Civil War Rages In S. Carolina
The Civil War still seems to be raging in South Carolina. In Charleston, the ceremonial re-burial of Confederate war dead on Friday came as state and black leaders sparred over the war's most vivid legacy, the "Stars and Bars." CBS News Correspondent Byron Pitts reports:
A cannon salute at a solemn service. For the modern day sons and daughters of South Carolina's confederacy - this was a dignified funeral a century delayed. The remains of 22 Confederate sailors had been discovered beneath a college football stadium. On Friday morning, after a four-mile walk through Charleston, they were returned to the soil for which they died.
The service comes in the midst of a long and bitter debate that has divided many people in South Carolina over the years. The debate is over another symbol of the Civil War.
South Carolina is the only state in the county that still flies the Confederate flag over its statehouse. Some revere it. Others despise it.
"For many South Carolinians they're pained by the presence of the flag on the statehouse. For many others it represents their family's history," said South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges.
The NAACP has threatened a national boycott of South Carolina's multi-million dollar tourism industry - unless the flag is removed by January.
"This is not a black-white issue. This is a right-wrong issue," said James Gallman of the South Carolina NAACP.
But supporters say they would rather die than see it taken down.
"It's part of the heritage and the history of this state and the identity of its people with their struggle and if you open a quarrel with your past you will lose your future," said state Sen. Glenn McConnell.
A symbol of heritage or a reminder of hate? This one flag - two sides see so differently - but with equal passion. South Carolina's governor has proposed a compromise: A Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in exchange for keeping the confederate flag. But both sides say never.
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