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Confederate flag casts shadow over inaugural King Day in South Carolina

marchers
Marchers honored Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and protested against the Confederate flag flying on the capital grounds  

In this story:

'Not the people's compromise'

Continued boycott urged

RELATED STORIES, SITES icon



By Steve Nettleton
CNN Interactive Correspondent

COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) -- Amid shouts of "Fire it up!" and refrains of "We will overcome," South Carolina for the first time recognized Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday as a state holiday on Monday, but the divisive question of what to do with the Confederate battle flag flying on state grounds loomed above the ceremonies.

A crowd of at least 3,000, according to the Columbia Police Department, marched through downtown streets from a park to the Statehouse, some carrying yellow banners reading, "It's not about heritage," and "South Carolina suffers from the Confederacy of the mind." Others held paper replicas of the Confederate flag, with eye-holes drawn on the face of a white star, creating the image of a hooded Ku Klux Klansman.

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As civil rights activists and religious leaders addressed the crowd from the Statehouse steps, the Confederate battle emblem hung from a fenced-off flagpole next to a monument commemorating Confederate war dead a few feet away.

The flag was removed in July 2000 from the Statehouse dome, where it had flown for 38 years, and placed near the memorial following months of protests and a tourism boycott of the state led by the NAACP.

Protesters at Monday's march said putting the flag by the monument, where it is clearly visible from the streets in front of the Capitol, had added "insult to injury."

"They took it down from the dome and put it in our face," said Frank Young, of Orangeburg, South Carolina. "Everything behind that flag was hate."

'Not the people's compromise'

The NAACP wants the flag to be taken down from state grounds. The only state property where it belongs, some activists said, is in a history museum.

"The political compromise is not the people's compromise," said South Carolina NAACP President James Gallman. "If it was in the right place, you wouldn't need a fence around it."

Defenders of the flag say it represents South Carolina history, not racism.

"They're not going to be satisfied until every vestige of that flag has been removed," said Roger Horme Davenport, of the Save Our Flag foundation. "That flag is a powerful symbol of resistance to tyranny. They have taken it down off the Statehouse, but thousands more have sprung up across the countryside."

Flag supporters had staged their own rally the previous week. There were no confrontations during Monday's rally.

Continued boycott urged

The march drew only a fraction of the more than 50,000 that packed the Statehouse grounds last year. Many were saddened by the small turnout.

flag
The Confederate flag, removed from the dome of the Statehouse last year, now waves on the grounds of that building in Columbia, South Carolina  

"It's a very beautiful day, and I'm a little disappointed that they didn't come out because this is the first year, as you know, that South Carolina recognizes Martin Luther King's holiday, so I was hoping that more people would come out and show their strength," said Barbara Williams.

Despite the low numbers, the NAACP said it was determined to press on with economic sanctions against South Carolina, and it urged demonstrators not to vacation in popular seaside destinations such as Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head.

"The goal that the NAACP had set of moving the flag from all positions of sovereignty still has not been met, so we're continuing the efforts. We're continuing the economic sanctions," said NAACP state Conference of Branches director Dwight James.

The Confederate flag has become a highly debated issue in other Southern states, most notably in Mississippi and Georgia. Mississippi voters will consider a referendum in April on whether to continue using the current state flag, which includes the Confederate battle emblem. Civil rights leaders in Georgia are pressing state legislators not to fly any state flag with the Confederate symbol.



RELATED STORIES:
Boycott threat rises in Georgia over Confederate emblem on flag
January 8, 2001
Hundreds protest as Confederate battle flag comes down in South Carolina
July 1, 2000
Gore swipes at Bush over hate crimes legislation, Confederate battle flag
May 9, 2000
Business booms for Confederate flag company
May 4, 2000

RELATED SITES:
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
South Carolina Heritage Coalition
State of Georgia
About the Mississippi State Flag
About the Georgia State Flag

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