AUGUSTA — The state NAACP said it is in renewed discussions with the National Collegiate Athletic Association and black religious organizations to increase the potency of economic sanctions against South Carolina.

Lonnie Randolph, NAACP state president, would not elaborate on what additional actions the NCAA might be asked to take in support of its boycott — which is aimed at the state’s tourism industry — but said an announcement could be made within a month.

Randolph made his comments at the NAACP’s annual convention being held through Sunday in Augusta, Ga.

The state NAACP has held its convention in states bordering South Carolina for the past three years as part of its boycott against South Carolina for continuing to fly the Confederate flag on the State House grounds in Columbia.

Citing statistics of religious conventions held at hotels in the state, Randolph said the NAACP is looking to “ratchet up” participation in the boycott from the black faith community.

“A disproportionate number of our conventions across South Carolina are by black churches,” Randolph said Friday. In the Columbia area, he said, 60 percent of hotel conventions are booked in connection with the black faith community.

The State could not reach the NCAA for comment late Friday and could not confirm Randolph’s convention statistics.

The boycott was declared in 2000, after the state removed the Confederate flag from atop the State House and raised it on the grounds.

“In South Carolina, symbolism is realism,” Randolph said, adding that display of the flag at public buildings is designed to send blacks a message of white supremacy.

The NAACP garnered support for its boycott from the Black Coaches Association and got the NCAA to issue a two-year moratorium on championship events in the state in 2001.

Randolph said the NAACP is using “positive influence” in discussions with the associations that would extend the sanctions.

Support for the boycott has been mixed, even within the state NAACP, Randolph acknowledged, but he said that wouldn’t change the organization’s commitment.

“The sanctions are fine, if they are working,” said NAACP convention delegate Leroy Brown of James Island. “But we have got to get the churches more involved.”

Brown said the NAACP should push black pastors harder to participate fully in the boycott.

“I feel we are doing what’s right with the sanctions,” said 18-year-old Lamont Roberts, president of the Youth and College Division of the state NAACP.

“We believe in the cause of the NAACP 110 percent, and I see where this will evolve into the youth and college (members) to have to bring the flag down.”

Across the street from the convention site, a small number of protesters waved Confederate flags in opposition to the NAACP’s meeting in Augusta.

City leaders recently removed a Confederate flag from a public display near the convention hotel after the NAACP requested it.

Reach Burris at (803) 771-8398 or rburris@thestate.com.