My my just look at the marchers...What more do you people want? Oops no Klan...Nope that argument that the Klan is responsible for all the violence, racial discord just flew out the window...Uhmm yep...
COLUMBIA --- J.W. Hayes leaned against South Carolina's monument to Confederate soldiers Monday and said he couldn't be prouder to be at that exact spot at the Statehouse, honoring the life of civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Mr. Hayes was at the capital nine years ago at the first King Day at the Dome Rally, when 50,000 people called for the Confederate flag to be removed from atop the Statehouse dome. On Monday, the flag was flying at its new home, a 20-foot pole on the front lawn. But Mr. Hayes said he couldn't be more full of hope.
"I'm a 55-year-old black man. I've been in Columbia all my life. I've seen Jim Crow at its worst. Today's rally, it's just special. It's so special, because tomorrow we will welcome a black president," he said. "I can't imagine how MLK must feel today."
Mr. Hayes was one of more than 1,000 people who showed up Monday to honor the slain civil rights leader at the South Carolina NAACP's annual King Day at the Dome rally. It was one of the smallest crowds in nine years of the event, in part because many were in Washington, D.C., for today's inauguration.
Monday's rally centered on Barack Obama's historic day and calls to end inequality in education, justice and earning power.
The event started with a prayer service at Zion Baptist Church, followed by a five-block march to the Statehouse led by football players from Scott's Branch High School in Summerton, where lawsuits that brought down segregation started.
As marchers rounded the corner onto Main Street, a cold breeze kicked up, snapping the Confederate flag in front of the Capitol into clear view two blocks away. Completely removing the flag from Statehouse grounds is one of the NAACP's main goals.
Speakers told the crowd the U.S. still has a long way to go to reach Dr. King's dream of equality for all.
"Race is still America's bad and terroristic side," said Lonnie Randolph, the president of the state chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
So much more has to be done, such as assuring blacks get the same education as whites, can earn as much at their jobs as whites and are treated by police the same as whites, said Mr. Randolph, who gave the keynote speech at the rally in place of national NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Jealous because the weather kept him in Washington.
In past years, nearly a dozen people showed up to protest the rally and the NAACP's criticism of the Confederate flag. But only four protesters carrying the Confederate flag showed up Monday, and they left before the rally ended.
Comments
My my just look at the marchers...What more do you people want? Oops no Klan...Nope that argument that the Klan is responsible for all the violence, racial discord just flew out the window...Uhmm yep...
"So much more has to be done, such as assuring blacks get the same education as whites, can earn as much at their jobs as whites and are treated by police the same as whites," This statement is really disturbing. As far as I know, white and black children attend the same classes in school, it's up to the individual to apply themselves to learn. As for earning as much at the jobs as whites...In my work place, you do the same job, have the same level of education and experience, you're paid the same grade level. There's not one pay grade for whites and another pay grade for blacks. As for being treated the same by police, that's debatable at times but stay out of trouble and you won't have to worry about the police. There's a time when you bend over backwards enough to appease someone that the more you give the more they want. I have no problem helping out someone improve their lot in life but not unless they are willing to apply themselves to improve.
christian and in christ let me guess you are white people who really have no idea that racism is still out there. So glad change is coming and people who think like you will soon be non existing.
Right if you believe that racism is a one sided street takeme2 then you need to take the blinders off for let me just say this to your seemingly meager understanding of the meaning of racism...It is alive and well... Has been for a long while just in reverse...
takeme2, I understand there is racism out there I just don't understand where the concept that black and white children don't get the same education. I have seen teachers for years go to extreme means to make sure all children receive the same education but that does not mean all children strive to better themselves educationally. The concept, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink, comes to mind. I have seen in my own workplace where a "white" individual did not get the job over a "black" individual because some type of quota has to be met so the opinion that blacks can't make as much as whites doesn't ring true. Yes, I am white. I'm glad change is coming too, then maybe white's will not be persecuted because of the color of our skin and continue to have to listen to the rantings of a few "black" that we are the cause of their disparity. If "people who think like me will soon be non existing" then Praise God, that means racism is no more and everyone is equal, blacks and whites alike, but I seriously doubt that the africian american race will let it be so.
I really don't think this is what Martin Luther King, Jr. had in mind. I celebrate the fact that we have a black President, I just wish he was a conservative, rather than a liberal. If Alan Keyes had been on the Republican ticket, he would have been my choice over anybody else.
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