CONFEDERATE FLAG DAY PROTESTED NAACP WILL HOLD VIGIL IN N.C.

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 27, 1992                   TAG: 9202270048
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Cox News Service
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
CONFEDERATE FLAG DAY PROTESTED NAACP WILL HOLD VIGIL IN N.C.
More than a century after the rise and fall of the Confederacy, battles still are being waged over the symbolism of its flag.
The latest skirmish is brewing as North Carolina prepares to celebrate its fourth annual Confederate Flag Day on March 4, as proclaimed by Gov. Jim Martin.
As the first flag of the Confederacy - not the better-known battle flag - flies over the state Capitol next Wednesday, the state NAACP will hold a noon vigil to protest what it calls a day of honor for a racist symbol of slavery.
The NAACP wants the state to stop flying the "Stars and Bars" on the anniversary of the flag's 1861 adoption as the first flag of the Confederate States of America. It is an insult to blacks and sends the message that North Carolina still condones the white supremacy of its Confederate-era government, said Kelly Alexander Jr., state president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
"Our position is, it's all right for a private group to have an observance, but when the state of North Carolina does it it's inappropriate," Alexander said. "The state needs to be held to a higher standard. This is offensive to 30 percent of the state population."
Alexander is urging citizens to call or write the governor's office to protest the proclamation, but the NAACP leader doesn't expect Martin to rescind it.
"He's not running for re-election. He's a lame duck." Nancy Pekarek, a spokeswoman for the governor, said the NAACP has it all wrong.
"We don't want to promote racism and bigotry; we want a remembrance of the past as something we don't want to relive," Pekarek said. "Slavery existed longer under the `Stars and Stripes,' but we don't look at it as a flag of slavery. It has become a symbol of slavery because of the hate groups of modern times. Now we need to take those symbols back" from hate groups.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB