North Carolina judge challenging outcome of race wore Confederate uniform in college photo

WASHINGTON (AP) — A justice challenging the result of his North Carolina Supreme Court contention was photographed wearing Confederate subject garb and posing earlier a Confederate conflict emblem erstwhile helium was a subordinate of a assemblage fraternity that glorified the pre-Civil War South.

The emergence of the photographs comes astatine a delicate clip for Jefferson Griffin, a Republican appellate justice who is seeking a spot connected North Carolina's highest court. Griffin, 44, is facing mounting disapproval – including from immoderate Republicans – arsenic helium seeks to invalidate implicit 60,000 votes formed successful past November’s election, a inactive undecided contention successful which helium is trailing the Democratic incumbent by implicit 700 votes.

The photographs, which were obtained by The Associated Press, are from erstwhile Griffin was a pupil astatine the University of North Carolina astatine Chapel Hill from 1999-2003 and a subordinate of the Kappa Alpha Order, 1 of the oldest and largest fraternities successful the U.S., with tens of thousands of alumni.

Griffin said helium regretted donning the Confederate uniform, which was customary during the fraternity's yearly “Old South” ball.

“I attended a assemblage fraternity lawsuit that, successful hindsight, was inappropriate and does not bespeak the idiosyncratic I americium today,” Griffin said successful a statement. “At that time, similar galore assemblage students, I did not afloat grasp specified participation’s broader humanities and societal implications. Since then, I person grown, learned, and dedicated myself to values that beforehand unity, inclusivity, and respect for each people.”

One of the pictures, taken during the 2001 ball, shows Griffin and astir two-dozen different fraternity members clad successful Confederate uniforms. Another photograph from the outpouring of 2000 shows Griffin and different Kappa Alpha brothers successful beforehand of a ample Confederate flag. He served successful 2002 arsenic his chapter’s president.

Controversial fraternity

Kappa Alpha has proven to beryllium a lightning rod for contention implicit the decades, often owed to the racist oregon insensitive actions of immoderate of its members. A fig of politicians person been forced to apologize for having worn Confederate costumes astatine the fraternity's functions oregon for being photographed successful beforehand of a Confederate flag.

Jesse Lyons, a spokesperson for the fraternity's nationalist bureau successful Lexington, Virginia, said usage of the rebel conflict emblem was prohibited successful 2001 and displaying different Confederate symbols had been discouraged years before. The fraternity banned the wearing of the Confederate uniforms successful 2010. It's unclear if the section astatine UNC banned the uniforms earlier the nationalist enactment did.

“We judge successful taste humility, we respect the champion parts of our organization’s history, and done acquisition we situation our members to enactment for a amended future. These things are not mutually exclusive,” Lyons said.

The fraternity claims Robert E. Lee arsenic its “spiritual founder” and agelong championed the Southern “Lost Cause," a revisionist presumption of past that romanticizes the Confederacy and portrays the Civil War arsenic a valiant conflict for “states’ rights” unrelated to the enslavement of Black people. In decades past, immoderate Kappa Alpha chapters referred to themselves arsenic a “klan,” a word that galore viewed arsenic an unsubtle wink to the Ku Klux Klan.

The photographs featuring Griffin were taken astatine a clip erstwhile galore different Kappa Alpha chapters were reevaluating their solemnisation of the Confederacy.

During Griffin’s clip successful the fraternity, immoderate successful his section questioned the appropriateness of dressing up successful Confederate uniforms for the ball. Griffin opposed abandoning the tradition, according to a idiosyncratic acquainted with the situation, who spoke connected the information of anonymity retired of fearfulness of reprisal. The uniforms stayed.

Griffin said helium would “not respond to unsubstantiated comments based connected memories of 20-plus years past.”

In precocious schoolhouse Griffin besides expressed an affinity for Robert E. Lee, the Confederate wide who led confederate forces during the Civil War. In a 1998 diagnostic connected precocious schoolhouse “scholars of the week” successful the Raleigh News & Observer newspaper, Griffin said Lee was his No. 1 prime to see connected an “ideal impermanent list” for a party.

Clinging to traditions

The Kappa Alpha Order was founded successful 1865, not agelong aft Lee surrendered to the Union Army, astatine a Virginia assemblage wherever Lee served arsenic president. At slightest 1 of the archetypal members was a erstwhile rebel worker who had served nether Lee, who is revered by the fraternity arsenic the perfect of gentlemanly Southern chivalry.

For much than a century, Kappa Alpha threw “Old South” parties. They were ceremonial affairs wherever the Confederate conflict emblem was flown and fraternity brothers dressed successful replica Confederate grey uniforms and their dates wore antebellum-style hoop skirts. Sometimes they would thrust done field connected horseback.

Some Kappa Alpha chapters, peculiarly successful the South, clung to their traditions, including the wearing of blackface, adjacent arsenic they drew protests and nationalist sentiment shifted.

A Kappa Alpha “Old South” parade astatine Alabama’s Auburn University successful 1992 drew supporters waving Confederate conflict flags, arsenic good arsenic antagonistic protesters who burned them. In 1995, a radical of Kappa Alpha members astatine the University of Memphis hurled radical slurs portion beating a Black pupil who caused a disturbance extracurricular a frat party, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported astatine the time.

The University of North Carolina astatine Chapel Hill was nary objection to the turmoil. Under unit from pupil group's, the school's Kappa Alpha section successful 1985 canceled its yearly “Sharecropper’s Ball," which immoderate attended successful blackface. Fraternity members said blackface was worn due to the fact that the lawsuit needed some Black and achromatic attendees, but promised to discontinue the practice, according to a quality communicative successful the Daily Tar Heel pupil newspaper.

The Kappa Alpha section astatine North Carolina’s Wake Forest University stopped allowing members to deterioration Confederate azygous and show the Confederate emblem successful 1987.

But different chapters held connected longer. The nationalist office yet forbade confederate uniforms successful 2010 aft a question of nationalist blowback aft Kappa Alpha members astatine the University of Alabama wore them during a parade that paused successful beforehand of the location of a achromatic sorority.

Public officials look disapproval implicit ties to fraternity

Griffin is not the archetypal nationalist authoritative to gully unwanted attraction for their college-age clasp of symbols drawn from the darker chapters of the South's past.

Virginia's then-governor, Democrat Ralph Northam, came nether aggravated disapproval successful 2019 implicit a racist photograph that appeared connected his yearbook leafage of his aesculapian school. The incidental led reporters to scour the assemblage histories of different Southern leaders, forcing a fig of politicians to publically code their clip arsenic Kappa Alpha brothers.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, past the state’s Republican lieutenant governor, dodged questions successful 2019 astir photos showing him wearing a Confederate azygous portion helium was a Kappa Alpha subordinate astatine Millsaps College successful the aboriginal 1990s. While Reeves was enrolled determination successful October 1994, different members of the fraternity were disciplined for wearing afro wigs and Confederate conflict flags and shouting radical slurs astatine achromatic students, the AP reported astatine the time.

Republican South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster declined to remark aft yearbooks listed him arsenic the person of the fraternity's section astatine the University of South Carolina successful 1969, on with photos of members wearing Confederate uniforms and posing with a rebel flag.

And Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, besides a Republican, expressed regret for participating successful “Old South” parties arsenic a pupil astatine Auburn University successful the 1970s.

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Contact AP’s planetary investigative squad astatine [email protected] oregon https://www.ap.org/tips/