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KKK items pulled from Taylorstown auction after controversy

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A sign sits outside an auction at Taylorstown fire station Thursday.

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A KKK hood that was listed on the auction website.

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A 78-rpm record that was included in the auction items

Ku Klux Klan items set to be auctioned Thursday night in Taylorstown were pulled from an auction website as of early Thursday after the advertisement for the auction set off criticism.

The Associated Press reported early Thursday that auctioneer Randy Shook, of Shook Auctions, pulled the items from the sale.

The advertisement for the auction, which included a KKK hood, robe adornment, record and book, drew widespread attention – much of it critical – on social media and attracted media reports before WTAE-TV first reported late Wednesday the items had been pulled.

Shook declined comment Wednesday and did not immediately respond to messages from the Observer-Reporter seeking comment Thursday.

Missy Illig was visiting a friend when a newspaper advertisement caught her eye. The ad, for an upcoming auction, featured items like a Washington Buggy Co. tin sign, grandfather clock and Malcolm Parcell ink sketching. But, it was the fifth item on the list that really grabbed her attention.

“I’m going to be 44 (years old) Friday, and in my lifetime, I’ve never seen anything like that being advertised. Not in my 44 years,” said the Canonsburg resident. “It shocks me.”

The ad, in the Observer-Reporter’s classified section, listed a “KKK hood” and “other KKK items” available at an auction Thursday in Taylorstown fire hall.

“My jaw dropped. I was just flabbergasted,” Illig said.

Illig posted a photo of the listing to Facebook, where comments continue to pour in.

Some Facebook users expressed disgust and said the items should be burned instead of sold. Some said they didn’t understand why people were upset, because the items are a piece of American history.

“It’s scary. People say it’s for collectors,” Illig said. “In my opinion, that’s like saying they’re going to auction off a murderer’s gun. … Who in their right mind would want to buy that?”

When he saw the ad, North Strabane resident Matt Spicer contacted the Observer-Reporter and Hog Fathers BBQ, which was listed in the ad as providing lunch.

“I was pretty offended by that, wondering why that would be put in the paper as a selling point,” Spicer said.

Spicer, who is biracial, said comments about the items “being a part of our history” bother him.

“I don’t need to see that stuff to remind me,” he said. “Is it history or is it reality, because it’s still happening. Let’s face reality, there are people out there who support that. I get freedom of speech, but hate is hate. … If you hate, you’re wrong.”

Matt Miller, Observer-Reporter vice president and chief revenue officer, said the ad should not have run and that the KKK items were removed from the listing in the online edition as soon as he was made aware of it.

“It was a mistake. We should have caught it,” he said.

Miller said ads that could be considered inappropriate by readers, such as those for strip clubs, aren’t published.

“You know it when you see it,” he said. “It’s not illegal, but we just choose not to … run those types of ads.”

Miller said the newspaper has implemented a policy so that similar ads don’t run in the future.

Nicholas Martin, who grew up in Eighty Four and now lives in the state of California, said the auction underlines persistent racism in the region.

“I think this is like the elephant in the community in Western Pennsylvania,” said Martin. “If this was at Sotheby’s, and a collection of a noted African-American civil rights activist, you’d probably look at this in a different light. But I’m going to make a leap that this is someone’s grandfather’s or father’s hood. It’s someone who felt comfortable to own that. I just don’t see any good, plausible reason any nonracist white person who understands our history and the oppression of black people would be OK with that.”

The ad states the auction includes items from two local estates.

Hog Fathers manager Scott Humphries said restaurant owner Frank Puskarich decided not to sell food during the auction.

“We are not doing the auction tomorrow,” Humphries said. “We talked to some employees. It was their stance that they didn’t feel comfortable with it.”

When contacted later, Puskarich said, “We weren’t aware of what was in that auction. We were just fulfilling a contract just like any other auction we do.”

The most recent documented instances of KKK members gathering in the region include rallies on May 12, 2001, at Greene County Courthouse, on June 19, 1999, at Washington County Courthouse, and at a November 1997 march held by the NAACP in Claysville.

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