Posted on 02/12/2002 1:38:20 PM PST by aomagrat
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Dismissing threats of a lawsuit, NAACP leaders said Tuesday they will move ahead with planned "border patrols" against South Carolina to urge people not to spend tourism dollars in the state.
The protests at rest stops and welcome centers, which could begin as early as this month, are part of the NAACP's ongoing economic boycott over the state's display of the Confederate flag on the Statehouse grounds.
South Carolina NAACP executive director Dwight James told about 100 people at lunch meeting that he is not fazed by Attorney General Charlie Condon's promise to take the group to court.
"We've been through other threats of intimidation. We're going to press on until we reach the prize," James said.
Condon has said the protests are illegal because their aim is to harm someone else's business. He also argued that a welcome center is a nonpublic forum reserved for greeting visitors and it would be unlawful to use it to discourage tourism.
Speaking Tuesday in Mount Pleasant, Condon said he was optimistic leaders of the state NAACP will abandon the plans because the group's overall membership doesn't support them. He cited members of the Legislative Black Caucus who oppose the protests.
Condon, himself running for governor, said he plans to contact members of the civil rights group, perhaps by getting a membership list and writing to them.
"I'm certain if their voices are heard they will overrule the leadership of the NAACP here in South Carolina," he said. "We need one South Carolina. We need a South Carolina that is united. We don't need a divisive fight over a meaningless issue."
The NAACP has boycotted the state since early 2000, unsatisfied with the Legislature's compromise to remove the flag from the Statehouse dome and place it at the Confederate soldier monument on another part of the grounds.
James said the NAACP won't stop until what he calls "the flag of hate, the flag of slavery" is removed from Statehouse grounds.
"The Confederate swastika belongs in the past," he said to cheers. "It belongs with the other relics."
James declined to give an exact starting date for the protests, although the group said previously they would be held in late February at spots along major highways such as interstates 77 and 95. Billboards and other methods will also be used to get the message out.
NAACP leaders have described the planned protests as "informational pickets," in which volunteers will hand out pamphlets to visitors.
The NAACP's legal advisers have told James that the "border patrols" will not be a disruption to motorists or business, and that members are well within their constitutional rights to protest at the welcome centers.
James also said he has no plans to seek a meeting with Condon.
"If he wants to meet with the NAACP he can meet with our attorneys," he said.
Franklin McCain, one of four black college freshmen who inspired sit-in movements across the South in the early 1960s when they refused to leave a segregated lunch counter in downtown Greensboro, N.C., was in the audience as James discussed the upcoming protests.
McCain said he understands that the "border patrols" will make some people feel uncomfortable.
"This organization is not about comfort," he said. "It's in the business of making people change through discomfort."
the REDSHIRTS are ready, willing & able to conteract this latest stupidity of the extremist,racist,race-baiting,hatefilled socialists of the naaLcp.
for SC & dixie,sw
I'm just guessing but it is probably private property.
I will be prepared to counter all or their claims.
I will appreciate any other peaceful counter-protesters.
I truely hope they "patrol" there. That place was built on cheap cigarettes, gas, fireworks, and rubber dogs#it. They will not find a receptive audience.
it is what, kindly, can be called a YANKEE TRAP!
for dixie,sw
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.