Rebel Flag Loses S. Carolina House Vote

In a historic move, South Carolina’s House of Representatives voted Wednesday night to remove the Confederate battle flag from atop the Statehouse dome.

After 12 hours of debate Wednesday and five hours on Tuesday, the Republican-controlled House voted, 63 to 56, to accept a Senate compromise that would remove the flag July 1 and place it in a high-profile spot near the Confederate Soldiers Monument on the Statehouse grounds. Because of technical changes House members made concerning lighting and the height of the flag, and after another House vote today on a technicality, the bill will go to a conference committee of Senate and House members.

“Thank you for your hard work. I’m proud of you,” House Speaker David Wilkins, a Republican, said after the vote.

But the decision may not end the long-running controversy about the flag--or the tourism boycott of the state called by the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People since January. NAACP officials and many black legislators, who vehemently opposed the compromise approved by the state Senate last month, say it does not change their position.

“Why bring it down from the dome and wave it right in our faces? That’s an insult. We can’t accept that,” said James Gallman, president of the state conference of the NAACP, who wanted the flag placed in “a historical perspective.”

During their long hours of debate, House members considered everything from an avenue of flags representing the various wars to a bronze monument that contained a likeness of the Rebel flag. It seemed that an agreement was impossible.

“Do you really want to satisfy this thing? Or do you want to continue year after year after year to revisit it?” state Rep. John Scott, a Democrat who is black, asked other representatives as they launched their debate on the issue. “When will we turn it loose? When will the war be over?”

The emotions stirred by this symbolic cloth are complex and deep and have spread to other Southern states, where the flag and other icons of a bygone time are also being called into question.

To supporters, the battle flag represents a dearly held concept, “our Southern heritage.” To opponents, it is an offensive emblem of slavery, white supremacy and a stubborn reluctance to give up the past. The battle lines are still drawn 135 years after the end of the Civil War.

Since 1962, the Rebel flag has flown atop the Statehouse, beneath the American flag and the state flag. Officially, it was placed there in honor of the centennial of the Civil War, but some, noting the struggle against integration at the time, suspected more sinister motives.

In recent years, black leaders and others had pushed to have it removed, but the plan did not really gain momentum until last year, when the NAACP announced a boycott of the state’s tourism and convention spots, beginning in January. Since then, a national media spotlight has been focused here, many groups and individuals have canceled plans to visit the state, and the rancor over the issue--and the layers of complexity--have increased.

The debate was further highlighted during the South Carolina Republican presidential primary campaign, when both Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) were pressed to take a stand on the flag issue. Both avoided wading into the controversy when they said it was up to the people of the state to decide.