South Carolina’s Confederate flag comes down today

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley signed the measure Thursday ordering the flag flying over the state Capitol, which has been there since 1961, to be lowered by Friday.

“Hey, hey, hey, goodbye!” the voices sang.

For much of Thursday, a number of curiosity seekers and protesters gathered below the flag in the grassy, parklike area in front of the State House. “This is why Rosa sat and Martin marched, so that we can have events like this”.

Obama: “A signal of good will and healing”.

The crowd chanted, “USA! USA!”

South Carolina no longer flies the Confederate battle flag on its statehouse ground, consigning the flag to a museum. “That set off an action of compassion by people in South Carolina and all over this country”. Flag supporters say it is a sign of history and pride in their family heritage.

The state Senate swiftly passed a bill to remove the flag permanently from its pole. Clementa Pinckney, in Charleston, when pictures emerged of the alleged shooter posing with a Confederate flag license plate and other racist symbols.

Alana Simmons, granddaughter of the Rev. Daniel Simmons, said she believed “the flag is definitely a symbol of division”.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is also expected to lift its 15-year boycott of South Carolina at the weekend.

Republican Gov. Nikki Haley didn’t show any emotion as the Confederate flag was lowered and removed from the South Carolina Statehouse grounds until someone in the crowd yelled “Thank you, governor!” White supremacist groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, promised to stage a rally in South Carolina if the flag was voted down.

The confederate flag is a symbol of racism to some and one of history to others.

The Confederate battle flag had flown at the Capitol for more the five decades after being raised to honor the 100-year anniversary of the Civil War, which started at Fort Sumter in Charleston.

We’re glad this reprehensible symbol is being removed from the South Carolina Statehouse, and is under review for removal at the nation’s Capitol.

The ceremony marks the end of a highly emotional debate about the flag’s place on state grounds after last month’s mass shooting, in which nine people were killed at a church in Charleston. He delivered the eulogy for state Sen. Barton, 52, a pastor who also was at the ceremony in 2000. The suspected killer, Dylann Roof, can be seen holding the Confederate flag in photos taken prior to the shooting spree.

Police said the killings were racially motivated.

Haley moved first, calling lawmakers to vote the flag down.

As the controversial colours were furled, there was a sense of vast catharsis: the feeling that there had been a break from past, that South Carolina, and the south more broadly, had moved on.