South revisits Confederate images

Associated Press

ATLANTA

Calls to remove Confederate imagery from public places multiplied rapidly across the South and beyond Tuesday, with opponents eyeing state flags, license plates and statues of Civil War politicians and generals.

The startling movement, driven by the killing of nine black churchgoers in an apparent racist attack in Charleston, S.C., has made converts of politicians who have long supported or stood silent on such symbols. Many of the efforts appear to have the muscle to succeed.

South Carolina lawmakers voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to consider removing the Confederate flag from their Statehouse grounds.

Prodded by Gov. Nikki Haley’s call the day before to move the flag to a museum, lawmakers approved a measure enabling a flag debate by a vote of 103-10 in the House and a voice vote in the Senate.

The House vote brought a standing ovation and rounds of applause after Democratic and Republican leaders jointly sponsored the measure in a show of uncharacteristic unity. Very few lawmakers rose to say the flag should stay; some said they were saving speeches for what promises to be an emotional debate later this summer.

Statehouse displays such as the Confederate battle flag flying in South Carolina are coming under the heaviest fire. But the familiar banner, with its star-studded blue “X” overlaying a field of red, is just one of scores, if not hundreds, of state-sanctioned displays that honor the vanquished Confederacy and the era of Jim Crow segregation that lasted for more than a century after the end of the Civil War.

The homages – from veterans’ memorials and statues of politicians to counties, streets, government buildings and public schools named for Confederate figures and subsequent white supremacists – haven’t always generated the same political and social tensions as the battle flag, and Confederate heritage groups say the outcry is misplaced, despite widely seen images of what appears to be the church shooting suspect, 21-year-old Dylann Roof, holding the rebel flag.

At the least, the flag and other tributes remain a constant reminder of the nation’s perpetual struggle with race, and of some Southerners’ defiance of the federal government’s efforts on civil rights.

“Statues and monuments aren’t history,” said Stan Deaton, a historian for the Georgia Historical Society. “They are what we choose to tell future generations about the past. ... It’s a very delicate subject, and let’s not kid ourselves – so much of it has to do with race.”