volunteer fire department.
The vehicle in question was a float participating in the parade. Video shows a woman in a Harris-style suit shackled to the back of the vehicle. Inside the float, one person was wearing a Trump mask while other people dressed as Secret Service members surrounded him.
A Trump flag and a fake sniper rifle were placed on top of the float.
Video of the incident sparked widespread backlash among the community and social media.
“This is not a good look, this is simulating a lynching down Main Street in Mount Pleasant. It is not the community I grew up in, not the community I came back to,” parade attendee Josh Huff said. “It was dark. It was dark. This has been escalated way beyond what it should be.”
Mount Pleasant Mayor Diane Bailey (D) said it's unclear how the float got approved. Bailey said she's meeting with the borough manager and council president.
“The worst part of it was that there was either a rope or a chain attached to the back of the vehicle, and there was a woman who was to resemble Kamala Harris in handcuffs and chained to the back of the vehicle as though they were dragging her,” Bailey said in a statement.
The Mount Pleasant Volunteer Fire Department, who sponsored the parade, apologized for the incident in the following statement.
“We, the members of the Mount Pleasant Volunteer Fire Department, want to take a moment to sincerely apologize for allowing the offensive participants to take part in the Mount Pleasant Annual Halloween Parade last evening. We do not share in the values represented by those participants and we understand how it may have hurt or offended members of our community. We’re proud to have sponsored this parade for over 70 years and its goal has always been to support our community’s children. We are committed to learning from this experience and ensuring that our future events celebrate the diversity and spirit of our community in a positive way.
The annual Halloween Parade is a first come, first serve event and we have traditionally only provided safety & traffic control. We will be reviewing our planning processes to prevent a situation like this from happening again. Thank you for your understanding and support as we work to make our events more welcoming for everyone.”
Watch video of the Trump float here.
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