Outrage followed the release of a video of a Halloween parade in Pennsylvania that appeared to show Vice President Kamala Harris strapped to a golf cart carrying a man wearing a mask of former President Donald Trump.
The car drove along a main street in Mount Pleasant, a city of about 4,000 residents 45 miles (72 kilometers) southeast of Pittsburgh. The event was organized by the local volunteer fire brigade.
In the video, a woman in a red suit walks slowly – and apparently tied up – behind the golf cart, which also has two men dressed as Secret Service agents and a man dressed as a sniper on board. What appeared to be a replica of an assault rifle is mounted on the hood of the vehicle, which has a Trump sign on the front.
Mount Pleasant Mayor Diane Bailey, a Democrat, told WPXI-TV, a local NBC affiliate, that she was “shocked” by the float and that it appeared “there was a rope or a chain on the back of the float fastened. vehicle.” Josh Huff, a man who attended the parade, said it appeared as if the float was “simulating a lynching.”
Bailey did not return a request for comment from NBC News.
In a statement on Facebook on Thursday evening, the Mount Pleasant Volunteer Fire Department apologized “for allowing the offending participants” into the parade.
“We do not share the values these participants represent, and we understand how this has hurt or offended members of our community,” the post said. The fire department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News or say who owned the float.
Michelle Milan McFall, chairwoman of the Westmoreland County Democratic Party, described the display as “despicable.”
“It’s heartbreaking. It’s worrying. And I think there’s an element of danger in it too. Again, we live in a climate where people don’t just think about hate and feel it in their guts and bones. They act on it. We need to lower the temperature,” McFall said.
Bill Bretz, chairman of the Westmoreland County Republican Committee, told WPXI-TV that the group does not condone “the simulation of political imprisonment or violence in any context.”
The Harris campaign did not immediately return a request for comment on the parade image.
In a statement, Daylon A. Davis, president of the Pittsburgh NAACP chapter, labeled the act “harmful” and racist.
“This horrific display goes beyond the realm of Halloween satire or free speech; it is a harmful symbol that evokes a painful history of violence, oppression and racism that black and brown communities here in America have long endured.”
“We urge event organizers and local leaders to implement clearer guidelines to prevent these types of hateful and hurtful displays in the future,” Davis said.
The fire brigade said on Facebook that it “traditionally only provided safety & traffic control” during the parade. “We will review our planning processes to prevent a situation like this from happening again.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
