SC Sen. Glenn McConnell Defends Wearing Civil War Uniform in Photo

South Carolina Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell says there's nothing wrong with a photo of him that's getting a lot of attention nationwide. It was taken last week at a Republican women's conference in Charleston.

In the photo, he's wearing a Civil War uniform and on either side of him are African-Americans in period costumes.

When Michelle Gayton of Columbia saw the picture, she thought, "It was really disturbing to see him dressed up in that attire and have two blacks dressed up like slaves."

But Sen. McConnell says he was asked to arrange reenactors for the conference to talk about different parts of the state's history and culture. The two African-Americans are Gullah/Geechee reenactors who keep alive that culture by sharing it with others. The program also included a part on the state's official dance, The Shag.

"The reenactors that were there, of which I was one, all portrayed historical roles, as did the Geechee-Gullah singers," Sen. McConnell says.

"I don't think it had anything to do with race. Those performers are professional performers and they're preserving a culture. The reenactors are preserving history. It is what it is. We cannot go around sanitizing history or making it into what we want it to be."

But South Carolina NAACP president Dr. Lonnie Randolph says the photo is just another embarrassment for the state in the eyes of people around the nation.

He says, “I’ve gotten calls from all over the United States. ‘Here we go again. South Carolina again.’”

He says even though all three people in the photo may be friends who see nothing wrong with it, the state's focus on the Confederacy seems to celebrate a time in history during which blacks were enslaved.

“There’s a way to celebrate the life and the Gullah culture without associating it with the Confederacy and I don’t think the two should be intertwined,” he says.

But not everyone agrees. James Brown, an African-American from Columbia, says of the photo, "I don't see any racial tone. He's wearing a uniform, a Confederate uniform, but I don't see anything wrong with it."

And Wayne Fields, who's white, says, "To read any more into it than just a picture, I just wouldn't go there."

But the fact that the photo is getting so much attention shows that the image is disturbing to a lot of people.

Randolph says you wouldn't see a Democratic Party event include Confederate reenactors at all, especially next to African-Americans in costumes from the 1800s.

South Carolina Republican Party spokesman Joel Sawyer says, “Chairman (Karen) Floyd did not attend this event, and as such can’t comment on the context of this photo. That being said, our Party is very much committed to gender and racial diversity, and I think our record of candidate recruitment this cycle speaks for itself.”

The party's nominee for governor is Nikki Haley, a woman of Indian descent and its candidate for Congress in the 1st Congressional District is Tim Scott, who's black.

As for what the rest of the country thinks of the photo, Sen. McConnell says, "I think the message that goes out to America is that we are a people who share our history and respect it and are very geared toward inclusion."