Some are calling this year’s Lone Stranger costumes racist

The stated slogan of the Asphalt Cowboys, a local nonprofit dedicated to raising money for the Redding Rodeo, is “keeping Redding rodeo traditions alive.” Those traditions include the widely beloved rodeo week events, including a parade, street dancing and last weekend’s pancake breakfast in Redding — which was attended by thousands.

Another one of those traditions is the Lone Stranger event, an annual community scavenger hunt that involves well-known locals dressing up in costumes and carrying out a mock bank robbery. This year, the mock robbers were Karline Niver, the owner of two popular local restaurants, and Redding Police Chief Brian Barner.

Costumes worn in past years have included Scooby Doo and Winnie the Pooh, but this year’s get-ups took a different tone, upsetting some community members. Barner wore an afro wig and held a liquor bottle as a prop, obscuring his facial skin with a bandana, while Niver wore a mask depicting a brown-skinned man with a black mustache. 

While the event was covered by both the Record Searchlight and KRCR, neither made note of the controversial costumes. The community did. On a Redding Reddit thread, a picture of the two went viral, with many describing the costumes as racist. 

Community member Margaret Ramirez, who was made aware of the incident from Reddit, told Shasta Scout that an email she sent to Barner outlining her concerns has gone unanswered, as of May 21. 

“I felt angry that it was OK to dress up as stereotypes,” Ramirez told Shasta Scout. “This is 2026, and photos like this may seem harmless but they just allow creeping racism to show its ugly face.” 

The Asphalt Cowboys did not respond to Shasta Scout’s request for comment, but Barner called Ramirez and other community members’ reactions “unfortunate,” saying the purpose of the costumes was to obscure his and Niver’s appearance “in the same manner done in years past.” 

Niver told Shasta Scout that she chose the different elements of the costume, including the mask, out of a tote bag that was provided to her by the Asphalt Cowboys when she arrived at the event. She recalled selecting the mask and clothes because they were some of the only items that fit her small frame, and she did not perceive their appearance as racialized until it was pointed out to her afterward. 

“I’m very sorry, and it makes me very sad that it came across that way,” she said, adding that she’s already approached the Asphalt Cowboys about getting new costumes. 

Prefacing his remarks with the generally supportive comment that the Lone Stranger game is a “great tradition,” a spokesperson from the Shasta Equal Justice Coalition weighed in on the costumes, writing by email that “it appears that two City leaders chose to wear costumes that reinforce harmful racial stereotypes.” 

He added that situations like this call for an acknowledgment of harm and a commitment to repairing that harm and reducing biases.

The reinforcement of harmful racial bias through costuming, intentional or not, has a long history in the United States. One notable historical example is the tradition of minstrelsy, which the National Museum of African American History and Culture defines as “comedic performances of ‘blackness’ by whites in exaggerated costumes and make-up.” In fact, Jim Crow laws, which imposed segregation in the South, were named after a minstrel character from the 1930s.

In spite of the practice’s harmful effects, the museum points out, the negative stereotyping of Black culture has been a consistent presence in American pop culture from the time of Reconstruction to, many have argued, the present. 

---

Do you have a correction to share? Email us: editor@shastascout.org.