The proposal, approved by the state Senate April 13, would remove the banner of the slaveowners rebellion from its current spot, but place a similar flag at the Confederate Soldiers Monument on the statehouse grounds, at a highly visible corner in downtown Columbia, South Carolina. Confederate battle flags that now hang in the House and Senate chambers would also come down. Governor James Hodges supports the legislation.

Many opponents of the flag, including most members of the South Carolina House of Representatives who are Black, say the measure doesn't go far enough because it will leave the racist symbol flying in a prominent location. The NAACP, which launched a tourism boycott of the state at the start of the year to demand the Confederate flag come down, says the proposed move is not acceptable.

The protest campaign initiated by the NAACP has struck a deep chord among working people, especially those who are Black, in South Carolina and throughout the region. Some 50,000 people rallied in Columbia on Martin Luther King Day in January to demand that the flag come down and the state government recognize the civil rights leader's birthday as a holiday. That action and growing public pressure have convinced many within the ruling class in South Carolina that the flag should be moved.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) announced April 28 it will cancel South Carolina sporting events if the flag does not come down by August 11. Earlier in the month tennis player Serena Williams withdrew from a South Carolina tournament in honor of the protest.

Meanwhile, debate on the use of the Confederate flag is erupting in other states. In Virginia, NAACP leaders are demanding a meeting with Gov. Jim Gilmore to protest a Confederate Heritage Month proclamation he made earlier in April. They have threatened a possible boycott of the state over the issue.

In Mississippi, where the state flag includes the Confederate flag, the state Supreme Court had ruled against a case brought by the NAACP to remove the racist symbol, saying the flag violated no provisions of the Constitution. But later it ruled, based on a legal technicality, that Mississippi has not officially had a flag since 1906. Some legislators, a number of them Black, are now pushing for a redesign of the flag.

Governor Ronald Musgrove set up an advisory commission May 5 to come up with a new flag proposal by May 4, 2001. He also issued an executive order to continue using the current flag through the next year.  
 
 
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