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.
I have about a four hour drive to the South Carolina border, but if they do this, I'll drive down and see what they have to say. Asking them where they're from will be my first question. The second will be why they want to do this in February when there's no tourist traffic aimed at South Carolina.
Well, then, what would you say about a (black) rapper who called himself Johnny Reb, dressed in gray, and decorated his set with Confederate flags?
LOL. (Just a thought.)
You would think that the NAACP would concentrate on education, trying to help young black people to go to college rather than to jail, to help them reject the drug trade, stop the teen pregnancies and grow up with a purpose and with pride. Instead they put their money and what political clout they have into something stupid, like this.
Carolyn
Why do I know that I will not like the answer?
Aren't you curious what the actual quote in parenthesis was? "threatening"? "warning"? "telling"? "telling Jesse"?
That's a good summary. South Florida is overdeveloped, with most beach property either privately owned or public but overcrowded. Miami beaches are notoriously dirty, crowded, and overrated. There are some exceptions but you have to look around to find them. One trick is to find a decent beach hotel out of season, when rates are low, and enjoy the hotel's semi-private beach area.
Do you have a sign on the rear window of your car denoting you are a freeper? Last fall my wife and I were making our annual trip for the same purpose and I saw a car w/ a freeper sign in the window. I wasn't driving and couldn't get the drivers attention. I have wanted to find out who it was.
I've now got the yearning to visit Maurice's BBQ. Think I'll plan that one.
I lived through the second half of the 20th Century in America, and I understand your point of view...
But I have a different one.
We've been through changes and faced challenges that have (in other climes) triggered civilization destroying civil wars in lesser peoples.
Arguably the most outrageous thing we've endured during these strange and tumultuous decades was the (almost antiseptic) assassination of a head of state.
By American standards, that was fairly hard cheese. By the standards of human history that was a day at the beach.
Yes..These people seem like morons but over the past twenty years they have twited the arm of government and received plenty of free stuff...Just like they did in the old days when they came to the kitchen door of the ante-bellum mansions for handouts.
Arrogant, in-your-face action has won them such things as affirmative action (read racial preference), grade inflation, and much, much more.
Guests from Hell: The NAACP's Shakedown of the Hospitality Industry
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