College Art Show With KKK Robes Too Disturbing For Public

YORK, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania college has barred the public from seeing a provocative art exhibition on slavery, white supremacy and racist violence against blacks, deeming it "potentially disturbing."

The touring "Rewind" exhibition opened at York College in August, a few weeks after the deadly violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The show includes a display of mannequins dressed in colorful KKK-style robes, images of lynchings and artwork that deals with recent police shootings of unarmed blacks.

York officials say they decided to limit attendance to people with college IDs and invited guests because the images are "potentially disturbing to some," especially without the benefit of the "intended educational context of the exhibit."

The artist, Paul Rucker of Baltimore, says the private college missed an opportunity to start a dialogue about race relations.

Last year, an art gallery at Salem State University in Massachusetts was temporarily closed, after a digital print of Klansmen appeared in a student art exhibit.

Follow @CBSBaltimore on Twitter and like WJZ-TV | CBS Baltimore on Facebook

(© Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)