Confederate Flag: Racist or Symbol of Southern Pride?
09/01/09
Seabrook, SC – The confederate flag: expression of racism or just a way to show southern pride?
One Seabrook restaurant and the NAACP are at odds over that issue.
"It’s so appalling it’s just unthinkable that in a day and a time like that, that’s what they would do," said Dot Scott, President of the Charleston branch of the NAACP.
The NAACP is outraged over a t-shirt at the Rosebank Farms Café. The front of the shirt has a logo modeled after the confederate flag. A customer complained to the NAACP after noticing African American employees wearing the shirt.
"When I see that shirt, it’s just a shirt, it doesn’t bother me," said Thomas, prep cook, Rosebank Farms Café.
Owner Julie Limehouse says it’s optional for staff members to wear this shirt. There are several other shirts both staff and customers can buy and the controversial shirt is selling better than others.
Thomas says he hasn’t heard any workers complain about the shirts.
"It’s really insignificant. There are bigger issues. People don’t have jobs. This could possibly stop a business that’s supporting my family," said Thomas.
But the NAACP says the logo is so much more than just an image.
"Whether it was the clans flying the flag, whether it was hanging of African Americans, these are the things that flag denotes to me," said Scott.
Limehouse says the NAACP has the wrong idea. The logo is meant to represent the South. She says she has no intentions of removing this shirt from her list of merchandise any time soon.
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