Sussex County lawmaker defends photo with Confederate flag

A Sussex County lawmaker is defending a photo he shared on Facebook of himself and his wife standing by a Confederate flag.
Republican Assemblyman Parker Space and his wife, Jill, attended a Hank Williams Jr. concert Saturday in Bethel, New York. While at the concert they posed in front of a Confederate flag with Williams’ face on it. The flag also had the inscription, "If the South would've won, we would've had it made."
Space captioned the photo, "Tailgating waiting for Hank. Hope no one is offended! LOL."
"It was a picture of Hank Williams Jr. that he sold,” Space says. "There was never a Confederate soldier that went into battle with a picture of Hank Williams on their flag."
The Facebook post sparked outrage amongst his political opponents, who called it offensive, disrespectful and blatantly racist.
But Space says that his voting record, which includes "condemning bigotry and hatred" and "encouraging residents of New Jersey to treat one another civilly," shows he is not a racist.
"Heck, even my sister has a black wife and I got a couple nephew. They're my family. It's no different from anybody else,” Space says.
The assemblyman was the only New Jersey lawmaker who abstained from condemning the Confederate flag in 2015.
“I don’t believe it’s New Jersey’s business to stick our nose in another state’s business,” he says.
Space is the owner of Space Farms Zoo and Museum. He says that he’s part of the blue-collar working class and that they have their own ways and sense of humor. He says that those who are upset by his photo are taking it out of context.
"Houston, Texas, the natural disaster that went on there with this hurricane and they're worried about my wife and I at a Hank Jr. concert?” says Space.
The photo of the assemblyman and his wife is no longer viewable to the public on his personal Facebook page.