Man Wears KKK Hood To Grocery Store In San Diego

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has spoken out after a man was spotted wearing a white Klu Klux Klan hood at a Vons grocery store in Santee, California, on Saturday. A Vons spokeswoman told reporters that the man was repeatedly asked to either remove the hood or leave the store. He finally removed it at the insistence of a supervisor while in the checkout lane.

“San Diego is #NoPlaceForHate,” Tammy Gillies, ADL director for the San Diego region, said in a tweet.

Photos of the man, who has not been identified, appeared on social media following the incident. In at least one, he can be seen without the hood, appearing to be middle-aged and Caucasian.

Santee, a suburb of San Diego, has long struggled with its history of racism and racially motivated attacks. Sometimes called a hub for skinhead activity, the town has over the years earned nicknames like “Klantee” and “Santucky.”

“Many thanks to all who stepped forward to curtail this sad reminder of intolerance,” Santee Mayor John Minto said in a statement. “Santee, its leaders and I will not tolerate such behavior.”

“The images I’ve seen are abhorrent,” East San Diego County Supervisor Dianne Jacobs said about the incident. “This blatant racism has no place in Santee or any part of San Diego County. It is not who we are. It is not what we stand for and can’t be tolerated.”

A mandate is currently in effect for San Diego County which requires residents to wear face masks at public institutions, like stores, to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Johns Hopkins University reports that the county has seen over 3,900 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 139 deaths.