Remove flag now, rally organizers say (+ video)

Supporters of immediately removing the Confederate battle flag from the State House grounds promised Tuesday to press their demand until it disappears.

“It’s not over until the flag comes down,” said Nelson Rivers III, pastor of Charity Baptist Church in North Charleston and vice president of the National Action Network. “Fill the streets, the grounds and (legislative) chambers until it comes down.”

Organizers of the effort urged using social media to demand swift legislative action, calling it the modern equivalent of protest marches by their parents and grandparents.

The message, they said repeatedly, is simple.

“Four words – take it down now,” Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin told the crowd estimated at up to 500 people. “No bullet can stop this movement; no gunshot can tear it apart.”

The anti-flag rally – the second at the State House since Saturday – was organized by the Lowcountry chapter of the National Action Network.

More rallies may follow depending on legislative decisions, said James Johnson, a Charleston pastor who is chapter president.

“We want to encourage them to take this up because this flag is offensive,” he said, referring to its use by some groups as a symbol of racism.

The new wave of pressure to banish the flag comes after it was moved in 2000 from flying atop the State House to the 136-year-old Confederate memorial at Main and Gervais streets.

Rivers, who has called for the flag’s removal since 1976, condemned its display in any public setting as inappropriate given its history.

“Terrorism to black people in America is not new,” he said. “We don’t have to take up arms to win.”

Furling the flag would be a “living legacy” to the nine African-Americans shot June 17 at Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church by an alleged killer with white supremacist beliefs, Rivers said.

Some lawmakers echoed that sentiment. “In tragedy, we can pull together,” said Rep. Justin Bamberg, D-Bamberg. “This is what progress looks like.”

Taking down the flag will “show the world what we’re about in South Carolina,” said Rep. Wendell Gilliard, D-Charleston. “We’re going to show they did not die in vain – now they’re going down in history.”

Anti-flag forces welcomed the support of Gov. Nikki Haley as well as other political leaders and business executives.

“It’s time to stop the division,” said Sen. Vincent Sheheen, D-Kershaw, who sat next to one of the Charleston victims, Sen. Clementa Pinckney, at the State House. “It is time to come together.”