COLUMBIA, SCRight after the rally, I went to the movies at SC's only independent arthouse theater, the Nickelodeon. (Saw the Beach Boys movie and it was excellent.) As we were waiting in line, a gentleman gave the theater people a #Take the flag down sign and asked them to post it. During the movie I took a break and spoke with the young men working in the office. I pointed at the sign and said, "I agree! I hope you will post the sign." They chuckled uncomfortably. "That would push a lot of buttons." I explained that things have changed, that people in South Carolina now must stand up and speak out. I pointed out that people all over the world are now watching our response. I asked them to let their boss know what I said. They agreed with me but seemed unsure of the response they'd get. I hope the next time I go there, the sign is up.More than 1,500 people gathered Saturday evening at a hastily organized rally to demand the Confederate flag be taken down from South Carolina’s State House grounds.
Speaker after speaker linked the Confederate flag, which flies in front of the State House, to the church massacre Wednesday in Charleston, where a white supremacist gunned down nine African Americans in a prayer group. The rally on the state house grounds stemmed from the recent shootings of 9 black parishioners in Charleston.
Speaker Tom Hall said elected officials who keep the flag flying in front of the State House are embarrassed to fly it on their own property. Under S.C. law, two-thirds of lawmakers have to vote to take the flag down.
“Not one elected official has got that flag at their business or in their yard,” Hall told the cheering crowd. “(But) it is in your face.”
Former state Rep. Boyd Brown, a Democrat from Fairfield County, told the crowd, “We have to take Southern pride out of the hands of the racists and the haters.”
Several of the dozen-plus speakers called on Republican Gov. Nikki Haley to take the initiative and begin the work of taking the flag down.
Most of the crowd was white, but numerous African Americans attended, too.
Tiffany James, 34, an African-American government worker, said the rally was organized too quickly for word to spread in her community. But she was heartened so many whites attended.
“We are in this together as Americans. It was a message that we will no longer stand for hate,” James said. “This is the first step, and it’s a large step. If we have another rally, more people will come.”
The rally had its origins in a Facebook page – Take the flag down SC – created Thursday morning by Columbia resident Mari Borghani. The 34-year-old social worker said she woke up to news that a white gunman had massacred nine African Americans in a Charleston church. Within hours, her social media page had hundreds of likes. It now has 4,755.
Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/...
We are also having a big old flag barbeque on June 27th! Roasted hate flag for everyone! Y'all come!