Scenes from the State House, Friday, July 10
Time for unity: State Rep. Wendell Gilliard, a Charleston Democrat whose district includes Emanuel AME Church, waved an American flag from the top steps of the S.C. State House before the Confederate flag was taken down
Friends asked him to demonstrate to the world how the state reacted after the tragedy.
“We are all united under one flag, and that’s the way it should always be,” Gilliard said after the Confederate flag came down.
He knew slain state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, Emanuel’s pastor, and some family members of the other shooting victims.
Gilliard said South Carolina still has progress to make in race relations, economic parity, and other social injustices. But, South Carolina can move forward now that the Confederate flag is down.
“It’s almost like we were showing the world that no matter how long it takes … if we are steadfast in our beliefs, we can bring change for the better of all mankind.”
Cassie Cope
Joyful noise: As the Confederate flag came down, Mazie Butler Ferguson wept.
“I’m so happy,” the 72-year-old Sumter native said dabbing at the tears still wet on her cheeks. “I know I don’t look happy, but I am happy.
“I couldn’t stop crying, I’ve been fighting for this since the 1960s,” she said. “I’m so glad my children and my grandchildren will not have to live under it.”
Some in the crowd began to sing “We Shall Overcome.”
Others belted out the sports anthem, “Na-na-na, Na-na-na, Hey, Hey, Good-bye.”
But Ferguson — pastor of Liberation Baptist Church in Greensboro, N.C. — sang an old spiritual anthem:
“Glory, glory hallelujah, since I lay my burdens down, I feel better, so much better, since I lay my burdens down.”
John Monk
Lady in black: Standing apart from the crowd on a grassy knoll near the State House steps and wearing a Civil War-period dress, Cindy Lampley quietly held a sign with photos of her and her husband’s Confederate soldier ancestors. The sign said, “These Lives Matter.”
“I wanted to make sure I watched the Confederate flag come down with reverence and the dignity and the honor it deserves,” said Lampley, 48, of Cayce. “I want our history and our heritage to remain as much as they want theirs. I don’t think the flag means what they think it means to us.”
Lampley donned the black dress because it was what is worn for Confederate memorial services. She is state treasurer of the Order of Confederate Rose, a non-profit group that promotes Southern heritage.
Despite being a minority in a crowd where the feelings ran high, no one had bothered her, she said. “I just hope they would give me the same respect that I’m giving them,” she said.
John Monk
Museum boss: Allen Roberson, director of the S.C. Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum, had one fear in accepting the Confederate flag from a color guard after it was lowered at the State House. It was walking.
Roberson injured his Achilles tendon and dreaded hobbling from along the lawn to the flagpole with the world watching.
“It was hurting,” he said. “But then they said I could stay where I was.”
Roberson has found himself in an unusual position for an shy, press-wary former Marine with a tiny office in the back of a museum that most South Carolinians couldn’t identify before this week.
But on Friday, it seemed everyone in the nation knew who his was. He spoke with CNN, The Washington Post and The New York Times.
“I don’t like it, but somebody should talk to them,” he said. “We need to let everyone know we are taking this very seriously.”
Jeff Wilkinson
Color guard: Two weeks ago, Lt. Derrick Gamble, Cpl. Chris Martin and Cpl. Rupert Pope were part of the S.C. State Highway Patrol honor guard that escorted state Sen. Clementa Pinckney’s casket into the State House.
On Friday, Martin and Pope, who are white, took down the Confederate flag off at the State House, folded it, rolled it up it up and handed it to their superior, Gamble, who is black.
“There was nothing symbolic about it,” said Gamble, from Lee County. “It was just rank.”
Pope, of St. Stephen, said he realized when the flag came down into his hands that he was part of something special. “Things are changing in South Carolina, and I’m humbled to have a small part in it,” he said.
The honor guard didn’t have much time to prepare. They learned of their assignment on Wednesday and practiced in an empty room on the Capitol grounds. At dawn, they did a dry run at the flag’s site. “We were kind of winging it,” said Martin, of Summerville.
Jeff Wilkinson
Flag keeper: Rachel Cockrel’s boss might have taken the Confederate flag at the State House, but she’s responsible for it.
Cockrel, the registrar of the Confederate Relic Room, is responsible for all the objects in the museum and their records.
After the historic flag arrived in an armored Chevrolet Tahoe driven by SLED agents, Cockrel and an assistant wrapped the flag in acid-free tissue paper and placed it in a white, acid-free textile storage box. The box was then placed on a new, stainless steel rack in a locked, alarmed, climate-controlled room in the back of the museum.
The banner will not go on display immediately and will stay in storage until at least Jan. 1. That is when the Relic Room plans to present a plan to the Legislature for displaying the flag.
Asked by a reporter if he could see the flag, Cockrel was direct: “No.”
Jeff Wilkinson
This story was originally published July 11, 2015 at 12:42 AM with the headline "Scenes from the State House, Friday, July 10."