Confederate flag to be removed from South Carolina capitol

[drunkenshoe]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-33457169

The House of Representatives in South Carolina has voted to take down the Confederate flag from capitol grounds after a long and fractious debate.
After a final procedural vote, the bill was then signed by Republican Governor Nikki Haley later on Thursday.
The flag will be removed at 10:00 ET (14:00 GMT) on Friday, according to Ms Haley's office.
Meanwhile, Republican leaders in Congress have called for talks on the flying of the flag across the US.
Republicans in the US House of Representatives cancelled a vote on Thursday on a measure that would have defended the flying of the banner in cemeteries operated by the National Park Service.
The backlash against the emblem grew when a gunman killed nine black people at a Charleston church last month.
Dylann Roof, the 21-year-old charged with the killings, was pictured holding the flag.
The flag - used by the South in the American Civil War (1860-65) - is seen by some as an icon of slavery and racism while others say it symbolises US heritage and history.

'Insult to injury'
The House vote was taken early on Thursday morning after 13 hours of debate and passed 93-27.
During a heated session, dozens of amendments by Republicans aimed at slowing down passage of the bill were rejected.
Some Republicans argued the flag was part of US history that had been "hijacked" by racists.

The dramatic vote came after more than 13 hours of impassioned, angry and sometimes tearful debate. In pleading with her fellow lawmakers to bring down the controversial battle flag, one Republican even reminded colleagues that she was a descendant of the Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
But it is South Carolina's recent history that has transformed this debate and in particular the pictures which emerged after last month's Charleston massacre showing the alleged killer Dylann Roof brandishing a flag long seen as a symbol of slavery, segregation and black subordination.
South Carolina was where the first shots of the Civil War rang out. Given the passions still aroused by that conflict in parts of the American south, it's tempting to see this historic vote almost as a final surrender.
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Representative Mike Pitts said the flag was a reminder of how poor farmers had fought the Union not to support slavery but to protect their land rights.
Chris Corley proposed replacing the emblem with a white flag of surrender, saying: "Maybe that will make everybody happy."
But fellow Republican representative Jenny Horne, a descendant of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, recalled the funeral of state Senator Clementa Pinckney, who was killed in the Charleston attack, and said there should be no stalling on the removal of the flag.
She said: "For the widow of Sen Pinckney and his two young daughters, that would be adding insult to injury and I will not be a part of it!"
Democratic Party Representative Joe Neal said: "South Carolina can remove the stain from our lives. I never thought in my lifetime I would see this."
The Confederate flag was originally the battle emblem of the southern states in the American Civil War which tried to break away.
South Carolina was the first state to leave the union in 1860. It restored the flag in the capitol grounds more than 50 years ago in protest at the civil rights movement.

[Atheon]

Good news indeed!

[Solitary]

Finally! It should be put in a museum along with the Nazi flag.

[Mike Cl]

Finally! It should be put in a museum along with the Nazi flag.

Sanity prevails.  Which is why I'm surprised--this is South Carolina, after all.

[TomFoolery]

I left class early at USC to see it. So much law enforcement! But a surprising number of families also. It was good to see.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

It's used to say,  "See? There's no racism anymore and the niggers better shut up about it! "
Living in SC I know that is a huge part of public sentiment. Sadly the shooting in Charleston was the catalyst, but give it a few years and the same clowns will find new excuses to put it  back up and tell us that the shooting was a long time ago. Anyone who thinks that institional racism is dead isn't paying attention. This is a side show to divert from the institutional bullshit.
I'm glad it's gone, but the US congress just voted to leave the flag in national parks and the DOD has decided to allow the individual branches of the military to go ahead and keep it.

[platatomi]

Sanity prevails.  Which is why I'm surprised--this is South Carolina, after all.

What's on the agenda for next week? Expand Medicaid under the ACA and ban assault riffles?

Honestly I am stunned that they have actually responded to public pressure and DONE something.

[Mike Cl]

What's on the agenda for next week? Expand Medicaid under the ACA and ban assault riffles?

Honestly I am stunned that they have actually responded to public pressure and DONE something.

Yes, it is a sad day for the KKK.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

What's on the agenda for next week? Expand Medicaid under the ACA and ban assault riffles?

Honestly I am stunned that they have actually responded to public pressure and DONE something.

The Turtle, Mitch McConnel is getting married to Scalia.. All straight married couples will have to divorce and marry not straight partners and the LORD shall begin the hence forth wrath on America! 

