As the marchers passed through the Black community on the first couple of miles of their march, people came out of houses to wave in support. The march will take place over five days, with participants free to join any segment, and will end with a rally at the capitol in Columbia, South Carolina, April 6.

The fight to bring down the flag that flew over the army of the slaveocracy in the Civil War drew national attention after the outpouring of 50,000 people in Columbia on Martin Luther King Day January 17. That action, which was organized by the NAACP, also called for Martin Luther King Day to be recognized as a state holiday, as it is in every other state.

At the start of the year the NAACP launched a national tourism boycott of South Carolina to press the demand for removal of the Confederate flag. This is starting to have some impact, and as the summer months approach a growing number of politicians have taken a stand in favor of moving the racist banner from the capitol dome. It has been flying there below the United States and South Carolina flags since 1962, when it was raised by the state legislature as a banner in opposition to the Black civil rights movement and in defiance of federal civil rights rulings.

The march from Charleston to Columbia was initiated by Charleston mayor Joseph Riley, under the slogan, "Get in step with the people of South Carolina." During the brief program that kicked off the march, Riley recognized former governor John West, Columbia mayor Bob Coble, nine members of the city council, and a number of other politicians and prominent figures who were participating in the action.

His speech expressed the view of this layer of the state's ruling class that maintaining the Confederate flag in its current location is an embarrassment that is bad for business in the state. "Without a doubt the vast majority of South Carolinians, white and African American, want the Confederate battle flag to come down," he stated. "Failure of the legislature to act threatens the heritage and legacy of our state."  
 

'Our duty' to join the march

Participants ranged from businessmen and teachers to several workers from a nearby hotel who came to the send-off in their work uniforms and then returned to their jobs when the march began. About half of the participants were Black.

The largest organized group present was about 40 members and supporters of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) Local 1422, who came together from their union hall with union banners and special T-shirts reading, "ILA In Step." Busloads of ILA members had taken part in the Martin Luther King Day rally in Columbia, and the local voted to organize members to participate on each day of the five-day march. "It's our duty" to join in, explained one union member as workers signed up to participate at the union hall the day before.

Glenn Quattlebaum came from Columbia and was selling T-shirts commemorating the march. He planned to participate for the entire action. "I wanted to bring my kids here, to let them see what it takes to have something done in America when you disagree," he said. "You have to see the strength in numbers."

Ann Penick, who is white, is part of the local women's rights group 52 Percent, which recently affiliated to the National Organization for Women. She "came to take a stand and be visible in calling for the flag to come down."

Jennifer Webb, a Black high school student, came with other members of the community service group Youth Service Charleston. "We believe the flag should be taken down," she said, and added that most students at her school agree.

One individual carried a Confederate flag alongside the action, and one other had a sign defending the racist symbol. A small plane flew over a couple of times with a banner reading, "Keep it flying, dump Riley," referring to the mayor. The Confederate States of America Historical Preservation Society has called a rally in support of the flag in Columbia for April 6, the same day the marchers will arrive at the capitol.  
 

State officials debate moving flag

Since the Martin Luther King Day action, the call for removing the battle flag has been a raging discussion throughout South Carolina and beyond. There is nearly daily debate in the letters columns of daily papers. Democratic presidential candidate Albert Gore said the flag should be moved, while Republican candidate George Bush stated it was an issue for "the people of South Carolina" to decide. Speaking in Columbia March 29, President William Clinton called the flag a "shameful symbol," but did not repeat an earlier call for its removal.

South Carolina governor James Hodges has said that the legislature needs to resolve the flag issue and adopt a Martin Luther King Day holiday before it adjourns in June. He is supporting a proposal to move the flag from atop the capitol dome to a statue of Confederate general Wade Hampton on the statehouse grounds. Hampton became governor of South Carolina in 1876 in an election that marked the defeat of Radical Reconstruction, with terror gangs unleashed against Blacks to prevent them from voting. The NAACP and other opponents of the flag denounced this proposal, as it would leave the flag flying in a very prominent location.

State senators Darrell Jackson, who is a member of the Legislative Black Caucus, and John Courson, a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, are promoting an alternative proposal to place the battle flag in a display case next to a Confederate soldiers monument in front of the statehouse. The first national flag of the Confederate government and a flag carried in the Union army by a regiment of Black volunteers from South Carolina would also be displayed.

State senator Glenn McConnell, a die-hard flag supporter, wants to fly the flag next to the Confederate soldiers monument, which is at a prominent intersection. McConnell heads a state commission that plans to raise the Confederate submarine Hunley from its ocean grave. On March 25 some 2,000 people, many carrying Confederate flags, took part in a funeral procession in Charleston for the recently discovered remains of five members of Hunley's crew.

Two days before the Charleston-to-Columbia march began, a conference of 90 historians issued a statement that the Civil War was fought over the issue of slavery, not "states rights." Like the events around the Hunley and the Confederate flag, this historical debate is not about the past, but the present-day attempts to roll back the gains won in the fight for Black rights.

At the rally in Charleston, marcher Clarence Chisolm pointed to the long fight for racial equality, going back to World War II. "If they have to keep it, put it where there's a memorial to those who fought in the war," he said. "But not the capitol where it's offensive to so many people."

Many people participating in the kickoff said they or people they knew planned to join in the final rally when the march reaches Columbia April 6, even if they can't walk the whole distance.  
 
 
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