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Illinois Company Sold Gum With KKK Tattoos Inside

Owners Say They'll Pull Inventory From Shelves

POSTED: 5:04 p.m. CDT June 12, 2003
UPDATED: 6:29 p.m. CDT June 12, 2003

A Michigan woman said she was shocked when she found a temporary tattoo depicting the Ku Klux Klan inside a pack of bubble gum (pictured).

Temporary Tattoo In Gum Pack"The images were unmistakable," Cindy Walker told NBC5's Phil Rogers. "He has a white hood, white robes, flames going up around him. You can pretty much tell it's the Klan."

Rogers said the little picture of a klansman was a temporary tattoo intended for children.

"It certainly shocked me," Walker said. "I never thought I'd see the day I'd see KKK tattoos in kids' bubble gum."

The gum carries labels for Jaffa Candy company of Bedford Park. The company is now known as Jenin Distributors.

"The company would not talk to us on camera," Rogers said. "In fact, they locked the door when we showed up."

A spokesman told Rogers that Jenin bought the company last year and that the klan tattoo candies were imported from Turkey by the previous company, Jaffa. Jenin said it was not aware of the Klan tattoos, it no longer sells the gum, and it is pulling any remaining inventory from store shelves.

"The previous company, Jaffa, might ring a bell," Rogers said. "We told you about the breakup of a huge methamphetamine ring, a massive Midwestern operation that allegedly shipped millions of pills through the Jaffa candy warehouse -- drugs that were en route to laboratories up and down the West coast."

The spokesperson for Jenin said it is not the same company as Jaffa and would never have marketed the Klan candies on its own.

In Grand Rapids, where the gum was discovered, local distributor Steve Valk said he was as shocked as everyone else.

"I don't sell anything that's ever offensive to people, dangerous to kids, or offensive in any way to any individual," Valk said.

NBC5.com News Page

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