NAACP complains about shop selling Confederate clothing

EVANSVILLE -- A mall kiosk that sells Confederate-themed clothing with such statements as "The South Will Rise Again" has angered some southwestern Indiana residents and members of the NAACP.\nThe Rev. Gerald Arnold of the Evansville chapter of the NAACP said the Confederate paraphernalia Blount Outdoors of Alabama is selling at Eastland Mall shop is offensive.\n"I feel the statements on these T-shirts have hidden agendas and are insensitive and very offensive," he said.\nShop owner Tim Griffin disagrees and defends his business.\n"It is part of my Southern heritage, the flag is not about racism," he said. "Black people fought in the Civil War for the South and I have black customers."\nBut the Rev. Larry Rascoe Sr. of Nazarene Missionary Baptist Church said he cannot fathom a business celebrating a time in American history when some people were enslaving others.\nHe may support a boycott against the mall. "I have a good feeling some good people are going to rise up against this," Rascoe said.\nLaura Faver, a 21-year-old IU student from Newburgh, said she was offended when she saw the Confederate paraphernalia for sale during a trip home last month.\nShe said she sent a complaint to the Eastland Mall manager on Jan. 21 and also distributed 30 letters to stores asking employees to complain about the kiosk in writing.\nA day after Faver's complaint, Carol S. Markle, the mall's acting general manager, spoke with the shop's management and ordered a large Confederate flag removed.\nMarkle said the flag was removed because it was obscuring views of other storefronts. She said the mall cannot tell the kiosk what it is allowed to sell.\n"The store wouldn't be in business if there wasn't a demand," she said.\nFaver contends that any display of the Confederate flag -- on a flagpole or on a T-shirt -- creates a division between whites and blacks.