Vol. 75/No. 5      February 7, 2011

Until 2000 the Confederate flag was on display on top of the Capitol building—the only state in the nation to do so. Following protests, including one of 50,000 people in January 2000, the flag was moved to the Confederate Soldier Monument elsewhere on statehouse grounds. That year South Carolina became the last state to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day a statewide holiday. Congress had passed federal legislation to do so in 1983.

This year's protest was organized by the NAACP. The organization also built a protest in Charleston against a "Secession Ball" that celebrated South Carolina being the first state to secede from the United States after the election of Abraham Lincoln, leading to the formation of the Confederacy and the beginning of the Civil War.

Many of the marchers in Columbia said the protest was also against the announced state education cuts, a proposal for a state identification card, and the effort to tighten immigration laws.

YWCA executive director Christine Jackson urged people to participate in the protest rally. "It's an affront to me," Jackson said of the Confederate flag.

The issue of southern states flying the Confederate flag has also come up elsewhere. Associated Press reported some 300 supporters of the flag marched on the Georgia state Capitol January 18 to demand lawmakers hold a statewide vote on bringing back the old state flag, which incorporated the symbol of the Confederacy.

In 2001, after significant protests, the Georgia legislature replaced its state flag with a new one.  
 
 
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