National

Removing Flag May Get Done, But Not Now

Published

11 years ago

June 30, 2015

Rev. Nelson Rivers, III speaks during a press conference, June 22, 2015, calling for the Confederate flag to be removed from the S.C. Statehouse grounds. (Joel Woodhall/Charleston Chronicle)

By Barney Blakeney
Special to the NNPA from The Charleston Chronicle

The heinous June 17 massacre of nine African American worshippers at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston by a white supremacist spewing hatred for Blacks has spawned a renewed demand for removal of the Confederate Flag from the South Carolina Statehouse grounds. But surprisingly while Blacks led by the state’s NAACP conference consistently have called for the flag’s removal, the demand now comes from S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley and some Republican supporters.

While Haley surprised many with the announcement made during a Columbia press conference, a similar press conference later was held in North Charleston where Mayor Keith Summey, flanked by local public and civil rights organizations officials made the same demand.

The Confederate Flag doesn’t represent the future of South Carolina, Haley said. It is time to remove the Confederate Flag from the Capitol grounds. One hundred fifty years after the end of the Civil War, the time has come, she said.

The South Carolina General Assembly has to muster a two-thirds vote in each the senate and house of representatives to approve the flag’s removal. They also have to muster a two-third vote in each chamber to debate the issue. Legislators are in Columbia this week to finalize a state budget. Charleston legislators Rep. Wendell Gilliard and Sen. Marlon Kimpson said it’s unlikely the general assembly will take action to remove the flag this week.

Former Charleston Sen. Robert Ford criticized those calling for the flag’s removal at this time. “This is a time of major crisis,” he said emphasizing the state’s citizenry still is reeling from the church murders. “This is the time we should be mourning not kicking around an issue that can wait at least until we bury our dead.”

Ford, who was instrumental in a political compromise 2000 that removed the flag from its original position atop the state house dome to its grounds near the Confederate Soldier’s Monument, said he feels current supporters for the flag’s removal are doing so now because they have either personal or political agendas.

“I think this is a sideshow. They could have waited a week until the memorials for all the victims are over. This was the worse church assassination in American history. We should be mourning,” he said. However he added, “But in a week it would be forgotten.”

Ultimately, Ford said he feels the general assembly will remove the flag from the capitol’s grounds. But the fight will be an uphill battle, he said.

“If the governor is willing to go on national television and put her political future on the line (Haley could be eyeing the nomination to run as vice president in 2016, Ford suggested), she has the votes to get it done,” he said. “My concern is 70 percent of the whites in the state say leave the flag there and most of them live in conservative districts represented by people who want to get re-elected.” By Barney Blakeney

Ultimately, Ford said he feels the general assembly will remove the flag from the capitol’s grounds. But the fight will be an uphill battle, he said.

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Black Artists in America, Installation Three Wraps at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens

TRI-STATE DEFENDER — With 50+ paintings, sculptures and assemblages, the exhibit features artists like Varnette Honeywood from Los Angeles, whose pieces appeared in Bill Coby’s private collection (before they were auctioned off) and on “The Cosby Show.” Also included are works by Alonzo Davis, another Los Angeles artist who opened one of the first galleries there where Black Artists could exhibit.

Published

2 weeks ago

March 24, 2026

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By Candace A. Gray | Tri-State Defender

The tulips gleefully greet those who enter the gates at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens on an almost spring day. More than 650,000 bulbs of various hues are currently on display. And they are truly breathtaking.

Inside the gallery, and equally as breathtaking, is the “Black Artists in America, From the Bicentennial to September 11” exhibit, which runs through Sunday, March 29. This is the third installment of a three-part series that started years ago and illustrates part of the Black experience through visual arts in the 20th century.

“This story picks up where part two left off,’’ said Kevin Sharp, the Linda W. and S. Herbert Rhea director for the Dixon. “This era is when we really start to see the emergence of these important Black artists’ agency and freedom shine through. They start to say and express what they want to, and it was a really beautiful time.”

With 50+ paintings, sculptures and assemblages, the exhibit features artists like Varnette Honeywood from Los Angeles, whose pieces appeared in Bill Coby’s private collection (before they were auctioned off) and on “The Cosby Show.” Also included are works by Alonzo Davis, another Los Angeles artist who opened one of the first galleries there where Black Artists could exhibit.

“Though [Davis] was from LA, he actually lived in Memphis for a decade,” said Sharp. “He was a dean at Memphis College of Art, and later opened the first gallery in New York owned and operated by black curators.”

Another featured artist is former NFL player, Ernie Barnes. His work is distinctive. Where have you seen one of his most popular paintings, Sugar Shack? On the end scene and credits of the hit show “Good Times.” His piece Saturday Night, Durham, North Carolina, 1974 is in this collection.

Memphis native James Little’s “The War Baby: The Triptych” is among more than 50 works featured in “Black Artists in America, From the Bicentennial to September 11” at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens, the final installment of a three-part series highlighting the impact and evolution of Black artists through 2011.

The exhibit features other artists with Memphis ties, including abstract painter James Little, who was raised in a segregated Memphis and attended Memphis Academy of Art (before it was Memphis College of Art). He later moved to New York, became a teacher and an internationally acclaimed fixture in the art world in 2022 when he was named a Whitney Biennial selected artist at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

Other artists like Romare Bearden, who had a Southern experience but lived up North, were featured in all three installments.

“During this period of time, he was a major figure,” said Sharp. “He wrote one of the first books on the history of African American art during a time when there were more Black academics, art teachers, more Black everything!”

Speaking of Black educators, Sharp said the head curator behind this tri-part series and Dixon’s partner in the arts is Earnestine Jenkins, Ph.D., an art history professor at the University of Memphis, who also earned a Master of Arts degree from Memphis State University (now UofM). “We began working with Dr. Jenkins in 2018,” he said.

Sharp explained that it takes a team of curators, registrars, counterparts at other museums, and more, about three years to assemble an exhibit like this. It came together quite seamlessly, he added. Each room conjured up more jaw-dropping “wows” than the one before it. Each piece worked with the others to tell the story of Black people and their collective experience during this time period.

One of the last artists about whom Sharp shared information was Bettye Saar, who will turn 100 years old this year. She’s been working in Los Angeles for 80 years and is finally getting her due. Her medium is collages or assemblages, and an incredible work of hers is on display. She’s married to an artist and has two daughters, also artists.

The exhibit catalogue bears some of these artists’ stories, among other scholarly information.

The exhibit, presented by the Joe Orgill Family Fund for Exhibitions, is culturally and colorfully rich. It is a must see and admission to the Dixon is free.

Visit https://www.dixon.org/ to learn more.

Fun Facts: An original James Little design lives in the flooring of the basketball court at Tom Lee Park, and he makes and mixes his own paint colors.