Washington (CNN) - Organizers of Wednesday's 50th anniversary March on Washington did not invite the nation's only African-American senator to speak at the civil rights commemoration, his office said, a sign of the complicated politics of racial equality.
Republican Tim Scott of South Carolina was appointed to the position in January, is currently the only black senator and is one of only eight African-Americans to ever serve in the U.S. Senate.
"Senator Scott was not invited to speak at the event," his press secretary, Greg Blair, told CNN in a statement about the 50th anniversary gathering in Washington. Blair would not say if Scott would have accepted an invitation to speak, nor if he was disappointed at the lack of an invite.
"Today's anniversary should simply serve as an opportunity to reflect upon how their actions moved our country forward in a remarkable way," Blair demurred.
March organizers responded that they invited every member of Congress to attend the event, but anniversary spokesman Sarah Coppersmith told CNN she did not know whether Scott was invited to give remarks.
President Barack Obama was the prime speaker at the Lincoln Memorial event Wednesday, heading up a list that skewed Democratic, including Reps. Donna Edwards, D-Maryland, and Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, former Democratic presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton and the leaders of two major unions.
Some others at the podium, including Oprah Winfrey and actor Jamie Foxx, came from outside of politics.