Will the horrific murders at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston finally spur the South Carolina legislature into doing the right thing regarding the Confederate battle flag that flies near the statehouse?
With Gov. Nikki Haley and Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott — all Republicans — now supporting the flag’s removal from its current location, maybe the tide has turned at last.
Lawmakers should vote to lower the flag and never raise it again.
The Confederate flag is a symbol of white supremacy, and those who say otherwise are dwelling in a revisionist dreamland. South Carolina seceded because its leaders — slaveholders all — perceived a threat to slavery from the federal government and the emerging politics of the North. They said so themselves in their declaration of secession in 1860.
Dylann Storm Roof certainly harbored no confusion over the symbolism of the Confederate flag. Since the white gunman was arrested last week in the cold-blooded shootings of nine black parishioners at a historic Charleston church, multiple pictures of him holding the Confederate flag have surfaced.
Others show him burning and stomping on the U.S. flag.
Roof gravitated toward the Confederate flag for the same reason he was partial toward the flag of Rhodesia, another white supremacist nation of relatively short duration: because he identified with its stark and ugly symbolism.
At a time when South Carolinians of all races are coming together to express solidarity against racial violence, the battle flag’s prominence remains an open sore.
Meanwhile, the debate over the Confederate flag gave Republican candidates for president an ideal opportunity to try to broaden the party’s base, and most of them flubbed it by saying the decision was best left to South Carolina.
Of course the state must decide. But how should it decide? A number of candidates — including Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, John Kasich and Carly Fiorina — clearly think the flag should go, but stopped short of urging South Carolina to act.
Rather than flinch, they could have endorsed the sentiments of Mitt Romney, the GOP standard bearer in 2012, who tweeted the following Saturday:
“Take down the #ConfederateFlag at the SC Capitol. To many, it is a symbol of racial hatred. Remove it now to honor #Charleston victims.”
Yes, remove it now.
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