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The Contest Is Not Over, The Strife Has Not Ended. It Has Only Entered Upon A New And Enlarged Arena

NAACP and the IRS

 

 

The SCLoS Red Shirts takes on the NAACP

 

          In the summer of 2004 we became aware of the fact that he South Carolina NAACP would hold its state convention during the second week of October and because they are still calling for the boycott of South Carolina, they were to meet in Augusta, Georgia.  We decided that if they could go to Augusta, we could too.  We planned to flag them during their convention.  As we planned our protest we contacted the Georgia League about helping us.  They agreed and we especially got strong support from the Augusta chapter.  We knew that because most of our people work, our ranks would probably be rather thin on Thursday the 7th and Friday the 8th, but we figured that we would be able to muster thirty to forty on Saturday the 9th.  But as often happens, our enemies step forward to give us aid.

 

          About two weeks before the convention, Augusta scalawag mayor, Bob Young, at the request of the South Carolina NAACP removed two Second National Confederate flags from the River Walk near where the racist NAACP was to hold its convention.  Well, I do not need to tell you that he poked a stick squarely into a Southern hornet nest.  Of course, his action angered the SCV, Georgia flaggers and other Southern heritage groups.  On Thursday the 7th we had between thirty to thirty-five sign-carrying, flag waving Southrons on the picket line.  On Friday the 8th our ranks were a bit thinner, but we were still able to muster about twenty to twenty-five sturdy sons and daughters of the South.  But Saturday the 9th presented a sight to warm the heart of any true Southern.  We had between one hundred twenty-five and one hundred fifty flag waving, sign carrying, cheering, Rebel-yelling, happy Southern partisans manning the picket lines.  And we had signs, oh but did we have signs.  To quote a few: THE NAACP IS A HATE GROUP; THE NAACP IS RACIST; THE NAACP HATES OUR SOUTHERN CULTURE; THE NAACP LIES; YOUNG/NAACP IN BED TOGETHER; YOUNG/NAACP ONE AND THE SAME; BOB YOUNG IS A SCALAWAG; and BOB YOUNG ONCE A LIAR ALWAYS A LIAR.  You may have noticed that we recycled some of our scalawag Beasley signs.  There were, we believe, more flags than flaggers, because we had stuck quite a number of flag poles with flags in the ground and a few flaggers carried two flags.  Of course the South Carolina League of the South had our big SCLoS banner there for all to see.  And yes, we had our commode on the sidewalk with our up-side-down half man and signs that read “FLUSH THE NAACP”.  As usual, it was often photographed.

 

          Quite a number of our South Carolina League members appeared on television and several were quoted in various newspapers.  Our chairman, James Layden, had his picture in the Augusta Chronicle.  The racist, South-hating NAACP is used to protesting, but not used to being protested.  We can only say that there is a new day in Dixie and our enemies must get use to us coming after them.

 

          We declare that the three days of protesting was an unqualified success.  We want to extend a big Dixie thank you to the Georgia League of the South for the aid they provided us.  Also we thank the SCV members and other Southern heritage members that joined us.  And because he helped swell our ranks, perhaps we should thank scalawag Mayor Bob Young.  One thing we can say about his actions in the matter is: dumb, dumb, dumb!  When will these Southern politicians ever learn?

 

Posted on Sun, Oct. 10, 2004
 


S.C. NAACP CONVENTION

 

Flag's foes, backers rally


About 100 demonstrators wave Confederate banner outside convention



Staff Writer

 

AUGUSTA - The two sides rarely meet, but the issue keeps bringing them together.

As a few hundred black delegates to the annual S.C. NAACP convention wrapped up business Saturday, about 100 white demonstrators waved Confederate flags on the street, protesting the presence of the civil-rights organization.

"They basically brought their boycott of South Carolina into Georgia and demanded we bring down the Confederate flag," complained Woody Highsmith of Evans, Ga., one of the demonstrators. "I believe it was on their agenda to get the flag off these monuments."

Highsmith and his allies contend that the national NAACP is on a mission to remove all symbols of the Confederacy from public view, starting with flags then concentrating on Confederate monuments. This latest confrontation was sparked when Augusta Mayor Bob Young ordered a Confederate flag be taken off Riverwalk Park, the city's most visible public attraction.

Young removed the flag a few weeks ago at the request of Augusta's NAACP branch, which had consulted with the South Carolina branch. The mayor said local businesses and civic groups supported the flag's removal.

"He wanted to change history," Highsmith said.

The Rev. H.H. Singleton, president of the NAACP's Conway branch, says the issue is simple.

"Listen," he said. "We're not against the Confederacy, just against the Confederacy flying the flag on the people's ground.

"We're saying the Confederate flag is not a bona fide state flag (of) the state of South Carolina... . No flag, not the NAACP flag nor the Confederate flag, should fly at the state Capitol, except for the U.S. flag and the South Carolina flag."

Singleton is the only South Carolina member who sits on the national board of the NAACP. The S.C. group held its meeting in Augusta to honor its continuing economic boycott of South Carolina over the flag issue.

Many of the weekend's protesters actually have a problem with Georgia's recent history with the Confederate flag. Former Gov. Roy Barnes had the state flag changed from a Confederate design in 2001 to a blue field with small representations of several flags. The protesters said Barnes promised a referendum on a new flag design but didn't deliver.

"Why can't we come together and reach some agreement?" asked Walter Riggins, a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans Old Abbeville Camp 39. "All we ask is to stop taking away our flags and monuments. The people they (the NAACP) have a problem with is the Ku Klux Klan, not the banner."

Riggins on Saturday wore a handmade gray infantry uniform replicating what he said his great-great-grandfather wore in the Civil War.

"I'd be the first to say what happened to the blacks was wrong, hateful and awful. But the only way we'll ever settle this is for both sides to get together and stop the bigotry, stop the hatred."

Meanwhile, protesters held up signs that read "The NAACP is a hate group" or "Flush the NAACP" or "NAACP racism."

Various heritage groups participated in Saturday's demonstration. One group placed a broken toilet on the sidewalk across from the Radisson Riverfront Hotel Augusta and stuck the effigy of a man's body in it, head first.

"The key to this whole thing is to teach the truth in our schools," said Michelle Hamlin of Atlanta, who waved a Confederate flag. "Teach ... that there was love in the families (between slaves and slave masters).

"We love those antebellum homes, but oh, don't talk about slavery. Whites feel that we are not gonna get anywhere until whites and blacks learn history and settle on the truth. Education is the key."

Hamlin said that the South's history-laden tourism industry is at risk for both blacks and whites because of "constant friction" about the Confederate flag. She suggested that whites and blacks should "unite" as Southerners.

"This is not a black and white thing, it's a culture thing," said Rex Johnson of south Atlanta, who carried a Confederate flag draped over his shoulder. "What I want is the right to teach our children to be proud of our culture, and we want the nation to know we have the right to teach our children about our culture."

Sen. John Matthews, D-Orangeburg, an NAACP member, said there still is a problem.

"You have two organizations looking at the same thing and seeing something different. We see that as a racist symbol of slavery. That's a symbol of the past. They won't turn the past aloose. As long as that flag represents racism and the past, there will always be conflict."

A spokesman for the Richmond County Sheriff's Office said the department had 35 officers on duty for the day of protest and there were no incidents or arrests.

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

 

 

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