Video posted online showed a group of people in white robes and hoods walking through a residential street in El Paso, Texas, according to The Daily Mail. At least eight individuals appeared in the footage, and reports indicated many of them were young people or teenagers. The person recording the clip could be heard laughing as the group moved along the sidewalk. The recorder told the group, “Y’all gotta yell something, güey,” using a Spanish term similar to “dude.” After a short countdown, the group shouted the N-word and then laughed. When the person filming said to keep yelling it, the group started chanting the word while continuing down the street. The video began spreading across social media on Sunday. The exact timing of the recording was not clear. The individuals were headed to a Halloween party on the Eastside of El Paso, according to El Paso Matters. On Monday, the El Paso Police Department said on Facebook that the group, which it described as “reportedly [included] young people,” may have violated disorderly conduct laws and other applicable offenses. Police Chief Peter Pacillas stated that free expression has limits when it crosses into conduct that threatens public order or the safety of others. He said symbols and language associated with the KKK represented a “history of terror, violence and racial hatred” and had “no place” in El Paso. City leaders and local groups respond to the video Pacillas added that treating that history as a costume or a joke is unacceptable and contrary to the values of respect and safety that define El Paso. He said the department remained committed to protecting every resident, regardless of background, and to maintaining the safety and dignity of neighborhoods. Police indicated they were reviewing the available information. No identities had been released publicly. Mayor Renard Johnson, the city’s first Black mayor, said Tuesday he was deeply disappointed and disturbed by the actions of these individuals. “Hate is not a costume, racism is not a joke, and our community deserves better,” Johnson said, according to Chron. He continued, “We are better than this, El Paso.” Carl B. Dwyer Jr., president of the El Paso branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, spoke at a press conference on Monday and said the incident hurt. “We’re calling on all of the superintendents, all of the school districts, please, speak up,” Dwyer said, according to NBC News. “Please, do something about this.” School responses to similar incidents have drawn strong reactions elsewhere, as New York classmates walked out over punishment for teens who chanted a slur. Artie C. Maxwell Jr., pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church in El Paso, also addressed the press conference. He noted that people may think that it is a joke, but it’s not a joke when it comes to the lives that have come before us. He added that many have died at the hands of those who have worn those costumes. Jackie Butler, El Paso County Commissioner for Precinct 1, said it was important to recognize that actions have consequences and accountability matters. “We cannot dismiss or minimize actions that evoke this history, particularly when they threaten the sense of safety, dignity, and belonging that every resident deserves,” she wrote Monday on Instagram. U.S. Representative Veronica Escobar, a Democrat from Texas, said reports of teenagers wearing Ku Klux Klan regalia and allegedly shouting racial slurs in the community are deeply disturbing and unacceptable. “No one should have to fear being targeted or harassed because of who they are or what they look like and no El Pasoan is too young to understand that racism has no place in our community,” Escobar posted Sunday on Facebook. Texas State Senator Cesar Blanco, also a Democrat, said he was extremely disappointed and disturbed by what happened. “We must never turn a blind eye to racism or allow hate and intimidation to become normalized in our communities or anywhere in our country,” Blanco stated on Facebook. Texas schools have also faced scrutiny over discrimination, including a Hispanic 6-year-old excluded from graduation in a separate case. Local pastor Michael Grady described the costumes as learned behavior. “We’re not born with hatred,” Grady told KTSM. “We’re not born with divisiveness. And so this learned behavior is because of what I believe the climate is in the nation.”