COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -The NAACP condemned the Atlantic Coast Conference for bringing its baseball tournament back to South Carolina, in defiance of the civil rights group's nearly decade-long boycott of the state for flying the Confederate flag.
"Dignity, decency and most importantly respect continue to be absent from the action plan of the ACC,'' the NAACP said it the resolution, passed by its national board last weekend.
The resolution is in response to ACC leaders voting last week to award its postseason tournament to Myrtle Beach for three years, starting in 2011.
The NCAA has had a moratorium on awarding predetermined championships to South Carolina since 2001, while the ACC and Southeastern Conference have largely adhered to similar stances.
That changed with last week's decision to play along the Grand Strand, said Lonnie Randolph, president of the South Carolina conference of NAACP branches.
"Initially, they supported the cause of respect, decency and equality for all people,'' Randolph said Thursday. "Have they resorted to their old policy where they didn't always feel that way.''
The NAACP said the ACC did not contact state or national leaders about the move.
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