As a matter of fact; I do. (We're EVERYWHERE, after all! :-)
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.
As a matter of fact; I do. (We're EVERYWHERE, after all! :-)
Huh?
Translation, please.
Lake Ouachita?
As a kid, my grandad was an orphan in Edgefield SC. (Yep home of Strom.) At thirteen years of age he hitched a mule to wagon and headed for Columbia to build a life for himself. He told me it took him about a week. Right away he went to work for the Olympia Mill...and worked there in the same spinning room for 45 years. A "lint head" he was.
In the forties he thought better of living on the "mill hill" and bought a few acres in Eau Claire. He and my grandmother built their modest home themselves in their spare time. Then, they gave each of their children a portion of land to build their home on. But only my dad took them up on it. So on this land in Eau Claire is where I grew up.
In the mid sixties we had integration and we had white flight in our area. But we stayed on regardless because this was the property my grandad had dedicated his life too. Besides we weren't racists and felt more or less secluded and safe on our property. But our property had to be accessed by driving or walking if we took the bus thru what became a black community. I was constantly harassed by roving gangs of blacks. Sometimes they would block the road forcing me to turn around and to try to go home a little later...which I would do. But when their outgrageous and racist activities caused them to begin similar harassement to my teenaged sister and my two teenaged female cousins my grandad and grandmother were raising, my grandad and dad decided perhaps it was time we should move on and give it up...and so we did. It broke my grandads' heart to leave that place and he never recovered.
So yea, I have a little experience with these black border patrols already.
The charges will be based on the U.S. Constitution.
Arrest 'em and demand the FBI come and get'um.
Well, it may technically be in Atlantic Beach, but those people that are swarming all over North and South Myrtle Beach on two wheeled motorized vehicles on the same week look black to me.
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