South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley should be commended for asking lawmakers in her state to remove the Confederate battle flag from outside South Carolina’s Statehouse.
Haley said June 22 that the flag should be removed and put in a museum.
The governor is right.
Haley’s announcement came only days after the heinous shooting deaths of nine Black church members in South Carolina.
The governor’s announcement also comes days after authorities announced murder charges against Dylann Storm Roof, a 21-year-old white man who told a friend that he had a plan to do something “for the white race” and posed in photos displaying the Confederate flag and burning or desecrating the American flag.
Even after Roof’s terroristic act, the governor’s actions still took courage.
Lawmakers have resisted for years the removal of the flag citing historic reasons.
“This flag is heritage. If you take it down you won’t get rid of racism. The flag didn’t pull the trigger. The flag didn’t kill anybody. That was an individual that did that,” said Mark Garman, 56, of Eastover, one of a handful of flag supporters in the crowd of hundreds.
Garman is partially right.
The repugnant flag “won’t get rid of racism.”
America’s problem with race goes beyond the Confederate Battle Flag, South Carolina or the South.
The bigger problem is institutional racism and a criminal justice system in which too many white police officers are exonerated after shooting to death unarmed Black men.
But symbols do matter. A swastika “didn’t kill anybody” either. But men upholding that symbol did commit genocide and anyone seen bearing that symbol today is suspected as someone who embraces hate. The Confederate Battle flag is a symbol of hate against America and African Americans. It is a symbol of white supremacist and secessionists.
Tom Clements knows this heritage — he brought a poster displaying details and photos about his great-great grandfather, who fought for the Confederacy, and three great-great uncles who died for the South. He said he loved the Confederate flag growing up, but now sees it as a symbol of oppression.
“The racists took over the memories of the Confederacy,” said Clements, who joined the chants of “bring it down,” at a rally this week outside the South Carolina’s Statehouse.
Lawmakers who want to keep the flag want to cite history as their reason. But in doing so they omit how the flag got there in the first place.
The Confederate Battle flag did not always fly above the statehouse.
The Confederate battle flag was placed atop the Statehouse dome in the 1960s as an official protest of the Civil Rights Movement. After mass protests, it was moved to a flagpole next to a Confederate monument out front in 2000, as part of a compromise between a group of Black lawmakers and the Republicans who have controlled South Carolina since 2001.
The governor’s request has already had some effect.
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley last week ordered Confederate flags to be taken down from the state Capitol.
Major retailers are halting sales of the Confederate flag and related merchandise.
On June 23, Sears Holding Corp. said it would begin removing Confederate flag merchandise from its website as did the online retailer eBay. Sears does not sell Confederate merchandise inside Sears or Kmart stores.
The announcements follow that of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which said that it would remove all Confederate-themed items from its store shelves and website after the shooting suspect.
While the governor can urge the removal of the flag, it is up to the South Carolina legislature to vote to remove it. Two-thirds must vote for its removal.
It is time for lawmakers of courage and conscience to remove this symbol of hate once and for all.
Reprinted from the Philadelphia Tribune
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