State NAACP chapter to hold annual conference in Charlotte

COLUMBIA -- The NAACP's upcoming 68th annual state conference will focus on educating, inspiring and empowering the civil rights community, South Carolina chapter President Lonnie Randolph said Friday.

The conference will be held in Charlotte, N.C., because of the organization's long-standing economic boycott of South Carolina over the Confederate battle flag's position in front of the Statehouse.

It will run from Thursday to Oct. 11 and feature a job fair with about 20 businesses and a forum for the state's Democratic gubernatorial candidates.

Randolph said his chapter invited all the Republican candidates but most said they couldn't attend because of other commitments.

Republican Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer has not confirmed if he will participate because of prescheduled events. GOP Sen. Larry Grooms of Bonneau, also a candidate, said Friday that he hadn't been invited and has already filled up his schedule.

Most of the Democratic candidates have committed to participate; Charleston attorney Mullins McLeod has not yet said whether he will attend because he may have a scheduling conflict.

Randolph said the Republicans' lack of attendance is consistent with a past track record, despite a statement several years ago that the party wanted to reach out to minority voters.

GOP spokesman Joel Sawyer said the party can't speak for the individual candidates, but it does not agree that attending an out-of-state event, and acknowledging the ongoing boycott, is the best way to reach out to voters.

"We have been reaching out to African-American voters in the state," Sawyer said. "Minority involvement in the Republican Party is increasing every day."

At the first GOP debate of the 2010 election season, held last month in Newberry, all five Republican candidates said that they considered the Confederate battle flag debate a matter that has been resolved.

Randolph said it's not a dead issue.

"The Confederate flag is the symbol of bigotry and hatred in the country, and in South Carolina, symbolism is realism," Randolph said.

"There is a reason that that symbol is there. We can show you how the symbolic meaning of that flag is out at work every day in South Carolina. The policies that the Confederacy stood for, we find examples of it every day in South Carolina."

The battle flag was moved from atop the Statehouse dome in 2000 as part of a legislative agreement and placed at a monument to the Confederate soldier. To many in the state, the flag represents history and heritage, not bigotry and hate.

The flag won't be a focus of the conference, Randolph said. The agenda includes speakers who will discuss discrimination, students' rights, broadband access, redistricting, equal justice and predatory mortgage lending.

Randolph said the organization always has had a diverse agenda, and that the NAACP stands for the rights of people of all colors, from those who are "snow white to black as an Arabian midnight."

That's contrary to the way some try to portray the organization, Randolph said.

The convention theme is "Beyond 100 years, a foundation for the next century." The NAACP celebrated its 100th anniversary in February.

The South Carolina chapter has been in existence for 70 years.

Reach Yvonne Wenger at 803-926-7855 or ywenger@postandcourier.com.