S.C. governor signs bill to remove Confederate flag

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Surrounded by political leaders and families of the nine black worshipers slain last month by a young white supremacist, Gov. Nikki Haley on Thursday signed legislation to remove the Confederate battle flag from outside the Statehouse.

The banner will be lowered from the 30-foot flagpole outside the state Capitol at 10 a.m. Friday, she said, and be taken to "its rightful place" – in the Confederate Relic Room in the State Museum, down the road from the Capitol.

Haley said the stars and bars, which has flown at the Statehouse since 1961, would be officially retired "with dignity." A 2000 compromise relocated it from the Statehouse dome.

The symbol of the South's lost cause of slavery and secession has been despised by African-Americans for 150 years, while many whites honor it in tribute to their rebel ancestry.

​"The Confederate flag is coming off the grounds of the South Carolina Statehouse," she said to cheers and applause in the Capitol Rotunda, which was packed with hundreds of people, politicians, church leaders and relatives of the victims of the massacre at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.

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With nine pens that she gave the families of the "Emanuel Nine," Haley signed the historic legislation that overwhelmingly passed the South Carolina House early Thursday after a wearying, passionate debate that at times drew tears, anger and calls for grace and unity from lawmakers.

"This is a story of the history of South Carolina and how the action of nine individuals laid out this long chain of events that forever showed the state of South Carolina what love and forgiveness looks like," Haley told the audience before the signing. "Twenty-two days ago, I didn't know if I would ever be able to say this again. But today I am very proud to say it is a great day in South Carolina."

She cast the events as "a story of action," beginning with the worshipers who welcomed and prayed with suspect Dylann Roof and ending with the legislative action to remove the flag the accused killer had embraced.

"Nine people took in someone who did not look like them or act like them. And with true love and true faith and acceptance, they sat and prayed with him for an hour. That love and faith was so strong that it brought grace to them and the families," Haley said.

"We saw the families show the world what true forgiveness and grace looked like," she continued. "That forgiveness and grace set off another action, an action of compassion by people all across South Carolina and all across this country."

Spurred by the example of the families, Haley said, lawmakers, some of whom had been ardent supporters of the banner, began to think differently about the issue.

"We saw members start to see what it was like to be in each other's shoes, start to see what it felt like," she said. "We heard about the true honor of heritage and tradition, and we heard about the true pain that many had felt, and we took the time to understand it.

​"The actions that took place will go down in the history books," the GOP governor said.

Responding quickly to the legislative move, the NAACP announced that it would vote this weekend at its national convention in Philadelphia to lift the group's 15-year-old economic boycott of the state, which began in 2000 when the flag flew in front of the Statehouse.

The battle flag in one version or another has flown at the Statehouse for more than 50 years, going up in 1961 to recognize the 100th anniversary of the Civil War and staying up the following year as a protest of the civil rights movement.

It was removed from inside the Statehouse and on top of the dome in 2000 as part of a legislative compromise that raised a battle flag behind the Confederate Soldier's Monument and also created the African-American History Monument on the Statehouse grounds.

House legislators spent more than 15 hours on the controversial issue sorting through about 60 amendments, finally getting to the bill itself at almost 1 a.m. Thursday. Lawmakers gave the bill second reading by a vote of 93-27, then adjourned for a few minutes to start a new day's session and returned to finish their work.

They then voted for final approval, 94-20. The House has 77 Republicans and 46 Democrats.

State senators gave final approval Tuesday to removing the battle flag, sending it to the Confederate Relic Room and taking down the flagpole.

"Today, as the Senate did before them, the House of Representatives has served the State of South Carolina and her people with great dignity," Haley said in a statement afterward. "I'm grateful for their service and their compassion. It is a new day in South Carolina, a day we can all be proud of, a day that truly brings us all together as we continue to heal, as one people and one state."

House Speaker Jay Lucas, a Republican from Hartsville, said he was proud of House members.

"This was a tough, lengthy debate, but we agreed to put our differences aside in order to reach the swift resolution we promised the people of South Carolina," he said. "I am proud of our membership and the decision we made to move our state forward."

Many of those who voted against the bill are from the western South Carolina, known as the Upstate area. All are Republicans.

Rep. Garry Smith, a Republican from Simpsonville who came into the debate undecided and represents constituents who fiercely opposed removing the flag, said he wasn't completely satisfied with the final bill but voted for it.

He wanted the compromise so a flag could honor the war dead, but when it became clear that wouldn't happen, he supported the bill.

"It's one of those emotional issues that's going to be very controversial. There's going to be a lot of conflict and all involved with it," Smith said. "So it's something that I don't think I'm totally satisfied with, but I think it's something that's good for South Carolina."

The marathon day saw emotions see-saw as earlier feelings of goodwill and respect gave way to frustration, distrust and anger when it appeared attempts to prevent the bill from being amended might fail. Flag opponents feared any amendment might trigger negotiations with the Senate and make the flag stay up longer.

But lawmakers worked out a compromise after midnight.

Flag supporters appeared close earlier Wednesday evening to winning support for a proposal to replace the battle flag with another flag.

Then Rep. Jenny Horne, a Republican from Summerville, took to the floor in tears to shout at her colleagues not to amend the bill, which she said would add further pain to the families of nine victims shot to death June 17 at a historic black church in Charleston, including Democratic Sen. Clementa Pinckney.

"I have heard enough about heritage," Horne shouted. "I have a heritage. I am a lifelong South Carolinian. I am a descendant of Jefferson Davis (the president of the Confederacy), OK? But that does not matter. It's not about Jenny Horne. it's about the people of South Carolina who have demanded that this symbol of hate come off of the State House grounds.

"I do not believe that we do not have the heart in this body to do something meaningful such as take a symbol of hate off these grounds on Friday," she said. "If any of you vote to amend, you are ensuring that the flag will fly beyond Friday. And for the widow of Sen. Picnkney and his two young daughters, that would be adding insult to injury. And I will not be a part of it!"

The amendment failed shortly afterward.

Lawmakers on both sides of the issue went to the podium to talk of their family history.

Rep. Joe Neal, a Hopkins Democrat and minister, told the House his ancestors were South Carolina slaves and noted that none of the lawmakers discussing the heritage of their Confederate ancestors talked about slavery and the pain it caused.

He said pro-flag lawmakers asking for grace by opponents of the flag needed to recognize grace is "not a one-way street." He said grace is something given, not asked for.

"Grace is not something that should be used as a political maneuver," he said. "Grace means remove that flag and do it now."