NAACP "Border Patrols" Gather In Rain

Spartanburg Herald-Journal | 03Mar02 | Debra G. Lester

[leadpenny]

By Debra G. Lester

NAACP protests against the Confederate battle flag were shortened by bone-chilling, wind-driven rain Saturday at welcome centers on I-26 in Landrum and I-85 in Blacksburg.

The silent protests were the first of the ?border patrols? organized by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

During the first hour, Michael Leroy Crocker, 43, was arrested at a Spartanburg rest area and charged with having expired automobile tags and unlawfully carrying a weapon, State Law Enforcement Division Chief Robert Stewart said. Crocker had a permit to carry a concealed weapon, Stewart said, but the gun was found in his car.

Crocker was a counterprotester and did not threaten anyone with the gun, Stewart said.

NAACP members gathered at eight of South Carolina?s nine welcome centers, skipping one on I-95 in Santee.

In Landrum, about a dozen NAACP members of all ages held bright yellow signs lettered in blue reading ?NAACP says Your Heritage = My Slavery? and ?NAACP says Don?t Stop Don?t Shop Until the Flag Drops.?

?You know we?re dedicated when we?re out on a day like this,? said Kent Clore, a member of the Columbia branch and the only white person participating in the Landrum protest.

Clore said he was there because ?you?ve got a long way to go in South Carolina? to end racial discrimination.

Protesters did not approach tourists, but offered them literature and answered questions for them. The literature gives the history of economic sanctions against the state, which began in 1999.

The flag was removed from atop the Capitol dome in Columbia on July 1, 2000, and placed on a 30-foot flagpole on the Statehouse lawn. The NAACP wants it placed in a museum.

?The NAACP encourages its members, allies and all freedom-loving citizens of the United States to stay out of South Carolina until the boycott is over. No hotels, no restaurants, no tourism,? the literature says.

While stopped at the Landrum center, Robert Long of Mill Spring, N.C., was saddened by the protest.

?I think they need to select projects that would be more beneficial to the state rather than wasting time beating a dead horse,? Long said. ?A lot could be accomplished if they would direct their energies to something positive for South Carolina.?

Site coordinators for both the Landrum and Blacksburg protests were from other states. Jim Wiggins, executive director of the North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, led protesters in Landrum. Mary Peeler of the Atlanta chapter was site coordinator in Blacksburg.

Local leaders were at the sites as well. Michael Moton, president of the Spartanburg branch, and the Rev. Otis Bomar, president of the West Spartanburg branch, were in Landrum, and Bernard Smith, president of the Cherokee County branch, was in Blacksburg.

After the site coordinators led news conferences announcing their objective, lawyers directed volunteers in bright yellow NAACP rain slickers where to stand so that a large banner reading ?NAACP says don?t stop, don?t shop in South Carolina? would be visible from the interstate.

S.C. Attorney General Charlie Condon has said he will take action against the NAACP for the border patrols and expects to announce what that action will be as early as this week.

?We have only asked the leadership of the NAACP to obey the law,? Condon, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor. ?Now that they have chosen to ignore that advice, we will take appropriate and responsible action.?

As Peeler and other protesters in Blacksburg packed away their literature after less than 90 minutes of protest, he said, ?We believe it?s our constitutional right to protest. It?s part of freedom of speech.?

A ?significant presence of law enforcement,? including Highway Patrol troopers and agents from the State Law Enforcement Division, FBI and the Department of Natural Resources, ensured that the protests were without incident, Edmonds said.

Officers were even stationed in the woods around the center in Landrum.

The NAACP will announce when it plans to hold another border patrol, Peeler said.

[leadpenny]

Spartanburg Herald-Journal

[Rustynailww]

. "Crocker had a permit to carry a concealed weapon, Stewart said, but the gun was found in his car."....????

[leadpenny]

I saw that too. I'm curious as to how an expired car tag gets your car searched?

[No Truce With Kings]

I take this protest as a positive sign. It illustrates how racial relations in this country have improved to the point that the NAACP has plenty of time and energy to waste on trivia.

[toddst]

. "Crocker had a permit to carry a concealed weapon, Stewart said, but the gun was found in his car."....????

This makes no sense whatever. Isn't South Carolina concealed-carry law inclusive of a gun being in your car but not on your person? Strange.

I am assuming the police determined this person had a gun but simply didn't want any guns in the area. I wonder how many of the NAACP folks were armed? Did the police check all the protesters?

