Flying Rebel Flag Divisive, Clinton Says

To the applause of a racially mixed audience in Columbia, S.C., President Clinton said the Confederate flag flying over the statehouse remains a painful and divisive symbol. But Clinton stopped short of saying outright that the flag should come down. He seemed resolved to keep the rhetoric low at a time when a compromise over the flag may be at hand. “As long as the waving symbol of one American’s pride is the shameful symbol of another American’s pain, we still have bridges to cross,” Clinton said during a fund-raising tribute to Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), who leads the Congressional Black Caucus. The National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People calls the flag a racist emblem and is leading a tourism boycott of South Carolina until it is removed.