South Carolina Senate approves bill to remove Confederate flag

(Tim Dominick/The State via AP, File).

The South Carolina Senate voted Monday to remove the Confederate battle flag from a monument on the Statehouse grounds in Columbia, The Associated Press reports.

“It is about honoring 300,000 Southern Americans who bleed and gave their lives”, contended Randy Whitfield, a confederate flag supporter who demonstrated outside the Statehouse. Each member came up to talk to her and offer condolences.

CNN previously reported that ex- Florida Gov. Jeb Bush called the Confederate Flag “racist” last month following the Charleston Massacre.

Several of those who spoke Monday said that incident, and the forgiveness that the families of the victim showed the suspect during a court hearing, changed their mind on the issue of the flag.

Dylann Roof is already facing nine counts of murder. The bill then directs that the flag be moved to the Confederate Relic Room “for appropriate display”.

The bill now moves to the House, where there are concerns it could be sidetracked by amendments. One that would ask voters to weigh in on whether they would like to see the flag remain where it now flies or come down.

Before burning the Confederate flag, activists highlighted the criminal nature of racism in the United States by reading an excerpt from Frederick Douglass’ famous speech, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”

Rex Marshall, of Dundalk, decorated his front porch with Confederate flags over the weekend but took them down when he heard that similar flags were stolen from a house in Essex.

“I think it was about state’s rights, more than anything, and the fact that their own territory was being invaded, and they felt they had to strike back and defend themselves”, Jackson says. “Like I said, he was gonna fight because his state was being invaded, and his people were being threatened”. “We now turn our eyes to the House and urge representatives to also address the issue in a timely fashion and pass a bill that removes the Confederate flag and its 15-year-old flagpole from the Statehouse grounds”. Similar art is etched on a wall inside the Statehouse, Pitts said.

Tuesday evening, the House approved an amendment to a spending bill that would prevent graves on federal lands from being decorated with the confederate flag. George E. Campsen III, a Republican from Charleston, said.

“I wouldn’t want to catch somebody doing that because it won’t be pretty. There is a minority that is dead set against it”, Neal said. Among them was Joshua Herring, 25, who is black.

Tuesday’s Senate vote lacked drama, almost matching the vote from the day before.

Pinckney’s widow, Jennifer, was present for Tuesday’s vote.

She did not speak publicly at the Capitol. Clementa Pinckney was also on hand in the Senate Chamber today. Sen. He told Martin, “In talking to some of my colleagues across the aisle, there seems to be an effort to substitute another Confederate flag for the Battle Flag”. His grace is contagious.