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MLK
Day in South Carolina: by Steven Yates
On January 21, a couple of hundred NAACP-led protesters braved rainy weather to engage in what has become a familiar scene on Martin Luther King Jr. day in South Carolina: protesting the continued presence of the Confederate flag on the State House grounds. Two years ago, the NAACP led a well-orchestrated and much larger crowd (having bussed in thousands of people from out of state) in one of the largest marches in state history. Of course, prior to July 1, 2000, the flag was on the Dome of the State House. The infamous compromise worked out by the South Carolina General Assembly brought it down and raised a square version atop a 30-foot pole behind the Confederate Soldier Monument, where it still stands. The NAACP was not satisfied. (Compromises, of course, rarely please anybody.) The organization has continued to press for taking the Confederate flag off the State House grounds altogether and putting it in a museum. In other words, even with the flag off the dome and in a place of historical significance only, the NAACP has kept up the tourism boycott that started on January 1, 2000. The boycott has been, for the most part, a failure – despite the dominant media’s (i.e., out-of-state owned newspapers’) attempts to maintain otherwise. While a few conventions and family reunions were cancelled, overall tourism was up in South Carolina. All one had to do to see this was visit Myrtle Beach or any of the other major resort areas. These places were alive with activity. Hotels and motels were not standing empty. With the flag off the dome, most South Carolinians considered the matter a closed book. Now, with its efforts to move the flag again being ignored both by the General Assembly and by a public weary of the issue, the NAACP is trying a new gambit. The organization has officially announced it will launch protests at major border crossings into South Carolina over the next month, these being along the interstate highways. These protests will present information about the ongoing boycott to those entering the state, reminding travelers that the tourism boycott of South Carolina is still in place and recommending that they not spend money here. The NAACP will also set up a presence at rest stops. NAACP spokesmen call it a "border patrol." Said national field director Nelson B. Rivers III, "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. "Or better yet, that you turn around." He added, "We will not stop until the Confederate flag has been put where it should be – out of sight, out of mind." Another speaker warned, "We’re going to bring havoc to South Carolina, with assistance from all over America." One wonders how far the NAACP intends to go with this. Will activists eventually start initiating physical confrontations with those who ignore them (as most people will doubtless do)? To the extent their scheme succeeds, it will mean less money spent at South Carolina businesses. Less money means layoffs and fewer jobs – at a time when the economy is already in a recession. Many of those laid off will be minorities. Leave it to the NAACP’s so-called leadership to initiate a program that will hurt ordinary working blacks. Boycotts always have this effect, regardless of the circumstances. They hurt the little people, not those they aim at (look at Iraq). As usual, the elites never suffer the consequences of their actions. Perhaps, however, they plan to staff their "border patrols" with blacks who have lost jobs courtesy of this boycott. This latest NAACP brain drizzle may place the group on collision course with the state’s legal system, however. S.C. Attorney General Charlie Condon has threatened to sue the NAACP. Condon recently stated, "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." What else can he do? Obviously there is no reasoning with the NAACP’s so-called leaders; one might as well not try. One can only hope that the vast majority of travelers will successfully ignore them. Meanwhile, there is a movement – still underground but present, nevertheless – to reverse the compromise that brought the Confederate flag down. A march and rally was held last Saturday, during which flag supporters called for the flag’s return to the Dome; a handful of flag supporters were around on January 21. They still consider themselves betrayed by Republican legislators in the General Assembly who had been defenders of keeping the flag up but signed off on the compromise. In his new book Defending My Heritage, Maurice Bessinger – well known South Carolina barbecue entrepreneur and flag supporter – has issued the first public statement calling for returning the Confederate flag to where it was. He also wants to see the South Carolina State Flag atop the State House in support of state sovereignty as spelled out in the Ninth and Tenth Amendments of the United States Constitution. That’s right: this movement would remove the U.S. flag, and fly it exclusively over federal property. In this view, the state flag should fly by itself over state property. Bessinger calls this "Constitutional correctness." The General Assembly hasn’t paid any of this a whole lot of attention. In a state struggling with recession, the government of which is mired in budgetary problems (from trying to do too much, of course), this is what we would expect. However, it is interesting how this issue keeps landing in the General Assembly’s lap. You see, a number of years ago the legislative body "fixed" things so that legally only it could move the flag. Whenever any governmental entity gives itself a power, watch out! It will either use that power in a sneak attack, be held hostage by pressure groups, or both. Last year the Georgia state legislature – also under NAACP fire because of the Confederate flag contained within the Georgia state flag – pulled a sneak attack and unilaterally gave Georgia a new flag. This incurred the resentment of many Georgians who still don’t accept the new flag. They still fly the old one from their houses and on their lawns. When the Mississippi flag with its Confederate symbol was put to a test of popular will, the existing flag won hands down. It is, after all, rather difficult for the NAACP to hold an entire state’s population hostage. I suspect that had the matter of whether or not to move the Confederate flag back in 2000 been put to a vote in South Carolina, the flag would still be on the Dome. But such a vote will never take place in South Carolina. The General Assembly has seen to that. Because of this, there can be no doubt that the square Confederate flag behind the Confederate Soldier Monument is vulnerable. NAACP agitators have learned that if they apply enough pressure over a long enough period of time, sooner or later our fearless leaders will cave in. Time will tell whether every reminder of 1860-65 in the state has been tucked "out of sight, out of mind."
ERRATUM In my recent review of Bedford: A World Vision by Ellen Williams I mistakenly attributed a quote declaring Christians to be cultists to former Attorney General Janet Reno. The claim that Reno made this statement on a 60 Minutes interview back in 1994 has been periodically circulated by email since the mid 1990s. I repeated the claim without checking its validity. However, as it turns out, there was no 60 Minutes interview and hence no statement; the claim is an urban legend. I apologize to my readers for the error. January 23, 2002
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