Kansas Official Tells Black Woman He's Member of the 'Master Race:' 'Don't Ever Forget That'
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A Kansas County commissioner is facing calls to apologize after telling a black woman that he is part of the “master race” during a routine public planning meeting.
The remark was made on Tuesday by Leavenworth County commissioner Louis Klemp, a white man, and seemingly directed at a woman presenting for an architecture firm. It has been branded as racist—and local media reported it was not the first time Klemp has sparked controversy.
“I don't want you to feel like I'm picking on you. Because we are part of the master race,” he said in this week's meeting. “You have a gap in your teeth. We are part of the master race, don’t you forget that.”
Bob Holland, another Leavenworth County commissioner, told KCTV5 that Klemp—who is reportedly due to leave his position on January 15 next year—should make an apology.
“What’s this master race?" Holland said on Wednesday. “None of us are a master race. We are all Americans, we are all human beings. I think he is a racist. I do. I think he owes an apology to that woman. I think he owes an apology to the whole commission. And the county.”
KSHB-TV reported that Klemp was not elected to his role as commissioner but appointed by the Republican committee after another member resigned due to ill health. When approached by the news outlet, Klemp claimed his comment was meant as a joke.
But Holland told KSHB-TV: “I'm ashamed of one of our commissioners and what he has done. We shouldn't be labeled as Leavenworth County, the racist county. That's the way I feel we are being labeled.” It was not the first time he had criticized his Leavenworth colleague.
Last year, Klemp made local headlines after comments he delivered regarding Robert E. Lee and George Washington in a routine meeting set to approve the county's holiday schedule.
“Not everybody does them all because we have Robert E. Lee...Oh God, Robert E. Lee, wonderful part of history,” the commissioner said, referring to the Confederate commander during the American Civil War.
Klemp said in the meeting that his great, great grandfather had owned a slave and claimed that George Washington would never be given a holiday because he owned slaves.
"If we're going to have Martin Luther King Day, why don't we have a George Washington? I think George was a pretty important guy," he said, before going on to ask if Oprah Winfrey would be given a holiday. Holland said at the time Klemp had “embarrassed” the county with this remarks.
“Mr. Klemp certainly embarrassed Leavenworth County to the extreme,” Holland stated. “I just believe that he embarrassed himself, his family and our Leavenworth County taxpayers.”
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Has this become normal?
Trump has legitimized this racist nonsense.
What calendar does this fascist dirtbag use because my calendar says that Presidents Day is February 18th.
maybe the new governor of that state can expedite the departure of this neo-nazi asswipe, since he was a political appointee
That's the kicker...he was placed in there by the Republicans and he had to do that more than once before they yanked him.
Klemp should have been fired and packing up his office within hours of making that stupid racist comment!
I'd love to see/hear that asshole tell that to Sharice Davids the new congresswoman from Kansas. LOL, a MMA professional.
She is exactly who I imagine a Trump supporter would be like
Always some lame excuse. It was a joke, taken out of context, etc.
One thing, people like him are usually dumb enough to out themselves.
The governor says that he must step down,
Deep breath, America. Deep breath.
Apparently, it's something of an inside joke , which explains why everyone in the room didn't lose their minds.
If you still don't get the joke, he's referring to a cosmetic flaw, and rather than be embarrassed about it says it's a sign of being a member of the master race. Furthermore, he is including the African American woman in this master race, so the suggestion that this is an insult directed at her is not true. He actually appears to be trying to be friendly with her.
It might not be very professional (or funny), but it apparently is not racist either. Unfortunately, our leftist media (of which Newsweek is a shining example) spend their days trying to find ways to attack people as racist rather than looking for ordinary people making jokes.
Brief clips with no context make it easy to destroy a person. This is the kind of reporting we get from the "professionals" at Newsweek, CNN, and the like. I can do better, and I'm just sitting on a couch in my living room.
There is a video of the entire meeting. The lady comes to the podium about 1 hour, 7 minutes in. He starts making the joke about 1 hour, 35 minutes in and she laughs at the joke , which he then explains. No one in the room objected to it, but it clearly wasn't intended to be racist. She then remains at the podium until about 2 hours, 7 minutes. If no one in the room was offended, I think the rest of America can relax.
Fascism is not a joke, except to other fascists.
Tell it to Mel Brooks. You may think the joke is in poor taste, and I might agree with you. But it's still a joke and not an attempt to assert some dominant racist position. That's the point.
The most important thing about this story - the allegation that he was expressing racist, nazi intent - is not true. But it would tear you in half to admit that, wouldn't it.
Mel Brooks is a satirist. This guy is a politician who you are trying to spin his fascism.
Even more important is that this is not his first "joke" as you call it. He was appointed by Republicans and it took a second "joke" before they yanked him.
Tells much.
Yeah, and plenty of people are offended by his sense of humor, too. Do you think he could make Blazing Saddles today? I don't. All the self-righteous leftists would be too horrified to laugh.
