The writer is a 4th year pharmacy student at Northeastern University.

Unfair Picture of S.C.

To the editors:

As a native South Carolinian, I take exception to Christina S.N. Lewis' claim that South Carolina "remain[s] a symbol of intolerance and bigotry" (Column, April 19). Lewis is correct in calling for the removal of the confederate flag from the statehouse dome. Yet Lewis mistakenly accords the meaning of that flag to all of South Carolina.

Recent events have clearly demonstrated that the Palmetto State is not defined or represented by the confederate flag. On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day this year, over 45,000 black and white South Carolinians rallied in Columbia to celebrate his legacy and call for removal of the flag. Two weeks ago, hundreds of South Carolinians, white and black, walked across the state carrying only the flags of America and South Carolina. In the spirit of 1960s civil rights marches, this walk gave a more accurate picture of contemporary South Carolina--diverse, inclusive and progressive. A remarkably broad group of churches, labor unions, Republicans, Democrats, the state Chamber of Commerce, and even Bob Jones University called for the removal of the flag. Clearly, the confederate flag does not represent the sentiment of most South Carolinians, and does not accurately reflect today's South Carolina.

Eli A. Poliakoff '00