Confederate Battle Flag Comes Down in South Carolina

Columbia, SC – Cheers could be heard for miles around as the Confederate battle flag was removed Friday, July 10, 2015 at 10 a.m., from the South Carolina Capitol grounds. Thousands of people gathered around the capital ground ahead of the ceremony to watch the flag being taken down.

South Carolina’s governor Nikki Haley relegated the Confederate flag to the state’s “relic room” on Thursday, more than 50 years after the rebel banner began flying at the Statehouse to protest the civil rights movement. Compelled to act by the slaughter of nine African-Americans members of Mother Emmanuel AME Church at the church’s Wednesday night bible study. Governor Haley praised lawmakers for acknowledging that the long-celebrated symbol is too painful and divisive to keep promoting. “The Confederate flag is coming off the grounds of the South Carolina Statehouse,” Haley said. “We will bring it down with dignity and we will make sure it is stored in its rightful place.”

At this decades-long and awaited civil struggle, you could hear the chants of – “Take it down! Take it down!” As the crowd chanted, the Honor Guard from the South Carolina Highway Patrol marched toward the confederate flagpole. Two honor guard members reeled the Confederate Battle Flag down and folded it. Onlookers took photos and sang, while others yelled, “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!”

Lawmakers and relatives of the victims of the church massacre stood on the steps of the Statehouse to watch, many with tears in their eyes.

An emblem of Civil War and Southern pride, the flag is also widely viewed as a symbol of racism. It was first raised above the South Carolina State House in Columbia to protest the civil rights movement in 1962. Since then, opponents  have been campaigning to take it down. In a 2000 compromise, the flag was moved to a flagpole on the Capitol grounds, and the state legislature was given the sole power to lower it.