Posted on 01/13/2002 7:44:43 AM PST by shuckmaster
The NAACP will begin posting "border patrols" at various entryways into South Carolina within 30 days urging tourists not to stop in the Palmetto State, the civil rights group said Saturday.
"The border patrol is our way of standing at the Georgia and North Carolina borders (and asking) that you not stop, not stay in hotels, and don't buy gas" in South Carolina, said Nelson B. Rivers III, NAACP national field director. "Or better still, that you turn around."
The initiative is part of a plan the group unveiled Saturday to turn up the heat on state leaders in 2002 to completely remove the Confederate flag from the State House grounds.
Tourism officials reached Saturday expressed concern the action could hurt the state's economy, already laboring through a recession.
Rivers said the group will hold a third annual rally at the State House on Jan. 21, in part to protest the flag. The NAACP also will launch a national campaign that uses billboards, flyers, bumper stickers and television to discourage tourism in the state.
South Carolina has been the target of economic sanctions against tourism - at $9 billion a year, the state's largest industry - since 1999. Then, the NAACP began increasing pressure on the Legislature to take the Confederate emblem off the State House.
In what they said was a compromise, lawmakers removed the flag from the atop the State House, and from the Senate and House chambers in July 2000. At the same time, however, they raised a Confederate flag on a pole on the State House's front lawn.
In 1999-2000, tourism officials said the sanctions cost Columbia, Charleston, Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head $10 million in lost revenues. Since the compromise, the impact of the sanctions has waned, those officials have said.
'DISAPPOINTED IN THE DECISION'
However, tourism officials Saturday expressed concern about the NAACP's new plans.
"At Parks, Recreation and Tourism, we're disappointed in the decision to take these further actions," said Marion Edmonds, a spokesman for the state tourism department.
"We felt that the Legislature's decision to take the Confederate flag off the dome and out of the Senate and House chambers was a good-faith effort to resolve the issue."
Edmonds said he was unsure of the impact the new NAACP actions might have. "These are actions that have not been taken before in South Carolina, to my knowledge. We don't know what to expect."
Others expressed concern the actions could hurt the state's economy during a recession.
Tom Sponseller, president of the Hospitality Association of South Carolina, said, "Anything that can hamper tourism, especially in a time like this, could have a severe impact on the overall economy."
Ashby Ward, president of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, said: "Right now, I'm angry. It borders on the ridiculous. The legislators from all walks of life settled on this situation in Columbia, and I realize nobody's happy, but it is a compromise. This issue should just be past."
Ward added: "It seems ridiculous in this kind of economy, with the nation focused on this war on terrorism - to drag something from the past out like this is beyond my comprehension."
Spokespersons for Gov. Jim Hodges did not return calls Saturday. House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, also could not be reached.
S.C. Attorney General Charlie Condon said the civil rights group's plan breaks the law.
"It's an illegal secondary boycott and so on behalf of the state of South Carolina I'm going to be looking into the possibility of bringing a lawsuit against them for monetary damages," Condon said.
In explaining the border patrols, Rivers said NAACP personnel periodically would be stationed at various South Carolina entrances, "with protection," to let travelers know that sanctions are still in place.
Rivers said he will spread the message that economic sanctions are still in place against South Carolina as he delivers speeches across the country over the next 45 days about black history.
"The NAACP has made up its mind," Rivers said at a monthly meeting of the state NAACP in Columbia. "We will not stop until the Confederate flag has been put where it should be - out of sight, out of mind."
The NAACP also has been urging athletes and entertainers to avoid coming to South Carolina. The group said it will continue that effort with fresh energy this year and in years to come.
State NAACP head James Gallman called on national religious leaders, meeting planners, performers, artists, athletes and others to avoid South Carolina. He also asked S.C. residents to honor the boycott by taking their vacations outside the state.
When they attempted neighborhood intergration in BROOKLYN, NEW YORK in the mid-60s, an organization formed called SPONGE (Society for the Prevention of N--gers Getting Everything. Pesonally, I find whiny white people as annoying as the NAACP.
Amen! If you are SICK of that scene, then Isle of Palms (near Charleston) is a GREAT change-of-pace. On one my first journeys to South Carolina, 'commonsense' recommended I try Isle of Palms...I can't thank her enough! I have been several times since, and I will doing so again several times this summer...can't wait!
Downtown Greenville is charming, but can get boring after two visits. My sister promises to take me to the confederate museum next time I visit.
They were given more than they deserved and now that's not enough.
Screw them,"Put the flag Back Up !"
To the NAACCCP I say,"Quit being racists and start being Americans!"
It is still in the planning stages. I believe CS has picked out the dates.
When MLK was greeted with Fireworks and Bricks when marching through a Lithuanian-American neighborhood in Chicago, he stated that he had never seen such a violent counter-protest in the south. As a New Yorker, (albeit one born in 1976), I know from friends and relatives that integration of neighborhoods (particularly the Italian enclaves) did have many a bang in the 1960s when integration was attempted.
.....one of two things.....
.....either they havn't been here long enouf to know where to go.....
.....or they're yankees and none of the locals will let'em in on it.....
.....just teazin.....
.....we are kinda home-bodies down here.....
.....family values and stuff.....
Try a little-known beach nestled between Vero Beach and Melbourne on the east coast called Sebastian. Just south of the inlet where all the tourists go, I guarantee you could skinny dip in the winter and no one would see you.
We moved up to Atlanta (ugh!!!) from there three years ago and I miss it so badly......
Nothing says the Sons of Confederate Veterans can't hold "Welcome to SC, Home of Confederate Heritage" displays or demos at the SC borders -- right across the parking lot from the Klan with a Tan!
This statement from the article shows the liberal bias of that rag called "The State." The flag on the "front lawn" is the same flag flying from the Confederate Soldiers Memorial. The same flag agreed to in the compromise. You wouldn't know that from reading the article. The NAACP is a bunch of back stabbers, aided and abetted by the largest newspaper in SC.
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