Since there was so much chatter on the Web about Confederate flags in South Carolina — the ones on Dylann Roof’s car, and the one on our Statehouse grounds — I thought I’d go over and take a look.
I found that the U.S. and S.C. flags atop the dome were at half-mast. The Confederate flag flying behind the Confederate soldier monument was not.
And yes, those are storm clouds in the background. The photo was taken at 4:02 p.m. today…
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Well, I guess it would be hypocritical to fly the white supremacist flag at half mast to honor the victims of a white supremacist, huh?
Why would flags of non governments be flown at half-staff?
National and state flags are flown at half staff.
The confederate battle flag flies at the Confederate memorial monument.
Why would flags of nongovernments be flown on the State House grounds?
Let’s replace it with one from Michael’s that is rainbows and bunnies!
That’s the question at issue.
We know why it flies. But it makes no sense to lower it to half staff.
Obviously, the right thing to do today would have been not to fly it at all. Today, or ever again.
I don’t care about the flag, but I don’t agree
If they removed it today, it would obviously be their admission that it was only there for racial purposes. While that is true for some, it isn’t true for all.
and now we have Fox News:
http://jezebel.com/fox-news-and-lindsey-graham-lament-hate-crime-against-c-1712327016
I guess the patches on his jacket, the things he said during the shooting, and historical significance of the location to black history are all irrelevant to people with this view. I guess they see what they want to see.
I don’t really understand the motive to deny when the facts at this point seem to point in another direction. What do they get out of denying the possibility of racism.
They lose their own victimhood. *They* are the persecuted, not the blacks who were at Bible study, or the many other blacks who have received grossly unfair treatment, up to and including death.
Scout, if that kind of vicious racism doesn’t exist, then we don’t have to admit to it, or bring it out in the open and deal with it. That’s why a lot of people don’t want to label it as a racist hate crime.
My 10 yr old son noticed and commented on the flag and its height versus the others as we drove by at 2 pm today. He also asked why it isn’t removed as he doesn’t think many people support it any more.
I told him the politicians at the Statehouse are just too scared to move on the issue.
He already knew what was pathetic and how tone deaf it was on a day like today. Not that today should have been any different than yesterday…
The correct term is half STAFF because they are on land, not on a ship.
I think it’s going to stay there for another generation. The Legislature is too gutless to remove it entirely. There’s already a Confederate monument – you don’t need a flag, too, especially with all it has come to represent. Historic? Yes. But it has taken on far, far more meaning than that. The swastika was a symbol of friendship until the Nazis co-opted it.
Huffpo has pointed out how obtuse Haley’s statement was – that we can never know what would cause someone to do that. Really, Nikki? It’s hate, honey, and everyone else seems to get that but you.
Well, not everybody:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/06/18/charleston_shooting_rand_paul_rick_santorum_and_other_gop_contenders_see.html?wpsrc=slatest_newsletter&sid=5388f448dd52b8e41100d5b0
Some days Nikki is Indian-American. Other days she’s white. Maybe this was one of her white days…
I thought her statements today were excellent.
And I know what she meant by those words.
And I just read some comments from her that I think were fine, too. I didn’t see those until this morning.
Yes, I know what she meant, too. She meant to downplay any racism charges, while underscoring the victimhood and persecution so many “Christians” seem to want to claim for themselves.
It IS a racist attack, pure and simple, and unless her children go to a historically black church, they are at zero risk. The attack happened where it did not because it was *a* church, but because it was that specific church, a cornerstone of black civil rights.
Brad, nice catch.
Thanks, Burl. I made a special trip over to the Statehouse to check.
But from what I see on social media, others picked up on it separately…
As a newbie citizen of the Palmetto State when the flag compromise was enacted a decade or so ago, I thought it was reasonable, given the parties involved. But the fact that it’s not being flown at half-staff (Rose, thanks for the nautical input) is either an insult or an indication that it’s not really a symbol of anything that’s relevant.
So why not remove it? It could be done tomorrow, just say it was sent to the dry-cleaners, there was a problem with the ticket, it got lost, we got a Canuckistani flag back, they’re looking… Maybe next week..
Who specifically would make the decision to lower the flag to half-staff? Has anyone from the media attempted to find out if there was a decision to raise the flag to full height or it just happened to be that way?
The legislature controls the raising of the Conferderate flag.
A member of the SC Senate (and past member of the House of Representatives) was killed in a hate crime murder inside an historic AME church in Charleston – on Calhoun Street. And the flag still flies. It is as awkward as politics gets.
If this isn’t enough to get the legislature to remove the flag for nine days then the odds that it comes down forever in the not distant future just rocketed up.
Glenn McConnell is probably glad he is now neighbors with the Emanuel AME Church. Speaking of whom; what is he going to say about this? Silence is not an option – in my mind anyway.