GREENVILLE, S.C. -- While the Duke basketball team battled Winthrop and Notre Dame inside Greenville's Bi-Lo Center this weekend, a different battle raged outside the arena.
During two of the three NCAA Tournament sessions over the weekend, representatives from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People protested to persuade South Carolina legislators to remove the Confederate flag from the grounds of the state capitol in Columbia.
"We want to remind America that economic sanctions will continue against South Carolina because the state insists on disrespecting African Americans and all those who cherish freedom," Nelson Rivers, director of the NAACP's branch and field division, said in a statement. "The NAACP demands that the Confederate Battle Flag be removed from a place of sovereignty."
Before Saturday's Duke-Notre Dame tip-off, pro-flag demonstrators, who held up large Confederate flags and signs, waited for the NAACP, which had conducted a mile-long march to the arena earlier in the morning.
Winston McCuen, one of about 25 pro-flag protesters that turned out Saturday afternoon, said the Confederate flag, moved from atop the capitol dome in July 2000 to a special memorial on the capitol grounds, deserves a location befitting honor. "[The flag is] something to be held as one of our jewels, one of the things we're most proud of," McCuen said. "It's a symbol recognized around the world of independence, self-government [and] secession from tyranny."
The Greenville native also blasted the NAACP. "This is part of their ongoing campaign to culturally cleanse the South," McCuen said. "They're not setting their focus on the real problems of the black community."
The NAACP has picketed welcome centers throughout South Carolina since the beginning of the month and has imposed an economic boycott on the Palmetto State since January 2000.
While the opposing sides were publicly unabashed in their views, Duke participants in the NCAA Tournament gave a more muted response. Coach Mike Krzyzewski said that given his team's obligations as a member of the NCAA, he would not comment until after the season.
Senior Matt Christensen gave a similar response Friday as the Blue Devils prepared for their second-round duel against Notre Dame. "Most of the people on the team have some pretty strong personal views about that," the team's eldest member said. "But none of us want to say anything that would detract--or distract--from what we're trying to do."
Junior Dahntay Jones expressed his dislike of the flag. "The state shouldn't have flown any people's way of thought or way of living," Jones said. "I think that situation is wrong."
Teammate Mike Dunleavy, Duke tri-captain, expressed his unease with the flag, but said he understood the feelings of pro-flag activists. "State-wise, country-wise, there are a lot of things our country takes pride in," Dunleavy said. "Certainly, I'm not someone who supports the Confederate flag because of what it does represent. I think to each his own--everybody has his own opinion on it, so I don't really want to get into it further than that."
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