Heritage or Hate?

Photo: Getty Images

Heading into Monday's Dr. King day rally in SC's capital Columbia, let's review a little history and revisit the poll that Dr. Scott Huffmon of Winthrop University conducted among African Americans last September.

History first: the Confederate flag was placed atop the state capitol in 1962 by the vote of a reportedly all-white legislature in order to commemorate the Civil War (aka "The War of Northern Aggression" as some people still call it here... and ol' genteel white Charlestonians might refer to it as "Our Late Unpleasantness"). Needless to say, many African Americans wanted the flag taken down, seeing it as a symbol of hate. The NAACP organized a national boycott of the Palmetto State's tourism industry in 1999, and in 2000, legislators voted to remove it from the State House dome and instead make it into a monument right in front of the building, where it is yet more visible than before.

Flag removal was sort of a litmus test for GOP candidates in 2000 and, at the time, John McCain essentially said it was up to state voters to decide. He has since named his failure to take a more forceful position against the flag as one of his biggest political regrets.

One of the main points of the rally tomorrow is to get the flag entirely removed from the State House grounds. Obama, Clinton and Edwards are all on the record saying it should be moved elsewhere.

When Winthrop conducted its poll last fall, they asked a question about the flag and got some surprising results. African Americans in South Carolina were asked whether they saw the Stars and Bars primarily as "a symbol of pride in our history or heritage" or as "a symbol of racism or hate."

For all black respondents, 49.7% said racism or hate. "Or another way of looking at it is -- only half?" Dr. Huffmon marveled during the interview. "I was shocked, I just could not believe it -- my God, this is the thing that was carried by the Klan," he added.

The rest of the breakdown went: 19.5 % saying it symbolized both hate/heritage;  13.5% said pride and heritage alone; and 11.3% said neither. Huffmon said that the more people identified as Southern or South Carolinian, the more likely they were to be tolerant of the flag.

And the gay question:
Is sex between two adults of the same sex acceptable or unacceptable? Do you feel that way strongly or somewhat?

Strongly Acceptable        11.5%
Somewhat Acceptable     10.3%
Somewhat Unacceptable  12.1%
Strongly Unacceptable     62.0%
Don't Know/Not Sure         3.4%
Refused                            0.6%