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work has been greeted with shock, he says kids "instantly get it" and want to know more about the pieces' symbolism and his artistic process. "They just dive into it," he adds. The connection to Sarasota came about when North Port Economic Development Director Allan Lane saw KKK in another city and sug- gested that Sarasota County Commissioner Carolyn Mason check it out. She immediately reached out to Sarasota County Sheriff Tom Knight, who quickly offered to pay to bring the exhibit — and Pate — here. Mason, Knight, County Commissioners Joe Barbetta and Christine Robinson, Sarasota Mayor Shannon Snyder and a host of arts and library leaders all attended a reception for Pate Tuesday evening, Jan. 28. Mason hosted the Q&A portion of the event, opening with a poem she wrote last summer. She called vio- lence a "cancer." "It has the ability to destroy what all of us and those before us worked so hard to create, this community called Sarasota," she told the audience. Mason tells The Sarasota News Leader she thinks artwork is an effective way to reach young people. She calls Pate's work "so pow- erful." She says the phrase about the KKK that so inspired Pate was not something she heard growing up in this area. "The Klan for Your History II by James Pate. Sarasota News Leader January 31, 2014 Page 84