Horne delivered an emotional speech on the House floor in favor of removing the flag. The flag must be taken down within 24 hours of the governor signing the bill.
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The flag ban was adopted by a voice vote. Some lawmakers hugged, cried and high-fived, while others snapped selfies and pumped their fists. But even among the celebrations, there was sadness.
Ostensibly it was raised to celebrate the centennial of South Carolina starting the Civil War with its attack on Fort Sumpter.
“I knew it wasn’t going to be easy; there’s a lot of feelings on both sides as it relates to the flag”, Mack said.
White republican flag defender, Eric Bedinfield said “I have wept over this thing”. The white man charged in the slayings had posed with the Confederate battle flag in photos posted online before the slayings.
It could come down within days.
As she broke down in tears, she said “If we amend this bill, we are telling the people of Charleston that we don’t care about them”. The bill will officially remove the Confederate flag from the statehouse grounds. The Park Service funding bill is scheduled for a vote on Thursday.
GOP leaders became concerned that the measure might fail – Democrats oppose it because they want more spending and some Republicans were unhappy with the prohibition on the flag.
The amendment had been like others before it, drawing passionate support from some Republicans who wanted acknowledgment of their ancestors’ Civil War sacrifices.
She cited the death of the pastor the pastor of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church, State Sen. “And for the widow of Sen. Pinckney and his two young daughters, that would be adding insult to injury”.
Supporters of the flag talked about grandparents passing down family treasures. Rep. David Mack III, a Democrat, had warned late Wednesday that lawmakers were dawdling to such an extent that the flag could still be flying on July 18, the day the Ku Klux Klan is scheduled to stage a protest here.
Lawmakers said Haley could have the flag lowered before the end of the week. She cited her own direct descent from Confederate president Jefferson Davis, in an effort to rebut arguments about the flag related to heritage.
Gov. Nikki Haley (R), who initiated the process and spoke to state House Republicans yesterday morning, hailed the vote as “a new day” for her South Carolina.
The bill, which needed a two-thirds vote in each chamber, is now on GOP Gov. Nikki Haley’s desk, and she said she will sign it at 4 p.m. ET. The bill passed the state House at 1 a.m. Thursday.
According to a new CNN/ORC poll, US public opinion on the Confederate flag remains about where it was 15 years ago, with 57% of Americans seeing it more as a symbol of Southern pride than of racism.
The move early Thursday came after more than 13 hours of at times contentious debate. I am a life-long South Carolinian.
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National momentum against the symbol has grown since June, when authorities accused 21-year-old Dylann Roof of shooting nine churchgoers in Charleston.
