A white Kansas county official is under fire for telling a Black woman during a hearing that he is a member of the “master race.”
Calls are growing for Leavenworth County Commissioner Louis Klemp to resign, after he made the racist remarks during an official hearing over which he was presiding. The woman, who does not want to be identified, was making a presentation to the county for a landscape and architectural firm.
“I don’t want to think I’m picking on you because we’re part of the master race,” Klemp told the woman, according to KCTV 5. “You know you got a gap in your teeth you’re the master. Don’t ever forget that.”
Klemp was appointed to his position by local Republicans. His two fellow commissioners have called on him to resign.
“What’s this master race,” Commissioner Bob Holland says. “None of us are master race. We’re all American and we’re all human beings.”
“I think he is a racist myself. I do,” Holland adds. “I think he owes an apology to that woman. I think he owes and apology to the whole commission and the county.”
“In the best interest of the county, he should resign,” County Commissioner Doug Smith also said, as The Leavenworth Times reports.
During another hearing one year ago Commissioner Klemp called Confederate General Robert E. Lee, a traitor to the United States of America, a “wonderful part of history.” He also revealed his great-grandfather “had a slave.”
The County Commission has announced it will hold a special meeting tonight to address the issue:
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