10 years ago: 50,000 marched against flag

[ccharles000]

A multi-racial, multi-generational throng of more than 50,000 people packed downtown Columbia for a King Day rally a decade ago, demanding the Confederate flag be removed from atop the State House dome.

The rally, the culmination of 38 years of resentment and anger by many of the marchers, was a statement of the determined hopes of a few people who believed that what was had little bearing on what could be.

Their efforts started a tradition that will be followed with Monday's King Day events. But when those thousands gathered in Columbia a decade ago, they were not merely offering up a reminder about Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream of racial harmony and fair play.

They had a concrete demand, one that - in the eyes of some - would be met a few months later.

J.T. McLawhorn remembers that it all started with a telephone call he didn't feel like answering.

McLawhorn, president and chief executive officer of the Columbia Urban League, was at his home, sick with a bad cold, when the telephone rang in October of 1999.

http://www.thestate.com/local/story/1114207.html