Black Coalition Threatens to Boycott S.C. Over Flag Dispute

A coalition of black leaders threatened Friday to lead a boycott against South Carolina and its tourism industry if the state does not remove the Confederate flag from the Statehouse.

The coalition of about 50 people, including the chairman of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, said it would hold a protest march July 23 in Myrtle Beach.

The Confederate flag, which is red with white stars emblazoned on a blue cross, is considered by many to be a racist symbol of the Old South, dating to the Civil War.

The Legislature adjourned last month without agreeing to remove the flag, leaving South Carolina as the only state that permits the banner to fly atop its Capitol.

“If there is no positive movement to bring the flag down by the time of the July 23 march, the coalition will activate its other strategies,” the group said in a statement.

Black leaders upset about the flag are considering a lawsuit, a voter-registration drive and a national economic boycott of the state’s $7.3-billion tourism industry.

“We’re not asking for compromise,” said William Gibson, national chairman of the NAACP. “We’re saying it violates our rights, and it should be nowhere on the grounds.”

Gibson said economic sanctions against the state would have the backing of the 650,000-member NAACP, the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights group. But he said the coalition first wants to see whether an anti-flag lawsuit filed against the state by Columbia Mayor Bob Coble and area business leaders will have any effect.

Gov. Carroll A. Campbell Jr. is trying to persuade legislators to reconvene for a special session to consider removing the flag, which has flown atop the Statehouse since 1962. He said he favors a compromise that would allow the flag to be flown next to two Confederate monuments on Statehouse grounds, where a civil rights monument also would be built.