Ku Klux Klan leader calls immigrant journalist a mongrel, threatens to ‘burn’ her

The reporter said that after the KKK leader realised a person of colour is the interviewer, he turned to another crew member and said, “You brought this n***** to my house!”

A Ku Klux Klan leader in the North Carolina state threatened a Hispanic journalist and called her a mongrel during an interview last week.

KKK leader Chris Barker during the interview with Ilia Calderon. (Screengrab)

Univision, Spanish language broadcaster, had last week arranged an interview with Chris Barker who heads a KKK branch called the ‘Loyal White Knights. Barker’s official title in the group is the ‘Grand Dragon’, Univision said.

Univision anchor Ilia Calderon said that after Barker realised a person of colour is the interviewer, he turned to another crew member and said, “You brought this n***** to my house!”

Calderon explains in the article that the interview was like walking into a lion’s den and there was “hatred and bewilderment” in Barker’s eyes. Univision said Barker was informed in advance that a woman of Hispanic-origin would be interviewing him.

Screengrab of the Univision article.

During the interview, Barker threatened Calderon -- an immigrant -- and asked her why she doesn’t “go back”.

“No, we’re going to burn you out,” Barker said bluntly, prompting his wife to jump in.

“I’ve been here over 20 years and we’ve never had a black person or whatever you want to call yourself, you’re a mongrel to me,” Barker added.

The Univision anchor held her ground through the interview, asking Barker questions about KKK and telling him it was offensive to call her a n*****.

Barker was reportedly on probation for involvement in a knife attack against one of the members of his KKK group but the charge was later dropped, the Univision report said.

A brief video posted of the interview received flak on social media websites. One Facebook user said, “Univision was wrong for using this reporter as a pawn to spark his hatred.” Another opinion catered to the ‘fake news’ accusations, saying: “There goes fake hateful news again. Trying to divide.”

The incident comes close on the heels of violence in Charlottesville, Virignia, when white supremacists, KKK leaders and neo Nazis held a march in the city to ‘Unite the Right’. A woman was killed as a white nationalist plowed his car into counter protesters at the march site.