XPost: alt.government.employees, alt.society.labor-unions, alt.thought.southern   
   XPost: alt.gossip.celebrities   
   From: rkoch@banmlkday.com   
      
   For the first time in 17 years, civil rights leaders gathered at   
   the South Carolina Statehouse to pay homage to the Rev. Martin   
   Luther King Jr. without the Confederate flag casting a long   
   shadow over them.   
      
   The flag was taken down over the summer after police said a   
   young white man shot nine black church members to death during a   
   Bible study in Charleston. Following the massacre at the Emanuel   
   African Methodist Episcopal Church, Gov. Nikki Haley reversed   
   course and made it a priority for lawmakers to pass legislation   
   to remove the flag.   
      
   Bishop James Walker, who presides over the 7th Episcopal   
   District in Connecticut, praised the National Association for   
   the Advancement of Colored People for its fight against the flag.   
      
   "You forced important power in high places to recognize that the   
   scared memory of the Emanuel Nine would be parched by a symbol   
   of injustice flying over the Capitol," he said at a prayer   
   breakfast.   
      
   At the Statehouse, about 1,000 people assembled under chilly,   
   sunny skies to mark the 30th anniversary of the federal holiday   
   honoring the slain civil rights leader, who was killed in 1968.   
      
   It was one of many events across the country. In Michigan,   
   people delivered bottled water to residents of Flint amid the   
   city's drinking water crisis. In Atlanta, an overflow crowd   
   listened as to the nation's housing secretary talk about the   
   50th anniversary of King's visit to Chicago to launch a campaign   
   for fair housing.   
      
   In South Carolina, the state NAACP said there is still more work   
   to do to honor King and the theme of this year's rally is   
   "education equity," with speakers calling for South Carolina to   
   spend more money to help students in poorer, more rural school   
   districts, which frequently have a majority of black students.   
      
   The event included appearances by all three main Democratic   
   presidential candidates — Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and   
   Martin O'Malley — and heavier police presence.   
      
   How appropriate.  A black liar honored by a Clinton liar and a   
   bunch of democrat asshats.   
      
   http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/confederate-flags-removal-   
   turns-king-day-celebration-36353725   
                     
      
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)