South Carolina governor appointed white supremacist to steering committee

The Southern Poverty Law Center on Wednesday accused South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley of appointing a white supremacist to her steering committee.

In February, the Republican governor announced she had formed the committee to explore her re-election options. Roan Garcia-Quintana of Greenville was listed as one of the 164 co-chairs.

The Anti-Defamation League has described Garcia-Quintana as a "white supremacist" and "a well-known leader" in the Coun­cil of Con­ser­v­a­tive Cit­i­zens.

The group openly opposes the immi­gra­tion of "non-European and non-Western peo­ples into the United States" and condemns "all efforts to mix the races of mankind." The Council of Conservative Citizens also believes the United States should not tolerate "sexual licentiousness, homosexuality and other perversions, mixture of the races, pornography in all forms, and subversion of the authority of parents."

The NAACP described the Council of Conservative Citizens as "the largest white nationalist group in the country and direct descendant of the white Citizens Councils that fought to defend Jim Crow segregation during the 1950s and 1960s."

Though Garcia-Quintana is himself a Cuban immigrant, he has claimed to be purely of European descent.

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[Image via Mary Austin, Creative Commons licensed]