A group of parents in Arizona say that they're offended by a local high school's production of "The Foreigner" because it features students in Ku Klux Klan robes -- despite the fact that the play itself is a caustic satire of racism.
ABC 15 Arizona reports that parents were upset that the school didn't warn parents that characters in the play would be wearing Klan robes, even though the KKK is ruthlessly mocked and ridiculed in the script.
"We can talk about racial prejudice, we can talk about the insensitivity, but to have our children put on the robes and assume the characters, it's wrong," one parent who wished to remain anonymous told ABC 15 Arizona. "There is no justification for it."
A spokesperson for ASU Preparatory Academy, the school that performed the play, apologized to parents who were shocked or offended, but defended the school's decision to stage the play.
"The play portrays an image of members of Klansmen in a brief scene toward the end in which they are made fun of and driven away," the spokesperson explained. "We apologize if anyone was caught by surprise with the appearance of these characters. We are confident that a fair reading of the text of the play, and a fair interpretation of the intentions of students who performed it, reveals no endorsement of bigotry."
Watch ABC 15's report on the play below.
