CINCINNATI (AP) -- The NAACP will step up its campaign against the flying of the Confederate battle flag on state grounds in South Carolina, a leader of the organization said.

Dennis Courtland Hayes, interim president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said at the civil rights group's national convention that action plans are in the works and urged members to stay tuned for details.

"We're going to return to South Carolina," Hayes said.

The NAACP and other critics call the rebel flag a symbol of slavery and racism. Advocates say it is an emblem of Southern pride and heritage.

It once flew atop the Capitol dome in South Carolina, but a 2000 compromise removed it to fly on Statehouse grounds near the Confederate Soldier Monument, not far from a busy Columbia intersection.

The NAACP, which held large protest rallies in Columbia and demonstrations at state welcome centers several years ago, has continued a boycott of the state.

State Sen. John Courson, R-Columbia, a flag supporter, said he doesn't think there is much interest in South Carolina in stirring up the flag debate.

"It's been so long since it's been debated," he said Monday by telephone. "I think the issue has been resolved, eight years ago when black and white members of the General Assembly agreed on the compromise."

Marion Edmonds, spokesman for the South Carolina Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department, said that there was anecdotal evidence that some organizations honored the boycott, but that tourism and conventions business overall has grown in the state.


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I've always been kind of torn over this issue. On one hand, it's stupid to fly the Confederate flag - the South lost, get over it. On the other, this kind of lawsuit is nothing less than trying to censor the state of N.C. by way of a court decision. Getting offended by the Confederate flag is stupid, as is trying to make losing a war something to brag about...

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Our nation has not always lived up to its ideals, yet those ideals have never ceased to guide us. They expose our flaws, and lead us to mend them. We are the beneficiaries of the work of the generations before us and it is each generation's responsibility to continue that work. - Laura Bush

God is a conservative -

Ecclesiastes 10:2--"A wise man's heart inclines him to the right, but a fool's heart to the left."

This is the crux of the issue...

Unfortunately, the NAACP doesn't believe in the freedom of thought and want to stifle those who believe the flag has nothing to do with race or hatred...

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"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd

I just don't get how a flag symbolizing the fact that they lost is so important to southerners... I just want to tell every one of them - "LOSER!!!" and then tell them to move on. The same goes for the people who think that it's a symbol of racism. It's past, over and done with, move on and put your time and effort into fighting against something that's actually important.

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Our nation has not always lived up to its ideals, yet those ideals have never ceased to guide us. They expose our flaws, and lead us to mend them. We are the beneficiaries of the work of the generations before us and it is each generation's responsibility to continue that work. - Laura Bush

God is a conservative -

Ecclesiastes 10:2--"A wise man's heart inclines him to the right, but a fool's heart to the left."

For those I know, it's a symbol of Southern Pride of which there is plenty to be proud of. It has nothing to do specifically with racism. It has nothing to do specifically with the Civil War. It's more of a "Alabama", Paula Dean, Pecan Pie, Sweet Iced Tea, Rockin' on the front porch sort of thing.

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For the most part, I think you are right. Unfortunately for the rest of us, redneck racist assholes are prone to wave it around too.

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Right now America spends $700 billion every year on foreign oil. That's our money going overseas when it could be staying here. We have to stop this.
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If a certain course of action makes the mouth-breathers furious, then that’s a good policy. – The Practical Environmentalist

And the NAACP, by proposing this campaign, is saying to Southerners "Your redneck racists assholes have more credibility than the ones who peacefully and proudly display the flag with pride."...

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"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd

Well it's largely because it's the Redneck Racist Assholes that are yelling and screaming. Polite Southerners don't talk about such things.

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And the NAACP has been blind to this fact for the last 30 years?!?!?!?!?!...

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"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd

You expect them to get ground game in an area that historically hasn't been "home court"? Crazyflamingos was correct that it also represents to many a racist and hateful past. I can see where that comes from. The issue is that it has multiple means to different folks. The swastika was a religious symbol before the Nazi's perverted it. That doesn't make the symbol any less important to those who follow that faith.

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I've lived in Philly all of my life, and I understand it...But you're telling me no one in the NAACP can see it and understand to?...

So the NAACP wants to remove it for ALL...

Yeah...That's logical...Hurt the non-racist folks because of the racist folks...

But I also wouldn't lecture the Hindus who use it for it's original meaning because a less than desirable group hijacked it...

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"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd