South Carolina Governor Introduces Possible Legislation to Remove Confederate Flag

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, center, calls for legislators to remove the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds during a news conference in the South Carolina State House in Columbia, S.C., Monday, June 22, 2015. Those surrounding her as she spoke included state legislators of both parties. (Tim Dominick/The State via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT ALL LOCAL MEDIA OUT, (TV, ONLINE, PRINT) — South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, (center) called for legislators to remove the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds.

COLUMBIA, SC – In the wake of the mass murders of nine people in Emmanuel AME Church, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley stood with a bi-partisan delegation of state legislators to call for the confederate flag to be taken down from the state capitol grounds.
The action comes after Dylann Roof was charged with the murders of nine people at (Mother) Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, and allegedly posted a racist manifesto on the Internet and posed with the confederate flag.

The confederate flag debate has endured for 40 years, and in 2000 the flag was removed from the South Carolina Capital’s dome to a flag pole on the capital’s property. State lawmakers also added a monument dedicated to African-Americans in South Carolina. However, in the wake of the recent murders in Charleston, citizens, religious and elected leaders have called on state lawmakers to remove this rallying symbol of the pro-slavery South from the South Carolina capital grounds completely. However, South Carolina legislation mandates that only a supermajority (two-thirds) of the state legislature could remove the confederate battle flag from the capital grounds.

Kuniharu (L) and Barbara Kubodera stand during moment of silence at a rally outside the State House to get the Confederate flag removed from the grounds in Columbia, South Carolina, June 23, 2015. South Carolina lawmakers plan to introduce a resolution on Tuesday to begin a debate on removing the Confederate flag from the State House grounds following the killings of nine African-American churchgoers allegedly by a white gunman. REUTERS/Brian Snyder TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY — Citizens rally outside the S. C. State House to get the Confederate flag removed from the capital grounds in Columbia, South Carolina.

The politics of the confederate battle flag are complicated matters in South Carolina. A poll from Winthrop University found that 73% of whites in the state want the flag to remain where it is. The same poll reported that 61% of African Americans in the state want the confederate flag taken down. The postandcourier has a running tally of state lawmakers, and how they stand on the issue.

“The time has come to remove this symbol of hate and division from our state capitol,” said Reverend Nelson Rivers, pastor of the Charity Missionary Baptist Church in North Charleston, South Carolina.

For a year in which the United States has been hit by protests over police killings of unarmed black men, the mass killing in Charleston, South Carolina has raised a national debate on race relations, policing, profiling, and the national criminal justice system.

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