Posted on 06/22/2015 3:37:38 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said Monday the Confederate flag should be removed from the grounds of the state capitol, reversing her position on the divisive symbol amid growing calls for it to be removed.
The Republican's about-face comes after nine black church members were gunned down, allegedly by a young white man who embraced the flag as a symbol of white supremacy.
"150 years after the end of the Civil War, the time has come," Haley said after rousing applause, surrounded by Democrats and Republican lawmakers. "That flag, while an integral part of the past, does not represent the future of our great state"
The flag has flown in front of the state capitol for 15 years after being moved from atop the Statehouse dome.
U.S. Sens. Lindsay Graham and Tim Scott, an African-American appointed by Haley, were standing with Haley during her announcement. When she finished, she hugged Scott and South Carolina's only other black congressman, Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn.
The announcement came after state lawmakers met urgently with each other and the governor.
The head of the Republican National Committee has also called for its removal.
Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida, both of whom are Republican and running for president, said that whether to remove the flag or not was an issue for South Carolinians to determine.
(Excerpt) Read more at latino.foxnews.com ...
why these people allow the media to set the narrative is beyond me. The story here is a group of people, in the face of terror and hate, chose the path of Jesus. Not a symbol an inanimate object that most people ignore.
The guy was driven to hate by a mass media and a leadership that condoned and even encouraged hate. By a country that has turned its back on it’s own greatness and has removed God and judgment from the public discourse.
The country is headed to hell on rails if they fail to see this.
Exactly...and the state legislature doesn't meet gain until December.
Two reasons, I think.
1.) That flag, a 36” square Army of Northern Virginia battle flag reproduction, is flying BEHIND a monument to the Confederate dead of South Carolina. The ANV was where the vast majority of South Carolinian soldiers fought in the WBTS. It is a soldiers’ flag, flying at a soldiers’ monument. Yes, it is on the Statehouse grounds, on one edge. There’s also a lot of other monuments on the Statehouse grounds, including ones to Strom Thurmond and (gag) Jesse Jackson. Do we blow those up too? That flag is not in anyone’s face. Hell, I know the exact spot where that monument is, I drove by it every day for six years. You have to look very hard to see it, especially on windless days.
2.) As somebody who lived through the initial flag flap in SC circa 1999, and who supported taking it off the Statehouse roof and putting it where it is now, I can tell you for a straight-up fact that this will do exactly NOTHING to satisfy the leftist racists in the NAACP and their ilk. Not one thing. Haley will get no credit, the news media will see to that. All that will happen is that the flag will be taken down and then the NAACP, in the manner of extortionists everywhere, will say, “that’s nice, now remove the monument to the Confederate dead or the protests continue.”
I am sick of constantly backing up. I am sick of being Southern (Virginia native, lived in the Southeast my entire life) and being automatically assumed to be a racist redneck. I am sick of the heritage of my ancestors being shat on by people who extend 2015 sensibilities into an 1860 world. I am sick of leftists who see all things Confederate as evil, full stop. And I’m sick of leftists who have taken crass advantage of a horrific tragedy and the sick puppy who caused it, before the victims are even in the ground.
These people do not deserve dialogue. They do not deserve compromise. They deserve nothing but contempt.
}:-)4
Where’s the ACLU this time? This issue seems exactly right up their alley .... They’re strangely silent this time around.
Free speech my as&.
Haley is certainly welcome to her opinion, as are all the citizens of South Carolina and the rest of the states. If the people of SC want to remove the battle flag from public places, they should do so. If they want to keep it flying, they should do so. I think it should remain flying as a symbol that a central power that oversteps its constitutional boundaries should be resisted.
Also, people who support this should also be aware that there are reports from different areas of the country in which the stars and stripes is being taken down because it offends the immigrants from Mexico and southward.
Each individual may draw the line where he wills, but as a general rule giving in to leftist agitprop usually doesn’t end well.
Time to remove the Black Power/Black Panthers flag from public view.
And this is going to solve an actual problem of some sort? It's going to cause fathers to feed and care for their bastard children? It's going to reduce crime? It's going to bring solvency to the budget?
What good thing is this going to do other than make silly people feel good about bashing their pet scapegoat?
Part of Liberalism's methodology is making silly things the focus of our attention. This is but the latest silly thing that is sucking all the oxygen out of the room at the expense of more consequential issues.
A couple of weeks ago, it was Bruce Jenner.
I'm sort of the opinion that they can fly whatever flag they wish in their own state.
What would be your reaction if Texas decided to start flying a Mexican flag on ITS state buildings?
If Texans want that to happen, then let em.
Yep, and I believe every county in southern states has a statue in honor of confederate soldiers..ours does.
They take it down over my prone body....
While we still may be at odds about this particular matter concerning the flag, for what it's worth, I agree 100% the sentiments you expressed above. Although I was conceived in Texas, when life begins, circumstances were such in the early 1940s that I was born in Yankeeland (like Hank Hill in the "King of the Hill" cartoon) but moved back to Dixie by choice after I became of age. So, I always considered this home in spite of what the official record of birth says. :)
The South has always appealed to me and even as youngster growing up north of the Mason-Dixon line, I had a longing to return to the land where my life began. Virtually everything about Southern culture and values appeals to my sensibilities. And on those rare occasions where I venture up north, I too am sick of the mockery that this region and I take. There truly are those (especially in liberal New England) who have an irrational seething hatred for this region and its people.
And I'll close by posting one image that I frequently use here on Free Republic:
The "Solid South" does indeed exist nowadays. The states of the Confederacy are now ironically those that most oppose slavery, the yoke of Big Labor's union thugs. The South is now the foremost region when it comes to individual freedom and genuine economic liberty. The region once known for its abolitionists are now shackled by the liberal tyranny of forced unionism. There's no need to wait for the South to rise again. The map vividly shows that indeed it already had!
Maine is a right to work state
sad, as she had promise.
now that she has pissed off so many fine southerners, she needs to go.
Maine House rejects right-to-work legislation, article dated April 24, 2013 in the Bangor Daily News. Has that been reversed in the past couple of years?
I tried to call Nikki's office today. No way to get through to her or to any of her staff.
I was able to reach an office of Linda Graham. I told his staff that he should definitely support taking down the battle flag. It would be great to get some pictures of him doing it. That way we'd have some great photo ops for the next election when we make sure he NEVER gets elected again.
Yes, and people in “their own state” are now calling for the flag to be removed. So why is it any of your business?
Why didn’t she just create a referendum at the next election and let the voters decide. This is what she has done in other issues.
Good comments. btw, I recall there was a while back accusations made regrading Nikki’s moral character or something. At the time it was dismissed as just lies by opponents. Now I’m not so sure.
bump
Because they are not a majority, but they are attempting to brow beat and guilt trip the majority into doing something they didn't want to do.
All of these Liberal Stampede efforts ought to be our business.
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