Published: Tuesday, Sep. 22, 2009 / Updated: Tuesday, Sep. 22, 2009 06:38 AM

NAACP continues boycott of South Carolina

Two-minute Tuesday: Melvin Poole, Rock Hill NAACP

The NAACP's annual South Carolina conference will be in Charlotte next month — extending for a ninth year the group's tourism boycott of the state aimed at moving the Confederate flag from the State House grounds.

“Some people call it an anniversary,” Lonnie Randolph, president of the S.C. branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said Monday at the Freedom Center in Rock Hill. “I don't call a tragic thing an anniversary. I call it an observance.”

The NAACP has called for a boycott of the state since lawmakers voted in 2000 to take the Confederate flag down from the State House dome and move it to the Confederate Soldier Monument, near the north entrance to the capital building.

Last month, leaders of the mostly black Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) moved its 2010 convention from South Carolina after the NAACP reminded them of the boycott. The NCAA, collegiate sports' governing body, Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference have honored the boycott by pledging not to bring championships to South Carolina.

The Herald talked with Poole about the convention and the boycott.

Why was the announcement of moving the convention made in Rock Hill?

Rock Hill is the closest location to where the convention will take place.

Why not hold the annual meeting in South Carolina?

In 1999, the national organization with the recommendation from the state organization instituted a boycott because of the flag issue. Basically, we're saying until they take that flag down, we're going to discourage anybody from coming here and spending money. It's kind of a passive boycott. We don't take any action other than we communicate our feelings.

What would it take to hold the annual convention here?

Either to take the flag down or get everybody back to the negotiating table.

How has the boycott been received?

It has mixed results. Most people in the state, if you ask them, they don't even know about it. I think it's been effective on a national level, not a local level.

What can people expect at the convention?

Anyone is welcome to come. It will be Oct. 8 to Oct. 11 at the Renaissance Charlotte Suites Hotel. We're holding a job fair. We're bringing companies to help people find work. There will be workshops on health care and education that are really valuable.

We're also bringing gubernatorial candidates to talk in a roundtable. They'll discuss health, education and employment.

It's all free. The only things that aren't free are the luncheons.

Want to go?

The 68th annual NAACP convention and civil rights conference will be Oct. 8 to Oct. 11 at the Renaissance Charlotte Suites Hotel in Charlotte, 2800 Coliseum Center Drive. It will include a job fair and symposiums on health care and education among other events.