Columbia, SC (WLTX) - South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has signed a bill to remove the Confederate flag from the grounds of the State House, setting up the ultimate end to a controversy over the flag's existence at the capitol that's lasted for decades.
Haley, flanked by lawmakers and civic leaders, affirmed her signature to the bill Thursday afternoon in the rotunda of the capitol building, just a few dozens yards away from where the flag currently flies. "Today, I am very proud to say it is a great day in South Carolina," Haley said.
The measure got final approval 13 hours earlier from the South Carolina House or Representatives following a 15-hour long debate.
Before the signing, Haley reminded those in attendance why so many were moved to bring down the flag: the deaths of the victims of the church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina last month, and the forgiveness that those families gave the suspect in the case.
"We saw the families show the world what true forgiveness and grace looked like," she said. "That forgiveness and grace set off another action, an action of compassion by people all across South Carolina and all across this country."
Among those at Thursday's ceremony were some of the families of nine victims. Haley gave each of them the pens she used to sign the law.
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."
Beside Haley as she put pen to paper were former Governors Dick Riley, Jim Hodges, and David Beasley. Beasley proposed taking down the banner in 1996, and paid a political price for it, losing his re-election bid in 1998.
Haley gave one of the pens she used to sign the bill to Beasley, and also Hodges, who was governor when the flag came off the dome of the capitol 15 years ago.
At a ceremony set for 10 a.m. Friday, the flag will be lowered for the final time; a short time later, it will be delivered to the Confederate Relic Room, a museum just down the road from the capitol.
Haley promised to remove the banner with dignity.
Related Coverage:House Votes to Take Down Confederate Flag
Some version of the Confederate flag has been at the capitol since 1962, when lawmakers first raised the banner on top of the dome of the building, where it flew beneath the U.S. and state flag for 38 years. In 2000, following a bitter and divisive public debate, lawmakers agreed to a compromise that put the Confederate battle flag at the Confederate soldier's monument on the front lawn of the capitol complex along Gervais Street.
While some were not satisfied with the compromise, there was never the broad political support to completely remove the flag, partly because of how hard it would have been to remove it. Flag supporters had successfully written into the law that it would take a two-thirds supermajority in both chambers to bring the banner down.
The landscape of the debate changed, however, in the wake of the massacre of nine people during a Bible study at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. Police believe the killings where a hate crime, and multiple pictures of the alleged shooter online showed him posing with the Confederate flag.
Some began to question how the flag could continue to be in such a position of prominence at the capitol, and calls were renewed for the banner to come down. On June 22, Haley, along with the state's two U.S. Senators and other top lawmakers, asked the General Assembly to amend their special session to take up the measure.
The Senate passed their version of the plan on Tuesday of this week with little contentious debate. That was not the case in the House, where discussion of the bill turned into a marathon session of emotional pleas, impromptu history lessons, and parliamentary maneuvering.
Flag supporters introduced over 60 amendments in an effort to to get some sort of concession from the other side, including one that would have put an alternate Civil War era flag at the monument. The group, led by Rep. Mike Pitts of Laurens, tried to convince their fellow lawmakers that some sort of symbol of Confederate heritage needed to remain at the monument.
After hours of debate, frustration boiled over.
"I have heard enough about heritage," State Rep. Jenny Horne yelled at lawmakers through tears at one point. "I have a heritage. I am a lifelong South Carolinian. I am a descendant of Jefferson Davis (the President of the Confederacy) okay? 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."
"When that flag stands out front, the entire African American community feels the pain, and that pain is intensified when things happen like Charleston," said Rep. Joe Neal of Columbia. "When groups like the Klu Klux Klan and the Conservative Citizens Council and other groups use that flag as a banner, and use it as an excuse to hate, and kill, and to burn and to bomb."
Lawmakers reached a major sticking point late in the debate over an amendment by Rep. Rick Quinn of Lexington County, who wanted to secure a budget for the flag to be displayed at the relic room. Had the amendment passed, the measure would have gone back to the Senate, where one of the top leaders there had indicated they wouldn't accept any amendment. After hours of debate, Quinn relented when Rep. Russell Ott introduced a resolution that would accomplish the same goal of Quinn's amendment, without forcing the measure to return to the Senate.
The final vote for the bill in the House was 94-20.
