'Appalling' Halloween Float Mars Pennsylvania Parade

Critics say float showing shackled Kamala Harris evoked racist Jim Crow-era lynchings, slavery
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 2, 2024 11:00 AM CDT

A Halloween parade in Pennsylvania this week was meant to inject a little bit of fun into a tense election season—but instead, one float that got political has now sparked an outcry over its "racist and offensive" content, per the Hill. Videos and photos from the event Wednesday in Mount Pleasant show a float featuring a sniper rifle and a person wearing a Donald Trump mask standing in a small vehicle, with a woman resembling Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump's competition for the Oval Office, tethered to the back of the vehicle with her hands in ropes or chains and accompanied by people dressed as Secret Service agents.

  • Instant recoiling: "I was shocked and took out my phone to record a video," parade attendee Ashley Frailey tells the Washington Post, adding that she said to the Harris impersonator: "I can't believe you agreed to do this." Frailey and other critics say the depiction of a shackled Harris "evoked America's shameful slavery and Jim Crow-era lynchings," per the Post.

  • Mayor: Diane Bailey, the Democratic mayor of Mount Pleasant, was similarly repulsed. "It was a hateful and racist thing, and I just can't tell you how worked up I get when I talk about it," she tells the New York Times. Bailey says it's not clear who created the float.
  • NAACP: "This appalling portrayal goes beyond the realm of Halloween satire or free expression," Daylon Davis, head of the Pittsburgh branch of the NAACP, said in a statement. "It is a harmful symbol that evokes a painful history of violence, oppression, and racism that Black and Brown communities have long endured here in America."
  • State House speaker: Democratic Rep. Joanna McClinton, who serves as the state House's speaker, was another prominent name who slammed the float: "I'm horrified by the disgusting display of hate at this week's Halloween parade in Mount Pleasant. Depicting Vice President Harris in chains at the hands of her opponent is grounded symbolism from our country's painful past."
  • Apology No. 1: The Mount Pleasant Volunteer Fire Department, which has sponsored the parade for 70-plus years, says there'd been no vetting of the parade floats, as they'd never had any incidents in the past. "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," the fire department notes in a statement. "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."
  • Apology No. 2: "To say that the display was appalling and caused concern ... is an understatement," the Mount Pleasant Borough of Pennsylvania said in its own statement. "Please know that this type of display is not condoned or acceptable" by the borough or the fire department, "now or ever."
(More Kamala Harris stories.)

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