Many S.C. public officials, including House members and Senators who extensively debated bringing down the flag this week stood with Haley for the historic occasion. A white man has been charged in what authorities have called a racially motivated killing. Clementa Pickney, Emanuel’s top pastor, in the shooting, responded by voting overwhelmingly this week to take the flag down.
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After the flag’s removal, a special van used to transport historical artifacts will take it to the Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum, about a mile away. Democrats reacted with outrage, with one African-American congressman, Hakeem Jeffries, bringing a Confederate flag to the House floor and insisting it represented not Southern heritage but “racial hatred and oppression”. They handed it a third trooper.
Haley’s office didn’t immediately say when the flag would be removed, but the bill requires it to happen within 24 hours of her signature. Any changes to the Senate bill could have delayed the flag’s removal by weeks or months, perhaps blunting momentum that has grown since the massacre.
Rep. Mike Pitts recalled playing with a Confederate ancestor’s cavalry sword while growing up.
Later that day, the bill was placed on Governor Nikki Haley’s desk for her to sign it.
That’s where the flag will be housed.
The historic moment came after intense pressure on lawmakers to respond to the June 17 massacre, in which an avowed racist, Dylann Roof, allegedly opened fire on a prayer meeting at Emanuel African Methodist Church.
The flag was raised over the Capitol dome in 1961 to protest against integration. Now, even that flagpole will be torn down, but no timetable is set on that. As guards removed the flag, the crowd sang Steam’s “na na, hey hey, goodbye”. Thousands of people showed up for the flag’s transfer. Opponents of the flag have called for years for its removal from Statehouse grounds, and South Carolina lawmakers this week voted to take it down. They are wearing white gloves. The move was seen by many as a protest of the Civil Rights movement.
“I love this”, said Hammie Johnson. Taylor was among some 500 people who gathered across the street from the school, whic…
It will come down Friday at 10 a.m. It honored that ban, with minor exceptions, while the Confederate flag still flew on the Capitol grounds.
Haley signed the bill with several different pens.
“The South has never been white against black, per se”, Webb contended. In a statement, NCAA board of governors chair Kirk Schulz said the organization would lift the restriction when the flag comes down.
“I’m thinking of those nine people today”, Haley said on “Today“.
With the 94-20 early morning House vote, the last major hurdle to the flag’s departure was lifted. “No one should ever drive by the Statehouse and feel like they don’t belong”.
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The debate has stirred significant anger, with politicians on both sides of the debate in South Carolina reported to have received death threats.
