A white county commissioner in the US state of Kansas claimed he belonged to “the master race” during a presentation by black city planner, local sources report.
According to The Kansas City Star, Leavenworth County Commissioner Louis Klemp “cited the Nazi ideology of Aryan supremacy” as Triveece Penelton presented a land-use proposal regarding road development near Kansas City.
As he critiqued the plan, Klemp told Penelton: “I don’t want you to think I’m picking on you because we’re part of the master race.”
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However, he added “you know you got a gap in your teeth, you’re the master” and later insisted that his comment was a joke, and had meant that he and Penelton were both part of the “master race” because they had gaps in their teeth.
His comments were nevertheless condemned by Bob Holland, another county commissioner, as racist and irrelevant to the agenda.
“What’s this master race?” Holland said, according to KCTV. “None of us are master race. We’re all American and we’re all human beings.”
“I was shocked. I was in disbelief. He should resign. We shouldn't be labeled as Leavenworth County, the racist county. That's the way I feel we are being labelled,” he added.
This is not the first time Klemp has been accused of racism. In December last year, he made controversial remarks about Confederate general Robert E. Lee, calling him a “wonderful part of history”, and has previously referred to his own family’s slave-holding past.