By Cory Burkarth
Cities across the country make millions of dollars in revenue serving as host cities for the Men's and Women's NCAA Basketball Tournaments every year -- except for cities in South Carolina.
That's because South Carolina flies the Confederate battle flag on it's statehouse grounds, something the NCAA does not approve of.
The NCAA has banned the Palmetto State from hosting championship events in which sites are pre-determined, such as the men's and women's basketball tournaments.
Ron Morris, a sports columnist for The State newspaper in Columbia says the flag was originally flown from the top of the statehouse dome as a sign of protest.
"The Confederate battle flag was put on the dome in the 1960's as a way of saying that the state and all of its leaders did not necessarily agree with integration," Morris said.
Some people in South Carolina call the Confederate flag part of the state's history. But Lonny Randolph, president of the state's NAACP chapter says the flag stands for something else.
"White supremacy... which while that era still exists in America, I don't think the state should be endorsing white supremacy," Randolph says. "And with that symbol on our state property, that's what we do."
But state Senator Jake Knotts said the flag is no longer the divisive issue that Randolph makes it out to be.
"I think the Confederate flag is bringing people together now to understand some of the rights and the wrongs that was done, if they consider it a flag of hate. But it's not, it's a flag of history," Knotts said.
The legislature passed a law stating that the Confederate flag cannot be removed from the statehouse grounds unless they pass a law allowing it. Critics of the flag, like Morris, think that the real power may lie with the state's athletics programs.
"And the most influential people in the state might be our head coaches in our athletic sports," Morris says. "I think what needs to happen is a coalition to stand up and fight the legislature and get the flag moved off the state grounds."
But Knotts, whose great-great grandfather fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War, says the flag isn't going anywhere.
"As long as I'm the senator up here, the flag is not going off the statehouse grounds, and it's not going to be degraded," he said.
While the debate continues about whether the flag should remain on the statehouse grounds or moved to a museum, the NCAA will continue passing over South Carolina when tournament time rolls around.
In 2001, South Carolina moved the Confederate Flag from atop the statehouse dome and placed on the front of the grounds.
