..
Current Events –
Confederate Flag Controversy In S.C.
After the brutal act of racism and terrorism that killed 9 people inside a South Carolina church last week, the confederate flag has once again become a symbol of controversy. However, an act by Gov. Nikki R. Haley to have it removed from the SC State House has set the stage for a fight of epic proportions.
Current Events
When Dylann Roof shot 9 people inside Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church, he was quick to pose for photos with the confederate flag to show his support for racial segregation. Not surprisingly, he was not the first one, as the confederate flag has long been a symbol of white supremacy and racism. So on Monday, Gov. Haley attempted to do the impossible — remove the Confederate battle flag from in front of the State House building. She acknowledged that although the flag is revered by many southerners, it has since become a “deeply offensive symbol of a brutally offensive past.”
“The events of this week call upon us to look at this in a different way,” Haley said, referring to the Charleston church shooting. Her status as an Indian-American and the first member of an ethnic minority to serve as governor of the state, as well as the first female, was seen as integral to her decision.
“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,” Haley added while flanked by both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, including US Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott, an African-American..
Until recently, the second-term Republican governor has shown little interest in addressing the intensely divisive issue of the confederate flag. However, her evolved position seems to have been shaped by: the horror of seeing the unsmiling gunman posing with it in photos; her conversations with congregants at the church; intensifying pressure from South Carolina business leaders to remove a controversial vestige of the state’s past; and calls from leaders of her own party, including its leading presidential contenders, urging her to take it down once and for all.
Modern history of the confederate flag is somewhat convoluted. Although many southerners have fooled themselves into believing the flag is a symbol of honor for their Civil War ancestors, the true story is much more complex. Yes, the flag is a throwback to the Civil War. However, it took on a new meaning in 1962, when lawmakers unfurled it over the State House in defiance of efforts to expand the civil rights of Black Americans. That year, the flag became a sure sign of racism and segregation and has been so ever since.
Current Events
Gov. Haley’s announcement to have the flag removed from the State House was immediately met by fierce defiance and is already being called “political suicide.”
“It’s up there,” Will Whitson, a Columbia-based news reporter said. “One thing is, I don’t think the flag is on a pulley — so even if they wanted to put it at half-staff, they couldn’t. And to remove it from the grounds would require a legislative vote.”
“If you touch it, you usually die politically,” Scott Buchanan, a political science professor at The Citadel added. In fact, the flag is so controversial, “it has been padlocked into place,” State Sen. Vincent Sheheen said.
Gov. Haley is preparing to proceed with steps to have the flag removed, which many say will almost certainly be a near impossibility. In the meantime, SC lawmakers have since removed the Gadsden flags from their desks (which portrays a pro-Confederacy coiled snake and the “Don’t Tread On Me” slogan) in deference to State Sen. Clementa Pinckney, who was pastor and one of the victims of the church shooting.
Interestingly, a prominent Mississippi Republican has since come forward to denounce the confederate symbol in light of the church shooting. On Monday, Speaker of the House Philip Gunn declared that the Mississippi state flag, which includes the Confederate banner, “has become a point of offense that needs to be removed.” Also, Walmart announced that it will immediately stop selling the controversial flag.
Has the time for the racially divisive confederate flag to go away for good? Perhaps the untimely deaths of the 9 church members in South Carolina will finally make it happen.
TAKE OUR POLL:
OK WASSUP! covers current events. Today’s article:
Is it time for the confederate flag to go away? TAKE OUR POLL!
"Has the time for the racially divisive confederate flag to go away for good?"
IMO, Yes. However, such will not be the case because people will still have the right to display it on their private properties…and no doubt it will even be displayed in some Museums.
And I'm not going to kick about that.
Gov. Haley has taken a good First-step. How significant it is?..will depend on her ability to get 2/3rds vote supporting its removal. Or her ability to get the 2/3rds Law rescinded by a simple majority AND THEN securing whatever number of votes she'll need to get it removed.
I do think sooner, rather than later, that flag is coming down. And that's a good thing
But in the words of Charles Johnson at LGF "it’s also an absolute disgrace that it took the murders of nine people and an overwhelming public outcry for them to realize how horribly insulting and wrong it was that the flag was there at all. Ever. Because the Confederate flag didn’t just suddenly become a symbol of slavery and oppression and treason."
Btw – if I may?…I must share this!
Yesterday evening I had the good fortune to catch South Carolina Democrat, Congressman James *Jim* Clyburn, during his interview on MSNBC and later, on CNN. And I heard, for the very FIRST time, the actual history of that flag -.the "Confederate Battle Flag" – the flag many (if not most) White South Carolinians, in particular, have been clinging to FOR DECADES out of respect for their Southern White "heritage" in "Honor" of their ancestors who served in the Confederacy during the Civil War.
