ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, November 27, 1996 TAG: 9611270055
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: COLUMBIA, S.C.
GOV. DAVID BEASLEY wants to move the flag from the statehouse to a Confederate monument.
Gov. David Beasley, declaring the ``Confederate flag is being torn asunder,'' told a statewide television audience Tuesday that pulling the flag down from atop the Statehouse would still honor the Old South.
Beasley appealed for support to move the battle flag next to a Statehouse monument to Confederate soldiers, where the banner would be linked more closely with the honor of those who fought for the South.
``Do we do them honor by continuing on our present course? After much prayer, I have concluded we do not,'' Beasley said.
``You see, the Confederate flag flying above the Statehouse flies in a vacuum,'' he said. ``The Klan can misuse it as a racist tool, as it has, and others can misuse it solely as a symbol for racism, as they have.''
For two weeks, the first-term Republican governor had quietly sought support for a compromise plan to remove the Confederate battle flag from the last statehouse where it still flies.
But Beasley's stance has opened a rift in GOP ranks. Attorney General Charlie Condon and state Sen. Glenn McConnell of Charleston, who were given equal time to respond, were sharply critical.
``It truly amazes me that the governor has chosen a flag that has flown atop the Statehouse for over 30 years as the subject of his first statewide address,'' Condon said.
McConnell compared Beasley to ex-British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who struck a deal with Nazi Germany's Adolf Hitler that failed to prevent World War II.
``Our governor tonight has asked you to give all to those who will give you nothing,'' McConnell said.
The Confederate battle flag was raised atop the capitol dome in 1962 to mark the centennial of the Civil War at a time when the state was resisting integration.
Many blacks say it symbolizes slavery and racism. But polls have shown its presence remains popular among the white majority. In the 1994 Republican primary, three of four voters said in a nonbinding referendum that the flag should continue flying.
Beasley, a first-term governor, also took that position during his 1994 campaign, but in recent weeks he began quietly seeking support for moving the flag to a Confederate monument on Statehouse grounds. A similar plan died in the Legislature in 1994.
Beasley said recent burnings of black churches and a drive-by shooting of black teens outside a rural nightclub by two men with Ku Klux Klan ties made it imperative to look at the divisiveness of the flag.
``Hate-filled cowards cover their heads and meet under the cloak of night, scattering their seeds of racism in the winds of deceit about the flag and its meaning,'' Beasley said.
LENGTH: Medium: 60 linesby CNB