Confederate Flag Supporters Rally to Put Banner Back on S.C. Statehouse

AP ^ | 1/19/02 | Jacob Jordan

[TomServo]

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - About 100 people rallied Saturday to defend the Confederate flag's display at the Statehouse and to counter anti-flag events planned on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Organizer Robert Clarkson says the Southern Rights Association's event was called, in part, to show their belief that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People randomly chose the flag to garner publicity.

"They need a cause," said Clarkson. "They went around looking and found the flag."

Clarkson said the Confederate flag isn't about racism, it's about heritage.

"It's not a political symbol to us," he said.

Many at the Statehouse wore Stars and Bars hats and carried large Confederate flags. A group of men in gray Confederate soldier grab toted rifles and some women donned 1800s hoop-style dresses.

One demonstrator brought his blunt message for the NAACP: keep out of South Carolina.

"Don't cross the border, stay on the other side," said Jerry Creech of the Southern Small Business Association. "We don't want you here."

The Confederate flag issue has divided the state since the Legislature decided to move the flag from the Statehouse dome to the Confederate soldier monument on the grounds in July 2000 as part of a compromise.

The NAACP has pressured lawmakers to completely remove the flag from Statehouse grounds. Their protest Monday is planned to honor the slain civil rights leader on his birthday.

An NAACP spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment about Saturday's rally.

The NAACP plans to stage "border patrols" along state lines, using signs to urge motorists not to stop, shop or stay in South Carolina. The patrols will start in late February and will be at all the major interstates and other highways entering the state.

[TomServo]

Dixie Ping!!!

[TomServo]

Couldn't forget you either!!

[gusfortyfiveseventy]

Just goes to show you how out of touch the naacp with its costituents. It makes no difference to the the average african american what flag flies on the state house or its grounds as long as naacp members focus on a nonissue they ensure that the money rolls in to fill its coffers.

The naacp does its credibility a dissservice to focus on something as benign as a flag. However the membership grows and people send money to keep the administrators in large salaries and fancy cars at the expense of the people they are supposed to be "advancing".

So where is the money going? Hey naacp care to open your ledgers to examination?

[Taft in '52]

I would like to wish all you Southern partisans a happy Robert E. Lee/Stonewall Jackson Day (January 19). Hang in there!

[shuckmaster]

Hooray For Dixie!

[Tigercap]

The Confederate flag issue has divided the state since the Legislature decided to move the flag from the Statehouse dome to the Confederate soldier monument on the grounds in July 2000 as part of a compromise.

Does it really "divide the state"?

I live in Michigan, so I don't know percentages or anything, but I bet only about 10% really care to bring the flag down.

[TomServo]

Since I don't have you're ping list, would you mind doing the honors, Sir?

[TomServo]

you're=your...sheesh...

[aomagrat]

Their protest Monday is planned to honor the slain civil rights leader on his birthday.

I wonder if the NAACP is going to break their own boycott by bussing in their rent-a-mob for their protest on Monday?

[JoeSixPack1]

The naacp has exposed, by forcing a vote by elected officals, which ones fear the naacp. I have yet to see a resignation submitted by any city official that has bowed to the heavy hand of the naacp and forfeited their right to represent their constiuents.

We got nothing but retarded wimps in office! (well, there's a couple good ones)

[shuckmaster]

Dixie ping!

[Colt .45]

GO SC Flag bearers !!! ... Hurrah for Dixie!

[stainlessbanner]

Hey Burt, care to comment why you posted a nazi flag comic on this thread? Was it a weak attempt to compare nazi germany to the CSA? I would love to hear this one....

[mrswasp69]

When the law was passed moving our beloved flag to its current location, we got several benefits. One of them was that our flags and monuments are now protected. I think we would be better served if our loyal southerners who are fighting the battles would concentrate on keeping our flag in the media in a positive light. Don't worry about moving it back to the statehouse. It is displayed prominently where it can be observed and honored. The relevant issue is our right to honor our heritage and the ancestors who fought to preserve it. Removing the flag from its current location back to the capital would be looked upon as an act of retaliation, not respect. The NAACP is engaging in a 2nd boycott illegally and I think the SC attorney general has plans to attempt to fix that little problem. In the mean time let's enjoy the peace we have while they keep those who would try to bring us down safely across our borders.

[stand watie]

the DIMocRATS and their kin in the naaLcp have little of MERIT to do these days.

as for ME, i LIKE where the battleflag is NOW! what i'd truly like to see is it flying again in both chambers of the statehouse.

for dixie,sw

[stand watie]

PONG!