It’s the issue that just will not go away.

Actual fighting in the U.S. Civil War ended more than 140 years ago. But battle over the Confederate Flag seems to go on endlessly in South Carolina.

The story of this particular battle begins in the 1960s, when the Confederate Flag was raised about the South Carolina Statehouse in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Civil War.

The flag became a permanent fixture about the Statehouse, flying between the United States Flag and the state flag of South Carolina.

This offended many in the state. In the late 1970s, a movement began to remove the Confederate Flag from above the Statehouse. After all, the Civil War was a case in which our state rebelled against the United States. Although many argue over the exact cause of the war, everyone admits that the issue of slavery was a major point of contention. And flying the flag put the state in a negative light nationally.

Supporters of the flag said that many of their relatives fought under this flag, and removing the flag from the statehouse would be an insult to their memory. They noted that few of the actually soldiers in the war owned slaves, and many were simply protecting their homes as they fought in the war.

S.C. Gov. David Beasley shocked many when he changed sides in the fight and asked that the Confederate Flag be removed from the statehouse. Beasley, whose campaign against video poker in the state had earned him some powerful enemies, failed to win his bid for re-election, opening the door for Democrat Jim Hodges to take his seat as governor.

Hodges came up with a compromise that seemed to be acceptable to all. The flag would be removed from flying above the statehouse, but would instead be put in a place of honor on statehouse grounds.

That compromise quitened down the argument briefly, but before long, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People renewed its efforts to have the flag removed from statehouse ground completely.

State officials have basically said that they consider the matter closed. But the NAACP has called for a boycott of the state. Such a boycott is serious business for a state that considers tourism as its top industry.

So how do you feel? Should South Carolina compromise again and remove the flag, or should the state ignore the NAACP’s efforts?

Coming off Martin Luther King’s birthday, and just before the celebraton of Black History Month, how do you feel about this important issue.

Go to www.theeasleyprogress.com and vote in our weekly Progress Poll.

If you have any comments on the issue, send them to brobinson@theeasleyprogress.com. Please let us know if we can use your name with your comments in next week’s Progress.