You literally know nothing about this guy except for this story and you have determined that he is a facist. And when presented with evidence that proves a non-racist context for the joke, you reject that evidence as irrelevant. All this tells me is that you're prioritizing being outraged at people. You would rather condemn people for being nazis rather than find out maybe you were mistaken about them.
Yes, that is actually is important. It proves his claim of it being a joke is true and not something he made up because he got some heat for it.
Who cares? Was everyone else in the room a nazi also? Because not one person - including the person it was directed at - thought it was a comment worthy of being insulted over.
His own party is telling him to step down.
As did his co-workers,
Why are you defending it when no one else is? Do you agree with his fascist comment?
I'm not offended by satire because I understand the goal of satire.
What is that supposed to prove? 8 days a week, you think Republicans are idiots, but now you think they're wise??
History has lessons for us. Do you not understand how the various inquisitions and witch scares worked? Or the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution, for that matter? People become so terrified of being accused, that they waste no opportunity to accuse others. It keeps the focus off of them. And you dare not speak up in defense of anyone because then you yourself will be labeled the heretic, or the racist, or the nazi. It takes courage and an open mind.
It's not my purpose to defend racism or nazis. If I thought this guy was genuinely a racist or a nazi, I would support calls for his resignation. But I don't go around assuming people are evil or looking for ways to condemn them, and genuine nazis are pretty rare.
So, the news comes out and says this guy is a nazi. Wouldn't it be wonderful if it turned out that it wasn't true? I think so, but no one wants to give anyone the benefit of the doubt anymore.
I'm not the only one defending his words as a joke. I offered links to that effect in my original comment. I'll repeat one here from the County Administrator:
Response to Commissioner Louis Klemp’s “Master Race” comment
I'm taking both men at their word as I know nothing else about them or how they live their lives. A real nazi would be proud of it, wouldn't he? What genuine nazi have you ever heard of who would include a black woman in his master race?
Can you understand the concept of people with embarrassing cosmetic flaws (or any physical characteristic outside the mainstream) pretending those "flaws" are actually signs of superiority?
Even the members of his own party aren't buying his claim of it being a joke because this has gone beyond what even his partisan allies are willing to defend. It's time for this fascist to step down and crawl back under his rock. This supposed joke might have been funny if it were between two white guys at a party but obviously, it is not, so he needs to apologize, admit that he made a horrific mistake and resign.
"But obviously" is not a compelling argument. I gave you evidence. All you have is your bias.
His co-workers and the governor have thrown this bigot under a bus and told him to resign, so I have to wonder why you continue to defend this bigot who makes Nazi jokes at work? [Removed]
This has been explained to you.
You have tried to defend this fascist, but his words are not defensible. He isn't a satirist.
Badfish, My argument was directly relevant to Tacos' previous reply. He might not like it but when he decides to defend people who make references to facism, then he needs to accept the consequences of that action. It is perfectly in line with the discussion to ask if he defends fascism. This isn't a First Amendment situation because Klemp is not being threatened with fines or jail for his speech.
I'd like for my reply to be restored.
Your comment wasn't even flagged, bf just removed it on his own.
That is a nice superpower to have. Can I edit replies that I don't like?
You can edit your own within a window of time
I haven't tried to defend anyone I think is a racist. I will not continue to debate someone who refuses to respond to what I actually write and instead engages in absurd personal attacks.
I often do that when I catch a typo within the time allotted.
This man is not a comedian or a satarist, so your attempt to spin it by comparing him to Mel Brook is a red herring. He is a low level political hack. There is no reason to defend him if you don't somehow agree with his racist views. His own co-workers and his party has told him to step down so why are you still defending him? If it was a tasteless joke gone bad his coworkers would be the first to know that.
His racist views are well known,
Not discussing any of his other rather strange uninformed ramblings, the sin he committed that is so terrible is using the term "master race," one of the terms the GOP is desperate to avoid association with, even when they seem to be following the same "master race" plans.
Somehow it has become "bad" to use the OTHER "N" word, (Nazi) in conversation, especially if you draw parallels between them and GOP tactics now. Anyway...
Back at the ranch, this guy said "we", not "I," and should have said something like "you know, those of us with gaps in our teeth are supposed to be a little smarter than average." Maybe, but at one time the gap in your teeth could mean you were touched by evil and get you killed or raised in a church too.
He was trying to be glib, lovable and humorous, but politicians seem to have lost the art.
It's a hard act when you don't really give a shit.
Yeah, they're not all disarming and clever. Especially at the local level. Nevertheless, I feel a lot like we, as a people, have lost much of our sense of humor. We used to be not nearly so threatened by these things.
Or maybe people aren't threatened at all, but like to tell themselves they are under assault by hate speech because they imagine it gives them the elite social status "enjoyed" by actual victims of discrimination.
I think you can observe that something is intended as a harmless, even well-intentioned joke. That doesn't make it an exceedingly funny joke by any means. Nor does it necessarily need to be in language we might condone. But it's still a joke and not a racist attack.