[Cocoa Beware]

 

[Johan]

Yes, it is a sad day for the KKK.

No its not and that's the really sad thing about all this. Its great that they did this, it needed to happen. But that flag was a symbol and nothing more. Taking that symbol away from the capitol building isn't going to do jack shit to change the ideals and beliefs of those within the capitol building. It isn't going to do jack shit for racism either. The bigots in power are still bigots and still in power. If anything, this may serve to strengthen their resolve.


People keep acting like this is such a huge milestone. Like its a solution or at least a huge step in fixing the problem. Its not. Taking the sign off the front off the front of auschwitz is not what stopped the trains from bringing more jews. Taking the sign off the front was an afterthought that was hardly newsworthy at all. The real newsworthy stuff that actually stopped the trains and all the other horrible goings on there overshadowed the removal of the symbol by a wide margin.

So while I'm glad that the flag came down, I'm also saddened that it is such a huge news event. I would much rather have seen the flag coming down be the 5th page news that it really is. I would much rather have seen it be just the afterthought removal of one more remnant of a time that once was but no longer is. I'd rather it had been just another 'you know, none of us really care about this anymore and its kind of offensive so we're just going to take it down because its the right thing to do, no passing of legislation required'. But we're nowhere near that place, and this event doesn't really get us all that much closer.

[Mike Cl]

No its not and that's the really sad thing about all this. Its great that they did this, it needed to happen. But that flag was a symbol and nothing more. Taking that symbol away from the capitol building isn't going to do jack shit to change the ideals and beliefs of those within the capitol building. It isn't going to do jack shit for racism either. The bigots in power are still bigots and still in power. If anything, this may serve to strengthen their resolve.


People keep acting like this is such a huge milestone. Like its a solution or at least a huge step in fixing the problem. Its not. Taking the sign off the front off the front of auschwitz is not what stopped the trains from bringing more jews. Taking the sign off the front was an afterthought that was hardly newsworthy at all. The real newsworthy stuff that actually stopped the trains and all the other horrible goings on there overshadowed the removal of the symbol by a wide margin.

So while I'm glad that the flag came down, I'm also saddened that it is such a huge news event. I would much rather have seen the flag coming down be the 5th page news that it really is. I would much rather have seen it be just the afterthought removal of one more remnant of a time that once was but no longer is. I'd rather it had been just another 'you know, none of us really care about this anymore and its kind of offensive so we're just going to take it down because its the right thing to do, no passing of legislation required'. But we're nowhere near that place, and this event doesn't really get us all that much closer.

My comment was tongue-in-cheek.  I know full well that this is really just a rallying cry for the KKK and those who support it.  As you suggested, the confederate battle flag should be regarded in the same light as the Nazi flag is now.  It is purely a racist symbol.  Slavery was just as heinous as the holocaust.  And the real irony is that when those who support the battle flag say that it is a symbol of their history and heritage, they are correct.  That history and heritage is of racism and slavery.  Why should that be honored?  Why should the victor in this case not write the history?  Why not just outright ban that flag from all govt. buildings and all govt. functions??  Why bow to the southern idiocy of the 'southern heritage' bullshit, when it is the American heritage that is more important?  I'm really tired of people saying there are two sides to every story.  No, there is not!  There is not legit side to slavery!  None.  Stop playing like there is!

[Johan]

I think one of the things that makes me saddest of all is that its not just the south. One of the guys I manage here in Michigan is all over FB with the 'its a symbol of our heritage' bullshit. He claims to be from Alabama but he's as Northern as you can get. Absolutely no accent, has a genuine appreciation for real Philly cheesesteaks, the whole bit. And I've seen more than one 4x4 pickup driving on the roads here with a large confederate flag flying from a pole stuck in the bed. Just like the south, people are proud of their racism here. Very proud.

[aitm]

when I was a kid in central Michigan they chased them damn "darkies" right out of town…well actually no black person was crazy enough to buy a house in our town, they couldn't buy gas let alone a house. Here in the year 2015 all the folks up there post pictures on FB of their black friends from college….but still no pics of blacks actually IN the home town.

[Savior2006]

Even here in Flint, Michigan, I've come across at least a dozen people either with the flag on their property or on their car. It's amazing how many of these people are Northern, born and bred, but want to act like they are from the South, peddling that "states' rights" bullshit.