Voices: Reactions to the lowering of the Confederate flag

Richard Harkness, senior pastor Olive Branch AME in Mount Pleasant

“I hope that this honest conversation can continue on race. There has been a basic fundamental paradigm shift, a recognition that symbols are important and silence can no longer be acceptable. I see it more in increments. When NASCAR banned the Confederate flag, think about it NASCAR, that’s when it really made me understand that a shift had been made.” The shooting victims’ “sacrifice will serve a larger purpose, and it already has. Their families and their response have made an impact on what is happening today (with the flag’s removal). It ended the opposition to the flag.”

Terry Hughey, commander for the Columbia-based Lt. Gen. Wade Hampton Camp of the S.C. Sons of Confederate Veterans

“I’m disheartened that this flag has been stolen and used for hatred and something divisive, which it is not. I always thought of it as love and honor for my ancestors. We have lost the education and information war. You can’t sing ‘Dixie’ anymore. That’s a piece of our Southern heritage. Now NASCAR says we can’t wave the flag. Where will this end? The removal of the flag is not the end. If history shows us anything, more things will fall.” When the flag is lowered at the State House on Friday, “I will think about my ancestors and how I let them down.”

Former Gov. David Beasley, a Republican who fought to take down the flag

“What a wonderful thing that has happened. This has not been done because of political pressure or to erase heritage. This has been done out of love and compassion. Anyone who makes the argument that this about political correctness is wrong. It usually takes a jolt for a society to do the right thing. This atrocity broke hearts. The issue now is how to keep the momentum going. And the next thing is not what the Legislature can do. The next thing is what I can do to help my neighbor.”

Lonnie Randolph, president of S.C. NAACP

“It is embarrassing for the world to see that the Confederacy still has so much influence in South Carolina. Fifteen hours of debating and arguing to keep the flag. When was the last time we argued and debated for 15 hours on education? When was the last time we argued and debated for 15 hours on health care? The Confederacy is still the mindset of the law-making entities in South Carolina. Now that we removed the symbolism, we now must remove the realism. That starts by the people voting for better candidates.”

Thomas Brown, University of South Carolina history professor

“Repudiations of unwise commemorations are rare achievements. Energized by consumer culture rather than community rituals, the Confederate battle flag installed at the state house in 1961 proved resilient even though it never had the social backing expressed in public monuments for decades after the Civil War. The removal of the battle flag on the initiative of the first woman governor, invoking evangelical principles and encouraged by business interests, reflects the influence of the civil rights movement on original gender, religious, and class constituencies of Confederate memory.”

This story was originally published July 10, 2015 at 12:19 AM with the headline "Voices: Reactions to the lowering of the Confederate flag."