LOS ANGELES - The National Newspaper Publishers Association, the
Black Press of America, has announced that it will not hold its mid-winter
conference in South Carolina scheduled for January 2010.
The organization of more than 200 Black-owned newspapers is
joining the NAACP economic boycott of the state that has been in effect since
July 1999 when the South Carolina NAACP called for it as a protest of the
Confederate flag - a symbol of racial hatred - atop the State House and inside
the House and Senate chambers. The boycott, still in effect, calls on groups
and individuals to avoid traveling to the state for business or pleasure and
discourages residents from visiting South Carolina beaches or patronizing
restaurants and motels.
This announcement comes on the heels of South Carolina Republican
Representative Joe Wilson's outburst of "You lie!" that broke decorum
during President Barack Obama's address to the Joint Houses of Congress on
health care reform on Sept. 9.
Wilson's outburst was viewed as ghastly by both Democrats and
Republicans who refused to defend him.
"As African American newspaper publishers, we stand in
solidarity with the NAACP and fully support the economic boycott of South
Carolina," said NNPA Chairman Danny J. Bakewell Sr. "Rep. Wilson's
remarks were racist, disrespectful and a disingenuous violation- not only of
President Obamabut to the institution of the presidency and only solidified our
position and the importance in not spending Black dollars where Black people
are not respected. The continued public and blatant disrespect of President
Barack Obama by members of Congress will not be rewarded with our dollars nor
will a state that continues to uphold America's shameful past by flying the
Confederate flag."
The NNPA is currently considering North Carolina in lieu of its
decision to boycott South Carolina. The group joins a host of other
organizations and businesses that refuse to hold conventions or meetings in South
Carolina.
Bakewell Sr., elected NNPAchairman in June, is executive publisher
of the Los Angeles Sentinel Newspaper, the largest and most read Black
newspaper west of the Mississippi and owner of WBOK radio station in New
Orleans, Louisiana.
Bakewell is CEO of The Bakewell Company, one of the largest
African American-owned development companies in the United States. The company
is responsible for the development of more than 1 million square feet of retail
space in predominantly African American communities, including Compton and
South Central Los Angeles. NNPA
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