News One: Once The Flag Comes Down, Will Our Agenda Be Addressed?

Jesse Jackson, Sr., and NewsOne Now panelists Joia Jefferson Nuri, founder of In The Public Eye Communications, David Swerdlick, Associate Editor for The Washington Post, and Danielle Belton, Associate Editor for TheRoot.com, discuss the latest developments in the legislative battle to remove the Confederate flag from the South Carolina State House grounds in the video clip above.

The South Carolina legislature is debating a bill that calls for the removal of the Confederate flag from the grounds of the State House.

Last month the House voted to postpone a debate on a resolution sponsored by Mississippi Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson that would have removed his state’s flag, which includes a Confederate symbol, from the US Capitol.

The measure bans the use of federal funds to buy, display or maintain the flags on Park Service-maintained buildings.

While the flag bill received broad support – and only three “no” votes – in the Senate, many expect the process in the 124-member House to be more complicated.

Palazzo said he would fight to make sure “the language is not included in any bill signed into law”. The state Senate approved the bill on Tuesday and it now resides in the House.

Rutherford said any flag that goes up beside the monument to Confederate soldiers “will be the new vestige of racism”.

The proposal by California Democrat Jared Huffman would block the Park Service from allowing private groups to decorate the graves of Southern soldiers with Confederate flags in states that commemorate Confederate Memorial Day. Police Chief Mark Keel said lawmakers on both sides of the issue had been threatened, but he did not specify which ones.

By mid-day, the bill had been stalled by a host of amendments offered by opponents to removing the Confederate banner.

Lawmakers are considering taking the flag down after the mass killing last month at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. Clementa Pinckney and eight others at Bible study with the goal of starting a race war, authorities have said. A white gunman who police said was motivated by racial hatred is charged in the attack. “We can not ever add to what was their sacrifice and their example”.