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Article published Jan 18, 2005
2,000 gather at Statehouse to honor Martin Luther King

JENNIFER HOLLAND
Associated Press

COLUMBIA -- A Confederate flag snapped in the brisk wind over more than 2,000 people gathered Monday at the Statehouse for a rally protesting the "divisive symbol.""It's made of nylon to fly pretty in the wind to remind the nation of when we were different," said Dennis Courtland Hayes, acting head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "We come here on behalf of a unified state of all of its citizens -- red, yellow, black, white and brown -- because the NAACP knows that colored people come in all colors."This year on Martin Luther King Day, nearly 20 educators, community, religious and civil rights leaders who spoke also focused on fighting for justice and equitable funding in education in South Carolina."We have come from across this state to say to this state that we are demanding equity in education. It's not just a black thing. It's the right thing to do," said the Rev. Charles White Jr., regional director of the NAACP.King was honored as many speakers used quotes from the slain civil rights leader's speeches and writings."It's a rough and crooked place when this state is more interested in spending money incarcerating black men than spending money educating black boys," White said.Hayes challenged South Carolinians to mobilize and demand state leaders address the achievement gap between minorities and their white peers. He said the NAACP has asked Republican Gov. Mark Sanford to submit a plan to the group by this summer addressing equal funding in schools.Education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum and former Democratic Gov. Dick Riley each criticized Sanford's proposal to provide tax credits for private school tuition."Our beloved state cannot move forward if we move backward in education," said Riley, former education secretary under President Clinton. "We must keep our focus on excellence in public education."White criticized President Bush for spending billions of dollars in Iraq."Don't ask us to do for citizens of a foreign country what you won't to for the citizens of these United States," White said.He said there is much work to be done in a state "where a divisive symbol still looms in our presence."The annual prayer service, march and rally -- dubbed King Day at the Dome -- has drawn smaller crowds over the years since the 47,000 who successfully called for the flag to be removed from atop the Statehouse five years ago.The Civil War banner was taken down from the dome and raised near the Confederate Soldier Monument. But the NAACP says it will continue its economic boycott of the state until the flag is moved off Statehouse grounds.Marchers held signs that read: "Economic Justice Now. Don't Visit SC" and "NAACP says Don't stop, Don't shop Until the flag drops."A line of more than 20 State Law Enforcement Division agents stood as a buffer between the marchers and about 15 people waving giant Confederate and South Carolina flags across the street from the downtown rally. A toilet with fake legs sticking out of the bowl sat on the curb with a sign that read: "Flush the NAACP.""We're not protesting Dr. Martin Luther King," said Larry Salley with the League of the South. "But what we are doing is making the statement the NAACP has turned away from its course as a legitimate civil rights organization and has begun to engage in the politics of division."Salley said the NAACP should focus on education and health issues for minorities. "Instead, they choose to focus on a symbol."The rally's keynote speaker, AME Bishop John Hurst Adams, said he was delivering the eulogy for the flag, which he called a "sick symbol" representing slavery and white supremacy.Earlier in the day, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told members of the Columbia Urban League that racial disparities still exist in South Carolina. The solution, he said, is to build economic opportunity in poor and minority communities.