Confederate flag removed in South Carolina

The decision comes nearly a month after Dylann Roof allegedly shot and killed nine people at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston.

South Carolina on Friday removed the Confederate battle flag from the state capitol grounds in a joyous but solemn ceremony that relegated a divisive symbol of the South’s pro-slavery legacy to a museum.

Phillip Howell can remember when the South Carolina NAACP rallied to have two Confederate flags removed from inside House and Senate Chambers more than 15 years ago.

The crowd chanted, “USA! USA!”

But she worries about doing away with the flag altogether. “Today, we’re down here to witness that the flag did come down”, she said.

Since 2001, the NCAA has prohibited playing pre-selected championships in states where the flag is flown prominently.

Lewis’s speech came after House Republicans sent a bill to ban the Confederate flag from the Capitol Grounds back to committee, effectively kicking the can down the road.

A city council committee in Memphis wants to move a statue and the remains of Civil War hero and slave trader Nathan Bedford Forrest out of a prominent park, and officials in Alaska want a new moniker for a US Census district named for a Confederate general. “Historically, it does represent a society that totally embraced the idea that African Americans were not equal”, says Russell Lewis of the Chicago History Museum. He said he had an ancestor who fought on both sides of the Civil War.

NBC10 was there are NAACP convention attendees watched the ceremony marking an end to the flag flying in Columbia, South Carolina. Howell said he’s been there several times. Nine of them went to the families of the victims.

In fact, it seemed that the joy at the flag removal basically matched that of the ticker tape parade going down a few states over in celebration of the women’s soccer team. Among those calling for the lowering of the flag over the South Carolina State House was Gov. Nikki Haley.

The influence of the Charleston tragedy was evident during the Confederate flag ceremony Friday.

The legislature gave final passage to the bill, required before the flag could be moved, by an overwhelming majority on Thursday after three days of tense debate.

She signed into law a bill to remove the flag on Thursday. The collegiate sports association issued a statement on Friday, noting that the national association has not played championships in states that fly the Confederate flag prominently since 2001.

“It was a great example of people of faith using their faith to heal, rather than to divide”, he said, in applauding the people of South Carolina’s actions.