Students at a Wisconsin high school say a statue of a ghost riding a horse evokes the Ku Klux Klan and want it removed.
The “Galloping Ghost” is the mascot of Kaukauna High School in Kaukauna, Wisconsin, and a bronze statue of a horse riding phantasm has adorned the campus grounds since 2000.
But in January, a group of students asked the local school board to remove the statue, saying it conjures historical imagery of the Ku Klux Klan, even if it isn’t meant to.
“Sure, history can be explained, but first impressions are always most important, so the first impression of the Kaukauna High School should be that of the accepting and welcoming community that it truly is,” a student wrote to the board, according to the Appleton Post-Crescent.
DC PRESCHOOLERS TOLD TO REJECT COLORBLINDNESS IN ‘ANTI-RACISM FIGHT CLUB’
Comparisons of the statue to the Ku Klux Klan date back 22 years to when the statue was erected outside the front doors of the school.
The district is reportedly planning on making a final decision on the statue’s fate by the end of June, but removing it entirely is not under consideration.
The district could elect to keep it in its current location and erect a sign that says “Welcome to the Home of the Galloping Ghosts,” move the statue to a less public part of the campus, or keep the status quo.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The statue’s artist, Jim Hopfensperger, died in 2019. A local newspaper quoted the artist in 2000 defending the statue from similar accusations of KKK imagery.
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s a galloping ghost,” Hopfensberger said at the time. “I mean, how far do we throw this political correctness thing?”
