Protest March Marks Martin Luther King Day In South Carolina

[mistersandman]

Carrying signs that read "Don't stop until the flag drops" and "It's not about heritage," 1,000 people marched to the grounds of the state capitol building on Monday to protest the Confederate battle flag on the Capitol grounds.

The march was organized on Martin Luther King Jr. Day by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to protest the continuing commemoration of the Confederate role in the Civil War.

Organizers said it was also to protest the threat of state education budget cuts, a proposal for a state identification card and talk of stricter immigration laws in South Carolina.

Linda Pearson, 61, of Columbia said she was proud to march on Martin Luther King Day.

"I come every year and I usually try to bring my grandchildren. It's still all about the flag, really," she said.

The Confederate flag hung from a flagpole atop the Capitol building until 2000, when it was moved to a monument to Confederate dead elsewhere on the grounds. The flag was moved only after an NAACP economic boycott of the state.

Dr. Lonnie Randolph Jr., president of the South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, said the organization wants the flag completely removed from the grounds.

It also condemned South Carolina's ongoing commemoration of the sesquicentennial of the Civil War, which it views as celebrating slavery.

In December, the NAACP organized protest marches in Charleston around a "Secession Ball" that marked South Carolina's secession from the United States 150 years ago.

The ball was sponsored by the Sons of Confederate Veterans and featured period dress and the singing of "Dixie."

In an interview, Randolph said he was sure the United States would not allow a commemoration of the Wounded Knee incident in South Dakota, when Indians were killed by U.S. cavalry in December, 1890; or a party celebrating the dropping a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima; or a party celebrating the Holocaust in which millions of Jews died.

"They would not allow it and the NAACP is not going to allow South Carolina to do it," he said, referring to the state's commemorations of the Civil War.

South Carolina, in December 1860, was the first state to secede from the United States after the election of Abraham Lincoln, leading to the formation of the Confederacy.

The crowd listening to speeches after the march included the state's new attorney general, Alan Wilson, the son of Rep. Joe Wilson, Republican of South Carolina, who shocked a joint session of Congress in September, 2009, when he shouted "You lie!" at President Barack Obama as he spoke to Congress.

"I'm here to offer support as a private citizen," said Alan Wilson, also a Republican. "Our state has come a long way but we have a long way to go. We have got to look for common ground wherever we can."

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Comments

[farasha]

The Confederate flag is part of South Carolina's history. It no longer flies above the capitol building, but is attached to a memorial for Confederate soldiers, many of whom were never slave owners.

This part of the South's history is painful, the root cause of the Civil War was endemic racism and oppression - but that doesn't mean that we ignore the history. The flag is not flying over a Government building anymore, it's part of a historical memorial.

Get the flag removed because it wasn't actually the flag flown over the South Carolina regiment, not because you want to censor history.

[mistersandman]

I'm not from South Carolina, so feel free to take my opinions on the matter with a grain of salt.

It isn't a matter of censoring history--the worst thing anyone could do would be to suggest that the Civil War did not happen. Censoring history is glossing over the fact that America stole California and the American southwest from Mexico in a war of aggression, or how the American military engaged in torture and genocide in the Phillippines after promising to give Filipinos their independence. When we forget the democratic regimes we have directly overthrown in Iran and in Latin America, we censor history. Suggesting that the Civil War was not endemic racism and oppression, as some do, would be censoring history.

However, there is a wide range of berth between censoring history and celebrating it. Asking the government of South Carolina to remove a symbol of oppression from their property, to me, is not asking so much. People are welcome to memorials and museums and re-enactments. The Civil War was an important part of South Carolina's history, but why does it have to be an important part of South Carolina's government?

[farasha]

That's where I'm confused - I could swear that the article said that the flag was no longer being flown over the civic building, and rather had been moved to a memorial. So what you're saying is that it's acceptable to have the flag at a historical memorial, just not on civic grounds? That seems like splitting hairs to me.

I'm more annoyed at the fact that the stars and bars, what people commonly know as the Confederate flag, was not actually the official flag of the Confederate States of America. It was the regimental flag of what I believe was an Alabama regiment, so it has no place in South Carolina at all.

[mistersandman]

Here's a picture of the memorial. It's on the front steps of the South Carolina State Building. I don't think it's splitting hairs to say it's a bad idea to proudly display a Confederate flag on the property of a government that claims to no longer be motivated by the ideals symbolized by that flag.

I read the wikipedia entry on the flags of the Confederacy and I came away with the impression that the "dixie" flag was a prominent part of the CSA's national flag from 1863-1865, in the same way that it continues to be a prominent part of the flag of Mississippi today. Whatever its historical sources, the fact remains that the "Confederate flag" has become emblematic of a lot of things since its use in the Civil War.

As a white Yankee, I'm hesitant to suggest that maybe using a flag more historically associated with the military of South Carolina would be an acceptable compromise.

[farasha]

As a Southerner and an American patriot, I feel like no Confederate flag should be flown on the grounds of any governmental building. The Confederacy lost the war, and I believe the federal government has been shockingly lenient by allowing Tue flag of a rebel nation to be flown on civic grounds at all. If it is on the grounds of a civic building, it should be removed. End of question.