Activist Bree Newsome removes Confederate flag from South Carolina Statehouse*There is enough support in the South Carolina legislature to remove the Confederate flag from the state Capitol grounds, according to number crunching from South Carolina’s Post and Courier.
Their poll’s finding, released Monday afternoon, found that at least 33 state senators and 82 house members, support removing the flag. That meets the two-thirds majority in both chambers required to remove the flag.
Renewed fervor to remove the flag follows the shooting rampage at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston earlier this month that left nine dead. The alleged shooter, Dylann Roof, had posted numerous photos of himself wearing or posing with Confederate flag insignia.
A member of the American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan waves the Confederate flag during a klan rally on the steps of the Warrick County courthouse in Boonville, Ind., on Saturday, Oct. 17, 1998.
Meanwhile, the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan’s Pelham, North Carolina chapter have reserved the Statehouse Grounds in South Carolina for a rally next month, Politico reports.
James Spears, the Great Titan of the chapter, said the group would be rallying to protest “the Confederate flag being took [sic] down for all the wrong reasons.”
“It’s part of white people’s culture,” he added.
Brian Gaines, who runs the South Carolina Budget and Control Board, which oversees reservations, told Politico that the group submitted the request on June 23 and, because his office allows any group, regardless of ideology, to reserve the grounds on a first-come, first-serve basis, the KKK will be able to hold its rally.
The event is planned for July 18 from 3-5 p.m
The KKK’s Pelham chapter liberally employs the Confederate flag on its website and has changed its home page to highlight its opposition to the flag’s removal. “Say No to Cultural Genocide,” the group’s site reads, adding, “most groups out there and especially white people are to [sic] cowardly to stand up for their heritage.”
When asked for his opinion on the charges facing Roof, Spears said, “I feel sorry for the boy because of his age and I think he picked the wrong target. A better target for him would have been these gang-bangers, running around rapping, raping and stealing.”