South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley announced in February the co-chairs of her statewide grassroots re-election steering committee. Included on the steering committee is, Roan Garcia-Quintana a Tea Party activist who serves at the same on the board of the largest white nationalist organization in the country, the Council of Conservative Citizens—the lineal descendant of the Jim Crow-era white Citizens Councils.
Garcia-Quintana is one among 164 co-chairs. South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Chad Connelly called them a “great group of men and women.” Haley’s campaign website announcement describes Garcia-Quintana, a resident of Mauldin, in Greene County, as simply a “Republican leader.” The facts show, however, that Roan Garcia-Quintana is not just a Republican.
IREHR first exposed the activities of Roan Garcia-Quintana in 2010 with the release of Tea Party Nationalism: A Critical Examination of the Tea Party Movement and the Size, Scope, and Focus of its National Factions.
The Cuba-born activist is involved in several local Tea Party groups. He is registered as member on the Patriot Action Network (ResistNet) Tea Party faction website. He also runs a group called the Americans Have Had Enough Coalition, and served as “advisor and media spokesman” for the 2010 Tax Day Tea Party rally in Greenville, South Carolina.
Garcia-Quintana is also engaged in the anti-immigrant movement in South Carolina. In April, he attended the annual “Hold their Feet to the Fire” event in Washington DC held by the anti-immigrant group, the Federation for American Immigration Reform. Further, nativist firebrand former Congressman Tom Tancredo is listed as an honorary chairman of Garcia-Quintana’s Americans Have Had Enough Coalition.
In addition to his Tea Party activities, in 2009 Garcia-Quintana joined the National Board of Directors of the Council of Conservative Citizens (CofCC). As noted above, this organization is the direct lineal descendant of the white Citizens Councils that fought to defend Jim Crow segregation during the 1950s and 1960s. Today, the Council of Conservative Citizens promotes the idea that the United States is, or should be, a white Christian nation. In this rendering, Barack Obama and black people generally oppress white people. As a board member, it should be expected that he helps set the policy and direction for the Council.
This photo (right) shows Garcia-Quintana at the 2009 CofCC board meeting in Nashville. In July 2011, Garcia-Quintana was a featured speaker at a CofCC regional event in Greenville, South Carolina, alongside CofCC President Tom Dover and Virginia activist Louis T. March.
The Council of Conservative Citizens holds its annual conference near Winston-Salem, North Carolina in two weeks. It is not yet known if Garcia-Quintana will be in attendance.
