The state of South Carolina has been banned from hosting NCAA tournaments for years, because of its persistence in flying the Confederate flag on the statehouse grounds.
But, the NCAA is allowing the #1 seed University of South Carolina women’s basketball team to host the NCAA women’s tournament this upcoming weekend. WISTV reports:
“The NCAA said they’d respect the boycott, and refuse to schedule an games whose locations are chosen before the season begins like a bowl game, or a regional tournament like the Final Four, anywhere in South Carolina.
So, if the state’s boycotted, how is USC playing in town?
Last year, rules changed with Women’s basketball, allowing the location of the first two rounds to be chosen on merit after the season starts.”
Yahoo! News reports that the NAACP is not particularly pleased about the decision:
“‘If they were really serious about supporting the cause of justice, there would be no loopholes,’ said Lonnie Randolph, president of the state chapter of the NAACP.
‘I don’t agree with how they handled it,’ Randolph said. ‘We didn’t have a chance to have a conversation with them about it.'”
NCAA spokesman Cameron Schuh sent an email on the topic to Yahoo! News:
“With this format making it a non-predetermined NCAA championship, schools in South Carolina and Mississippi are now permitted to serve as hosts for those rounds of the championship.
Under the previous format, schools in South Carolina and Mississippi were not permitted to host championship games in any round due to the NCAA confederate flag policy, which states that no predetermined NCAA championship site may take place in a state where the confederate flag has a prominent presence.”
This explanation was able to placate Randolf for the time being. However, he has made his concerns clear on what he sees as a “softening” on justice. And this didn’t seem to quell the disappointment of other NAACP members,like James Gallman, a member of the civil rights organization’s national board:
“They told us there would be no event held in South Carolina that led up to championships. This is a predetermined event. They could have established other sites.”
Though it seems that these games will take place, the NCAA has not heard the last of this issue. The Confederate Battle Flag was removed from the State House dome in 2000, but still holds a place near the statehouse.
The post South Carolina Hosts the NCAA Tournament This Weekend. And NAACP Leaders Have Reason to be Upset appeared first on Independent Journal.