During a visit to Columbia this week, the Rev. Al Sharpton said voter-ID laws, like one passed in South Carolina last year, would stunt the progress African-Americans have made since the civil rights movement. 

The controversial law would require voters to show a government-issued identification to vote, which proponents say will prevent fraud. Critics say the law would prevent some African-American voters from casting ballots.  

“Gov. (Nikki) Haley, you may have the Confederate flag in front of the capital, but this is not the Confederacy no more,” Sharpton told a crowd of more than 400 during a voting-rights rally at Columbia’s Drew Wellness Center.  

 “We are not going to be insulted. We know who we are. Since you want an ID, let me give you the ID. We are those that came from slavery. … Look at us now; we are the heads of corporations. We are the heads of state.”  

Sharpton, who held his syndicated radio and MSNBC talk shows in Columbia Tuesday, said S.C. voters should not avoid the polls out of fears about the voter-ID law since it was rejected by the U.S. Justice Department last year.