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Avatar universal

Down comes the Confederate Flag.....in SC

The South Carolina House has approved a bill to remove the Confederate flag from the statehouse grounds, and the flag will be taken down Friday.

The vote early this morning came after more than 13 hours of debate.

The House approved the Senate bill by more than a two-thirds margin. Republican Gov. Nikki Haley will sign the bill at 4 p.m. today and the flag will come down at 10 a.m. Friday, the governor's office confirmed today.

“Today, as the Senate did before them, the House of Representatives has served the State of South Carolina and her people with great dignity,” Haley said in a statement after the House vote. “I'm grateful for their service and their compassion. It is a new day in South Carolina, a day we can all be proud of, a day that truly brings us all together as we continue to heal, as one people and one state.”

Efforts to have the flag removed intensified amid a June 17 shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church in Charleston in which nine people died.

Republican Rep. Jenny Horne scolded fellow members of her party for stalling the debate with dozens of amendments, recalling the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, the pastor of Emanuel AME and a former house member who died in the shooting.

"For the widow of Sen. Pinckney and his two young daughters, [keeping the flag] would be adding insult to injury and I will not be a part of it," she screamed into a microphone.

The flag has been flying at the statehouse since the early 1960s, serving, for many, as a reminder of a racist past. Others have argued that the flag reflects Southern pride.

The vote marks a stunning reversal in a state that was the first to leave the Union in 1860 and raised the flag again at its statehouse more than 50 years ago to protest the civil rights movement.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/south-carolina-house-approves-bill-removing-confederate-flag/story?id=32319323
123 Responses
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Avatar universal
"Another thing people forget is that many blacks fought for the south in the Civil War......."

How many blacks fought Barb? I've read less than 1%. Maybe 3,000. Maybe 6000.  Do you know whether they volunteered to serve.

Blacks were not allowed to fight for the Confederacy until the LAST MONTH OF THE WAR.

The suggestion than many blacks served in the confederate army is misleading - at best. And if the inference is that they fought to protect their station in life or to preserve the southern social and legal order then that is just wrong and untrue and rather silly too.
Helpful - 0
649848 tn?1534633700
How many people even know that the flag was raised in the 50's to protest against the civil rights movement?  Most people these days equate it with southern fried chicken and hospitality; that's what we're all about here... my area has more people from up north, than ever thought of being born here and nobody thinks of changing things.
Helpful - 0
973741 tn?1342342773
To that I totally agree and that is why I wrote some Brice.   Absolutely know that to be true!  
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Agreed.  It was raised in the 50's to protest.  Its also important to remember that not everyone who embraces the flag sees it as a racist symbol.
Helpful - 0
973741 tn?1342342773
I don't think I have any family related to slavery.  My fam comes from very humble and meager beginnings.  I think the flag represents racism for some, absolutely.  Part of it's history is that it was raised in the 50's to protest against the civil rights movement . . .  ya know?
Helpful - 0
649848 tn?1534633700
I suspect you're right; as if getting rid of the reminders will get rid of the guilt...some people are like that - out sight, out of mind!!
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