Republican Governor Nikki Haley and Republican State lawmakers are reportedly in a race to announce this afternoon a change of position on the Confederate flag, calling for its removal.
After a 21-year old white supremacist who glorified the Confederate battle flag gunned down nine members of a Black Charleston church last week, calls have increased for that flag to be permanently removed from flying on the grounds in front of the South Carolina State House. The flag, which is not actually the Confederate flag but a battle flag popularized as an expression of opposition to 1960’s civil rights advances, by law cannot be moved or removed from the State House pole.
GOP Gov. Nikki Haley infamously said in a 2014 debate she supports the flag flying because business leaders have never complained.
“What I can tell you is over the last three and a half years, I spent a lot of my days on the phones with CEOs and recruiting jobs to this state. I can honestly say I have not had one conversation with a single CEO about the Confederate flag,” Haley said.
She also suggested institutional racism isn’t an issue in her state, claiming “we really kind of fixed all that when you elected the first Indian-American female governor. When we appointed the first African-American U.S. senator, that sent a huge message.”
UPDATE:Â Breaking: Sen. Lindsey Graham Decides Confederate Flag No Longer ‘Who We Are,’ Calls For Its Removal
But Haley is expected to announce support for the flag’s removal at a 4:00 PM press conference today.
“It’s unclear whether Haley will embrace calls for the flag’s immediate removal – or argue that the it should be debated when the legislature formally reconvenes next January.  Legislation has already been proposed by S.C. Reps. Doug Brannon and Todd Rutherford to move the flag – but that bill cannot be filed until December of this year (or debated until the following month),”  FITSNEWS reports.
In a stunning turn of events, FITS News just reported lawmakers say the flag will come down.
“We are in ‘when, not if’ territory now,†a legislative leader told FITS.
Eager to beat formerly pro-flag governor Nikki Haley to the punch (the governor has reportedly decided to call on lawmakers to take down the flag), House leaders have quickly sketched out an agreement to move the flag from the north lawn of the State House to a “place of honor†in the Confederate Relic Room – a government-run museum located in Columbia, S.C.
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Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license
Hat tip: David Ramsey/Arkansas Blog/Arkansas Times