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.
Bet I saw you last Oct. We will be going again to get those Mutzu apples, yummy.
At least we know that the communists can't hit the broad side of a barn.
But if we don't buy gas, we'll be stuck there... forever!
Don't these NAACP guys realize that a boycott will hurt black-owned businesses more than white-owned businesses? (the kind of people who listen to what the NAACP says are the kind of people who go out of their way to frequent black establishments).
See my 237 if you want to really understand threats and intimidation by black "border" patrols.
To be clear I believe in civil rights and equality of opportunity for all. And I realize that there were severe inequities of opportunity for blacks as a whole at a time in our history. Moreover, truly there is no way I could begin to fathom the horrors of slavery and what those indentured folk endured. Course today, fortunately there are no blacks that can either. Yet there are still some blacks here who can recall and who have survived the inequities of opportunity. This no one can deny. And it is an unhealed wound which shadows our our existence as a whole society. A wound so severe and so dreadful that it may take centuries to heal...only time will tell.
As a southerner myself, the confederate flag means nothing to me at this juncture. When I grew up in SC I pledged allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and then went on to prove my allegiance with service in the Marine Corps 69-73...and there were blacks there with me then doing the same thing. So there is no dispute concerning their allegiance as a whole. So if they want this damn confederate flag removed because it reminds them of slavery, then I say remove the G-D flag. The so called confederacy is dead...let it die and let's move on.
"Damnyankees" is one word. :)
There are multiple memorials on the Statehouse grounds, including the Civil Rights memorial which has carved into it, the likenesses of many famous black Americans from SC, including Jesse Jackson.
And who would "they" be?
Your "they"s don't seem to be referring to the same group. One "they" is the NAACP (the one that is protesting). Whose rap music is it, pray tell?
Only 60 mph? What's the matter? Did someone drop a cylinder?
I have made my decision. I will DEFINITELY be VACATIONING in SOUTH CAROLINA this year.
Any South Carolinians who would like to suggest vacation distinations, please do.
Yeah, they should have thought about that before they fired. :)
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