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NAACP hopes primary will renew fight to remove Confederate flag
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| Contributor | The Sunset Provision |
| Last Edited | The Sunset Provision Jan 04, 2008 11:27am |
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| Category | News |
| Media | Newspaper - The State |
| News Date | Friday, January 4, 2008 05:20:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Leaders of the South Carolina NAACP will re-ignite their effort to remove the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds this month and hope the presence of two Democratic presidential front-runners adds weight to the annual rally.
Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are scheduled to attend the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday march and rally Jan. 21, just days before Democrats in this early primary state go to the polls. The NAACP hopes the candidates, and the national attention they'll bring, will spotlight the divisive flag that now flutters alongside one of the city's busiest streets.
"America is a mean country and South Carolina is a meaner state," said Lonnie Randolph, president of the state chapter of the NAACP. "For the government of this state to continue to endorse bigotry, racism and white supremacy, we are going to continue raise our voice and speak out against it."
The banner - a symbol of Southern pride to some and racism to others - was moved from the Capitol dome seven years ago to a Confederate monument in front of the Statehouse. While the rebel flag no longer draws the same level of protest that turned out thousands when it flew atop the dome, it still shadows presidential candidates when they come to South Carolina, which holds the first Southern primaries.
Candidates typically have similar, scripted answers that vary depending on their party affiliation. Clinton and Obama, like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, have called for the flag to be removed from the grounds completely. Both candidates have been courting black voters here, where nearly half of the state's Democratic primary voters are black.
The civil rights group also has urged a tourism boycott of South Carolina, though state officials said it has had little impact on the state's largest industry, which brings in about $15 billion a year. Just last month, two football teams from historically black universities outside of South Carolina p |
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