In South Carolina, the roads that black people drive on are named for Confederate Generals, who fought to keep black people from being able to drive freely on that road.
The confederate flag flies over South Carolina. The roads are named for Confederate Generals. And the white guy is the one who feels his country is being taken away from him.
– Jon Stewart, The Daily Show
Nikki Haley, the Governor of South Carolina, has called on lawmakers to take down the Confederate Battle Flag at the state capitol grounds, a week after a white gunman allegedly shot dead nine black worshippers at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston.
It’s time to move the flag from the capitol grounds. The flag, while an integral part of our past, does not represent the future of our great state.
– Nikki Haley, Governor of South Carolina
The South Carolina Statehouse grounds in Columbia have flown the Confederate Flag for half a century. The flag became a fresh focus of criticism after the Charleston Church massacre and several protests took place demanding that the flag be taken down.
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The flag is an old cause for debate in South Carolina, where it was raised over the State House in the early 1960s. The flag’s current location, on a lower flagpole on the capitol grounds, was a compromise reached in 2000 after some were calling for it to be retired.
Ridding the flag from the front of the State House is a start.
– Marlon Kimpson, State Senator
The accused gunman Dylann Roof, 21, has been arrested and charged with nine counts of murder for allegedly gunning down members of a Bible study group at the “Mother Emanuel” church. He apparently authored an online racist manifesto.
Roof posed with the flag in photos posted online, and the Federal authorities in the US are investigating the attack as a hate crime and an act of terrorism.
Governor Haley has informed lawmakers to address the issue in earnest in light of the wrap up of the legislative year at the end of this week and said that a special session would be ordered if the issue did not get resolved.
The only flag we should be worried about is the US flag. Why would you support a flag that represents division instead of a flag that unites people?
– Carl Smith, a 29-year-old black man, at the site of the Charleston shooting
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Help from POTUS
President Barack Obama has said that the killings showed the United States had a long way to go in addressing racism.
We’re not cured of it. And it’s not just a matter of it not being polite to say ‘nigger’ in public. That’s not the measure of whether racism still exists.
– Obama told Marc Maron, host of the “WTF” podcast
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Republican Politician Mitt Romney put out a tweet asking for the confederate Flag to be taken down, and President Obama tweeted in support of his former opponent.
Off the Shelves
The biggest retailer in the US – WalMart Stores Inc, has released a statement saying that it will be pulling all Confederate flag merchandise from its stores.
We never want to offend anyone with the products that we offer.
– Brian Nick, WalMart Spokesperson
Another retail giant, Sears Holding Corp also said it would remove Confederate flags being sold by third parties on its website.
Some people consider the flag as an emblem of slavery in the United States as well as a rallying symbol for racism and xenophobia.
The Confederate Flag is present on the clothing of its supporters, on bumper stickers and flies from their homes. It is seen as a memorial to the roughly 480,000 Confederate casualties during the 1861-65 American Civil War and is considered as a symbol of the South’s history and culture.
History of the Confederate Flag
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The ‘Stars and Bars’ – has come to be recognised as a symbol of the American South.
The flag, a 13-star saltire in red, white and blue, came into use around 1861-65, the time of the American Civil War, triggered when seven southern states rebelled over President Abraham Lincoln’s anti-slavery legislation and declared secession from the United States.
The army of Northern Virginia was the first to adopt the Confederate flag as a battle flag. However, the Confederate States of America (CSA) – also known as the Confederacy – never officially adopted it. But over the years the flag has become a symbol of the American South.
Despite the defeat of the Confederacy, the flag - also known as the Southern cross, the Rebel flag and the Battle flag - continued to be flown.
Southern military units used the flag in the Second World War.
But the flag was also adopted by the Ku Klux Klan during the American civil rights movement in the 1950s and 60s making it a a symbol of segregation.
The Confederate Flag has also appeared in countless popular culture references, and even though Governor Haley’s move is a bold one, keeping the flag off the Statehouse Grounds is not going to be her only challenge.
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