[riverrunner]

I guess that it would of been legal for him to carry it. But it was a dangerous weapon sitting in the care all by it lonesome. Just waiting to jump out by its self and shoot someone. Maybe SC has some stuip law saying to can't leave a weapon in your car.

[SW6906]

I got my concealed carry permit here in WA state precisely so that I could have my gun on my person or in my car without worrying about being illegal. Otherwise, whenever I transported it, it had to be unloaded, disassembled, and out-of-reach of the driver with the ammunition in a separate container.

I wonder what prompted the police to come down on this guy and how did an expired tag result in a car search?

[sinclair]

Did the police check all the protesters?

I doubt it.  The protesters were "Colored-People" and they have rights ya know! And don't give me any crap about being racist about calling them "colored".  That is what they call themselves.  If you don't believe me go back and read the article.  That is where you will find this paragraph:  The silent protests were the first of the ?border patrols? organized by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

[gunnedah]

If the naacp is allowed to do this then every other organiztion in the state should be. All rest ares use to have signs not allowing solicitation!I wonder how many of the naacp participants vehicles were searched?

[leadpenny]

Good point. I think the NAACP decided in the 60's or 70's not to change the abbreviation. Otherwise they would have had to keep up with Colored People to Negro, Negro to Black, Black to African-American, and whatever comes next.

[gunnedah]

This was a PC move to show this country is well under government control.Whites no longer have rights. This is Stewarts way of telling you you cant counter protest and he is affraid of the Black Caucus in SC.When the rest of you awaken it may be too late.I guess Stewart is saying the man must have his gun on him and by the way I dont believe it is illegal in South Carolina to carry a gun in you glove box or console and did they see this man drive the car,were the tags expired for more than 30days which is also I believe the law in SC(grace period)and was search incidental to arrest?Regardless man will pay an attorney to protect his rights and Stewart will now take his right to carry a gun away from him. Watch out for big brother America! Zeig Heil!

[johnny7]

They all come in by bus.

[gunnedah]

This was a PC move to show this country is well under government control.Whites no longer have rights. This is Stewarts way of telling you you cant counter protest and he is affraid of the Black Caucus in SC.When the rest of you awaken it may be too late.I guess Stewart is saying the man must have his gun on him and by the way I dont believe it is illegal in South Carolina to carry a gun in you glove box or console and did they see this man drive the car,was the tags expired for more than 30days which is also I believe the law in SC(grace period)and was search incidental to arrest?

[Ard Ri]

Perhaps the answer is that the one searched agreed to allowing a car search to take place. I would certainly think that without 'due cause', the search officer did indeed need to ask for permission first. As to the concealed carry permit, it is my understanding that having such a permit does not negate your personal responsibility to have the weapon under your direct control at all times. So, having the permit in one location, and the weapon in another could very well have been viewed to be a violation of that clause. As to the 'Border Patrols' taking place, and the reasoning behind it, let me offer this. What I have done to protest myself and my family being exposed to such nonsense, I have decided that I will no longer take my vacations in S.C., opting, rather to vacation in North Carolina on their Outer Banks. I have notified the South Carolina State Legislature of my intentions, and am asking every other person who golfs, visits or vacations in South Carolina do look elsewhere until the Govt. of South Carolina gets the message that it is OUR vacation dollars that they will lose UNTIL they get a serious handle on such nonsense and forbid visitors to their State from having to feel threatened .

[D. Miles]

Expired tag could lead to reading the VIN number to see if the car matched the expired tag or if the car was stolen. besides if your driving a tagless car to a protest, if I were the officer, I'd be wondering what other laws you were breaking. Maybe the car was unlocked and the officer felt the gun in an unlocked car was a danger?

[gonavy]

I left SC in 1999, but I believe that one can have a loaded handgun in the glove compartment without a permit/license, assuming they can legally own a firearm. So, being "busted" for having a gun in the car while having a permit is wrong.

[yoe]

The NAACP does more to promote racial discrimination than any other organization. These people flatter themselves making believe the Confederate Flag was about them. It was about the army of the South; people of all color fought under it and for it. I doubt most of these protesters know even a little bit about the history of that war or of their state. They are programmed to spew today's hate speech and wreck the economy of the state where they live and work.

The NAACP is a tax-exempt group and a political arm of the DNC. Trying to hurt the economy of South Carolina does not seem like a tax-exempt program to me.

[RushLake]

Good Point although I think the silent "liberal" as in "NAALCP" should be emphasized as well. I wonder if these colored people are displaying the flag of the United States while performing their "civic duty", or are they only displaying the hateful red, black, and green coloredhyphenamerican flag?

[WIMom]

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