Turns out it's highly UNLIKELY their South Carolinian ancestors EVER fought under that flag!!!!
The actual flag, the first Confederate National flag, resembled the U.S. flag and was called "Stars and Bars."
The flag so many White (mostly) Southerners are clinging to is actually the "Confederate Battle Flag" which "was created so it would not be mistaken for the Union Flag in battle."
Please Note: The "Confederate Battle Flag" was used primarily by the Confederate Army of NORTHERN VIRGINIA..NOT South Carolina. And even THAT flag was packed away for darn near 100 years after the Civil War UNTIL roughly 1961-62 when, as per Eugene Robinson (S.C. native and MSNBC political analyst) White Southerners pulled it out and began using it as a kind of "middle-finger" to the U.S. Government in opposition to the Civil Rights/Equal Rights Movement.
Source: http://www.historynet.com/civil-war-flags
You simply can NOT make this stuff up…..smh.
Is it time for the confederate flag to go? Its a real simple answer. YES, YES, and HELL YES!!!!!
"I think the flag is inescapably a symbol of human bondage and slavery, and particularly when people use it obviously for murder and to justify hatred so vicious that you would kill somebody," Paul said in a Tuesday morning interview with Boston talk radio host Jeffrey Kuhner. "I think that symbolism needs to end, and I think South Carolina's doing the right thing." – Rand Paul
Hmm. I guess better late than never huh?
Naaaah. Just another White Supremacist sympathizer-politician running for President AND for the hills "a day AFTER the political winds seemed to shift in South Carolina,"
Paul Begala: Hillary 'Absolutely' Has to Answer for Confederate Flag in Arkansas
Former Clinton advisor Paul Begala told CNN's Chris Cuomo Tuesday morning that Hillary Clinton "absolutely" has to answer for standing by her husband when he served as governor of Arkansas and defended that state's flag's relationship to the Confederate battle flag.
"Does she have to answer for her time as first lady in Arkansas with Bill standing by the Arkansas flag proudly when it, too, is said to borrow from the Confederate symbology?" Cuomo said.
"Well, sure, absolutely," said Begala. "Times change. Circumstances change." [….]
H/T: The Weekly Standard
Uh..No Paul. Hillary (and Bill for that matter) had darn sure give a more detailed explanation than THAT. And then they should apologize.
Just because somebody used the flag for their own reason doesn't mean it should be banned. But I think they're gonna change it. Lots of Republicans are on board this time.
this looks like its about to happen. i read even the white christians are ready to take it down.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/20/politics/confederat…
Leave it to Ann Coulter to shoot off her mouth AGAIN and get her *facts* WRONG…Again…smh.
Predictably Coulter is not at all happy about Gov. Haley's proposal to remove the Confederate Battle Flag from South Carolina's state capitol. On the Fox Business channel she stated:
“Well, I am a student of American history, so I am appalled by — though I’d really like to like Nikki Haley since she is a Republican. On the other hand, she is an immigrant and does not understand America's history."
But umm…here's the problem with Ann's take on this. Nikki Haley is NOT an "immigrant."
She was in fact, born right here in the U.S. ..in Bamberg, SOUTH CAROLINA to be exact.
H/T: TheDailyBeast
Welp..Lol….
You know things ain't going well in right-wing world when even right-wingers are saying "Sweet Baby Jesus! What is wrong with us?!"
TheRightScoop:
Gavin McInness out-Coulters Coulter very soon after Coulter's comment (about Gov. Haley) with this tweet:
"Sikhism is just cultish guru worship and @nikkihaley AKA Nimrata Nikki Randhawa Haley has no place telling Southerners about their history."
Nope. Not a racist or bigoted bone in their body/sarc.
And not a tap of intelligence either.
Btw- Gov. Haley is reported to be of the Methodist faith.
Related story — Alabama makes history TODAY!
Birmingham News: Confederate Flag Removed From Alabama Capitol Grounds On Order of Gov. Bentley
On the order of Gov. Robert Bentley, the Confederate battle flag which stands at the foot of the confederate memorial on the state Capitol grounds was taken down this morning.
Two workers came out of the Capitol building about 8:20 a.m. and with no fanfare quickly and quietly took the flag down. They declined to answer questions.
Moments later Gov. Bentley emerged from the Capitol on his way to an appearance in Hackleburg. Asked if he had ordered the flag taken down, the governor said, "Yes I did."
Asked his reasons for taking it down and if it included what happened in Charleston last week, the governor said, "Yes, partially this is about that. This is the right thing to do. We are facing some major issues in this state regarding the budget and other matters that we need to deal with. This had the potential to become a major distraction as we go forward. I have taxes to raise, we have work to do. And it was my decision that the flag needed to come down." […..]