S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley Calls for Removal of Confederate Flag From State Capitol Grounds

South Carolina State Capitol

S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley Calls for Removal of Confederate Flag From State Capitol Grounds

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Photo Courtesy: UPI

COLUMBIA, S.C., June 22 (UPI) — South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on Monday called for the state assembly to vote to remove the Confederate flag from capitol grounds in the wake of a racially motivated shooting at a church that killed nine people in Charleston.
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Haley said that though the flag is seen by some South Carolinians as a symbol of history and a memorial to ancestors who fought in the American Civil War, others see it as “a deeply offensive symbol of a brutally oppressive past.

“Today we are here in a moment of unity in our state without ill will to say it’s time to move the flag from the capitol grounds,” she said.

Haley made her case at the state house flanked by a bi-partisan group of state and federal lawmakers, including Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Lindsey Graham. The senator initially defended the Confederate flag Saturday morning, saying, “It’s him, not the flag,” referring to Dylann Roof, the man accused of opening fire at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church last week.

Haley’s news conference came after numerous comments from politicians on both sides of the aisle saying the flag — often associated with racism and white supremacist groups — should not be on capitol grounds.

U.S. President Barack Obama called for the flag to be taken down Friday.

“The president has said before he believes the Confederate flag belongs in a museum, and that is still his position,” spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, tweeted his support for the removal of the flag.

“Take down the #ConfederateFlag at the SC Capitol,” he wrote. “To many, it is a symbol of racial hatred. Remove it now to honor #Chrleston victims.”

Hayley said she respects freedom of speech and that people who wish to fly the Confederate flag on their private property should be free to do so. She said that should the South Carolina general assembly not debate the removal of the flag before the end of its regular session next week, she’ll call lawmakers back into session under extraordinary circumstances.

“For good and for bad, whether it is on the state house grounds or in a museum, the flag will always be a part of the soil of South Carolina,” Hayley said. “But this is a moment in which we can say that that flag, while an integral part of our past, does not represent the future of our great state.”

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