It’s looking like Nikki Haley (the governors of SC) is making a statement about the confederate flag this afternoon - talking heads on TV say she will suggest that the flag come down.
Senator Lindsey graham has already said it should be removed from state house grounds. Both Graham and Haley will speak at the press conference shortly.
I think that if they had lowered it to half staff there would be less resentment. The fact that it has not been lowered just makes it seem like a pointed insult.I understand that they installed it without a pulley, but don’t tell me someone couldn’t have gone out there with a ladder or a bucket truck and adjusted the height.
I don’t know whether this has been posted as I’ve been out of town and offline …
I was just listening today to a Clemson prof on NPR, and, apparently, the flag can’t be flown at half-mast. It either has to be up or down. It was done that way as part of a compromise over removing it from inside the building.
My guess is the governor is going to say it should be removed during the nine-day period and kick it down the road to the Lege, which is still in session over the budget, to decide its ultimate fate on the Capitol grounds.
Why don’t we all just call it what it is? This flag is essentially intended to be a raised middle-finger to the rest of the country, that we’re not really part of you, we’re our own thing. I think people who fly that flag know darn well why they fly it, and they cherish the fact that the rest of the country think it’s an abomination.
I would like to think that there are plenty of South Carolinians (including the 29 percent of the population that is black) who don’t think that flag represents them.
Well maybe South Carolina legislators will surprise all of us and get this done sooner rather than later:
Lindsay Graham will speak there and then too.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/22/politics/lindsey-graham-confederate-flag-come-down/index.html
As usual, John Oliver has a great quote about this: “The Confederate flag is one of those symbols that really should only be seen on T-shirts, belt buckles and bumper stickers to help the rest of us identify the worst people in the world,"
I’m thrilled to have underestimated the governor.
YDS, I couldn’t have said it better. Ms. Haley deserves praise.
Did Senator Lindsey Graham speak? The video doesn’t depict him saying anything at the Governor’s press conference. I don’t think he acquitted himself well in the interview I saw yesterday.
At least she belatedly did the right thing, although one has to wonder at her conveniently timed moral epiphany:
As recently as last week, then, it wasn’t quite so obvious to her that the capitol that belonged to all South Carolinians. And it certainly didn’t belong to all South Carolinians last October when she said in a debate that the flag wasn’t a problem.
I haven’t had a chance to do more than scan a story or two, but what happens next? Is she calling the legislature into special session? My understanding is that she doesn’t have the authority to actually remove the flag.
I think of Dr. Phil at times like these. He says, “Do you want to be right, or do you want to solve the problem?” Yes, the governor seems to have had a convenient change of heart, but the bottom line is that this is the right thing to do, and she should be applauded for that. And to paint it as non-partisan shuts down the Sons of Confederate Veterans, telling them that we are united and don’t try to make this a wedge issue. Now, if only politicians nationwide would take the same tack with a certain powerful lobby group …
People may take to displaying their own confederate flags more prominently but I feel like it could also be like forcing them to lift their hoods so that you can see who they really are. Maybe the people who really do see it as a symbol of white supremacy will come out of the woodwork in spades, but if they do they were already there anyway. The rest of the population can see them for what they are if they choose to flaunt their backasswardness.
100% agree, YDS. And I’m really happy for black S. Carolinians, and for white S. Carolinians who reject the flag, who I’m sure are legion.
I hope the “flaggers” don’t make things so ugly that the legislature is forced into another compromise of flying the flag somewhere else, which is how it got to its current location. I hope Haley accepts nothing less than a museum.
I agree. As long as we made flying the flag seem normal, it gave people permission to claim it as just a symbol of their heritage. And I truly believe there are good people who don’t get how it plays to others. But we all know that it had been co-opted as a symbol of hate, and today that’s its primary use and so, heritage and historical or not, the govt shouldn’t endorse it.
I’m still confused - so someone (the Legislature? the Governor?) thought it appropriate or even required to fly the Confederate flag on this occasion of remembrance and sorrow?
Or was the flag up every day and it was just status quo?
I agree. I’m speculating that Haley has privately shown some adept political skill during the past 24 hours. As LasMa indicates, Haley’s interviews over the weekend were sort of tepid, with the exception of her insistence that the prosecutor invoke the death penalty for Roof (that’s another discussion). I don’t believe that she would have announced her intention today to remove the flag unless she first lobbied legislative leaders for support. State legislators everywhere tend not to like being called back into a special session. But the urgency is definitely there now. Even the Republican who plans to introduce a bill to remove the flag this week, says he’ll likely get a Republican primary opponent for opposing the Confederate flag, but he doesn’t care because Senator and Reverend Pinckney was a good friend. And yes, one of Haley’s motivations may be that she is term-limited, but it was a good speech and I will give her the benefit of the doubt.
"I’m still confused - so someone (the Legislature? the Governor?) thought it appropriate or even required to fly the Confederate flag on this occasion of remembrance and sorrow?
Or was the flag up every day and it was just status quo?"
It’s been up since the early 60’s. It was flown on the State Capital building until, iirc, the early 2000’s when they came up with the compromise to move it to where it is on the Capital grounds. A 2/3 vote (super majority) of SC legislators have to vote to remove it. The Governor cannot have it removed.
Seems to me that the Supreme Court will have another states’ rights case at some point.
Do you mean that she has shown more skills than that theatrical and contrived performance where she was holding back tears? Is she any different from the self-serving and hypocritical bunch of politicians? I doubt it very much! She did not need nine body bags to find her tender side, or pretend she has one.
On the other hand, one has to be impressed by the reaction of the church leaders and their message to counter hate with love and forgiveness. Not to mention to leave the political agenda in DC and ignore the usual profiteers and hatemongers who descended on Ferguson.
There is hope after all! All that is needed is to wait until the current crop of so-called leaders are pushed into irrelevance.