Tom Parker Responds

Republican Tom Parker has responded to the accusations regarding his association with groups the Southern Poverty Law Center labels "hate groups".

Parker admits distributing the miniature confederate flags at the funeral of the last Confederate widow in Alabama, but he says it was a matter of appreciating his southern heritage, not racism. "I think it is scurrilous politics trying to label me something that I'm not."

Parker says he has always appreciated Alabama's duel (sic) heritage, the Civil War and the Civil Rights movement. He also points to the many ways he says he helped with race relations from the time he was student body President at Lanier High School to now, when he says he organized a group of black and white ministers to improve their working relationship.