COLUMBIA, S.C. — In the wake of the murders of nine people at their black church, the tide has quickly turned against an enduring symbol of South Carolina and its political battles.
On Tuesday, a large rally was held on the steps of the state Capitol again pushing for its removal from site.
"It's a racist symbol that has no business on state property," said Tom Clements who has ancestors who fought for the South during the Civil War.
The Confederate battle flag flew atop the state Capitol dome from 1962 to 2000. It was removed and placed on a pole at a soldier's monument in 2000 in a compromise vote.
Letisha Scotland was a student at the University of South Carolina in 2000 and worked with the NAACP to get the flag removed from the dome but didn't like where they put it.
"We were never comfortable with it and we knew it was going to take time," she said.
A long-running NAACP boycott and the state's loss of several major sporting events also did little to change minds about the flag.
The tragedy in Charleston has changed many minds about the flag.
"It doesn't represent me, it doesn't represent my family and it doesn't represent my community," Mike Drescher of Charleston said. "I'd like to see it come down now."
A small number of flag supporters stood on the Capitol grounds Tuesday as well, including John Miller who said the flag wasn't to blame for the actions of a killer.
"He killed nine pillars of our community, that's a sick, sick man," Miller said. "But the flag had nothing to do with it. It didn't pull the trigger."
The Confederate flag now flies at a memorial and this is the appropriate place for it, he said.
But that view was overwhelmingly opposed, both outside the Statehouse and inside where lawmakers voted to put the issue on the table during this extended summer session.
State Rep. Joe Neal (D-Richland) brought his fellow lawmakers to applause when he addressed them.
"If ever there's going to be a day when South Carolina can rise and be the state that it claims that it is, this is the day," he said.
Others stood in honor of Clementa Pinckney, the state senator and pastor who was also killed at the church in Charleston.
He will lie in state on Wednesday inside the Statehouse from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Lawmakers are now likely to return in mid-July to address the flag issue. If it is removed from the Capitol grounds, it's not clear where it might be placed.
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NASCAR released a statement Tuesday supporting Haley's position:
"As we continue to mourn the tragic loss of life last week in Charleston, we join our nation's embrace of those impacted. NASCAR supports the position that South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley took on the Confederate Flag on Monday. As our industry works collectively to ensure that all fans are welcome at our races, NASCAR will continue our long-standing policy to disallow the use of the Confederate Flag symbol in any official NASCAR capacity. While NASCAR recognizes that freedom of expression is an inherent right of all citizens, we will continue to strive for an inclusive environment at our events."
From Winthrop Acting President Debra Boyd regarding Confederate flag:
“The Confederate flag is both an historical artifact and a visceral modern symbol of racism and oppression. The time is right to put the flag in a museum where the past is neither forgotten nor exalted but used appropriately to educate. By moving the flag from the State House grounds to a museum, we demonstrate our resolve to move forward, together, as a people and a state.”
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