I need signatures on this petition to remove the Confederate Flag from State Capital Grounds:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/remove-the-confederate-flag-south-carolinaIn 1962 the Confederate battle flag was placed on top of the South Carolina statehouse by vote of the all-white legislature. While other Southern states removed the flag from their statehouses, South Carolina refused to follow suit. This prompted the NAACP to organize a national economic boycott against South Carolina's $14 billion-a-year tourism industry, and since the summer of 1999, more than 100 conventions and business organizations have participated in the boycott.
On April 12, 2000, the South Carolina state senate finally passed a bill to remove the flag by a majority of 36-7. On July 1, the flag was removed from the South Carolina statehouse and would be flown in front of the Capitol next to a monument honoring fallen Confederate soldiers.
University of South Carolina Coach Steve Spurrier,"I realize I'm not supposed to get in the political arena as a football coach, but if anybody were to ask me about that damn Confederate flag, I would say we need to get rid of it." Spurrier received death threats after saying the Confederate flag shouldn't be anywhere near the state Capitol.
The refusal to put this to pasture has cost South Carolina NCAA, SEC, and ACC Tournaments, which "hello" would have brought money into the State's economy. The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) based out of Indiana were coming to Charleston for their convention and pulled out because of the flag; ACC announced that it has pulled the 2011-2013 baseball championships from Myrtle Beach amid NAACP concerns about the event being held in South Carolina (these tournaments are now set in North Carolina); and South Carolina could lose Federal funding all together if Congress actually acted upon the Civil War Amendments.
It is still against federal law for the Confederate flag to be associated, in any manner, with any public building in this country. In order for the Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union, they had to individually ratify the Civil War Amendments: the 13th, 14th and 15th. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the 13th Amendment not only proscribes the institution of slavery, but also prohibits all "badges and incidents of slavery."
In addition, the 14th Amendment prohibits racially discriminatory state actions, including any expression of racial supremacy. The Confederate States of America surrendered its national flag to the General Grant in the town of Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, April 9, 1865. Militarily, this meant that the flag would never fly again over U.S. soil. Constitutionally, South Carolina and other states lost the right to fly the flag when it ratified the 13th and 14th Amendments.
Stick the flag where it belongs (museum or somewhere else) and let the tourist dollars associated with ACC and NCAA events come back into our fine state.
Robert Dobbs for Congress, SC-01
www.electdobbs.com
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