And on Friday morning, the flag was officially taken down after more than 50 years since it was raised in protest of the civil rights movement. The governor clapped when it was handed to the archivist.
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Activists have been pushing for the flag to be removed for decades, after it was placed on the capitol dome in the 1960s. We asked what she would say to them, and she said, “I’m sorry they feel betrayed”. And no one should drive by the statehouse and feel pain.
The flag was taken down by a state Highway Patrol honor guard.
“It’s a hard day in South Carolina for a lot of folks”, Steve Green.
“I applaud South Carolina state senators, members of the House of Representatives and Governor Nikki Haley for their commitment and support to the citizens of South Carolina and the citizens of this country”, said Dr. Lonnie Randolph, NAACP South Carolina State Conference President, in the statement from the group. A white man is charged, and authorities say the killings were racially motivated. “I think we’re always going to have some extremists, but I think people in South Carolina are generally good”.
The flag has flown either on the Statehouse dome or grounds since the civil rights moment. Troopers walked to the north steps and handed the flag handed to Allen Roberson, director of the Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum, where the banner will eventually go on display.
The flag came down about three weeks after the fatal shooting of nine black worshippers by a white gunman during a Bible study session at a black church in Charleston. The rebel flag’s demise comes after it was featured in an online, racist manifesto by alleged shooter Dylann Roof which emerged following the massacre at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston in June.
The flag was lowered following the signing of a bill Thursday afternoon by Gov. Nikki Haley.
Patsy Eaddy, a black woman, said there was a “sense of embarrassment” of seeing the flag still flying after all these years. “And it is important to those who’s ancestors fought during the war”, Roberson said.
“Will people still wear the symbol on their T-shirts or fly it from their homes?”
Friday’s removal of the Confederate flag once and for all proves that legislators and politicians from both parties agree with the sentiments stated by Bree Newsome.
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation admitted on Friday that clerical errors helped the white suspect pass a background check to buy the weapon he allegedly used in the attack. FBI Director James Comey outlined a series of missed opportunities and incomplete paperwork that allowed the transaction to take place.
