Hate Group (NAACP) Attack South Carolina Heritage

Haley shrugs off new flag criticism
By GINA SMITH

Gov. Nikki Haley is waving off renewed criticism of the Confederate battle flag aside the State House from the NAACP.

In a Monday speech at the NAACP’s annual convention in Los Angeles, NAACP president Benjamin Todd Jealous challenged Haley over the Confederate battle flag that continues to fly on the S.C. State House grounds.

“Perhaps one of the most perplexing examples of the contradictions of this moment in history is that Nikki Haley, South Carolina’s first governor of color, continues to fly the Confederate flag in front of her state’s capitol,” Jealous said, according to a press release put out by the NAACP.

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“Given the similarities between our struggles to end slavery and segregation, and her ancestors’ struggle to end British colonialism and oppression in India, my question to Governor Haley is one that Dr. King often asked himself: What would Gandhi do?”

Haley’s spokesman, Rob Godfrey, said today that Haley is not focused on the decades-old flag controversy.

“More than a decade ago, under the leadership of a Democratic governor, South Carolinians --Republican and Democrat, black and white -- came to a compromise position on the Confederate flag,” Godfrey said. “Many people were uncomfortable with that compromise, but it addressed a sensitive subject in a way that South Carolina as a whole could accept. We don't expect people from outside of the state to understand that dynamic, but revisiting that issue is not part of the governor's agenda.”

The flag has flown on the north side of the State House, beyond a monument to Confederate soldiers, since 2000. The flag was moved to that location as part of a legislative compromise to remove it from atop the State House dome.

The NAACP has engaged in a boycott of the state since 1999, successfully convincing the National Collegiate Athletic Association not to bring post-season tournaments to the state.


Read more: http://www.thestate.com/2011/07/26/1912172/haley-shrugs-off-new-flag-criticism.html#storylink=omni_popular#ixzz1TLbOJbU0