NAACP linked to effort to bulldoze Confederate Monument and Bessingers BBQ
March 8, 2012
NAACP linked to effort to bulldoze Confederate Monument and Bessingers BBQ
Kyle Rogers
Charleston Conservative ExaminerA proposed construction project at the corner John C. Calhoun Drive and Russell Street in Orangeburg has put a Confederate monument and a Maurice Bessingers BBQ in danger.
The project has many people crying foul. Both of the properties in danger are the targets of a twenty year old campaign by the NAACP and other black racial groups to eradicate symbols of the Confederacy. More recently the NAACP has expanded their efforts and now opposes Confederate symbols in cemeteries and even museums.
The selection of the intersection is allegedly based on safety concerns. However, the SCDOT says there are only an average of ten rear-end collisions per year at the intersection. This is a very low number. There is also no traffic light at the intersection, only a stop sign. Critics say that a simple traffic light would solve safety concerns. Patrick Hall, a senior transportation planner at the Atlanta Regional Commission says he believes the project is not justified.
Critics are suggesting that the project is a political and racially motivated attack on symbols of the Confederacy. The evidence seems to support this. The intersection was picked by the Orangeburg Board of directors of the Lower Savannah Council of Governments. The Chairman of this board is Orangeburg County Council member Janie Cooper, a major supporter of the Orangeburg NAACP. Several other members of the Orangeburg County Council are also on the board. The Chairman of the Orangeburg County Council is also an NAACP member. The county council has even passed pro-NAACP resolutions.
Next in the “checks and balances” process, the project had to be approved by the Orangeburg City Council. The City Council includes several supporters and at least one member of the NAACP.
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