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| South Carolina's Confederate flag comes down as history of hate meets modernity | South Carolina's Confederate flag comes down as history of hate meets modernity |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| Related: Confederate flag removed from South Carolina capitol in victory for activists | Related: Confederate flag removed from South Carolina capitol in victory for activists |
| South Carolina lowered its battle flag on Friday, amid whooping cheers and silent tears among thousands of witnesses. | South Carolina lowered its battle flag on Friday, amid whooping cheers and silent tears among thousands of witnesses. |
| In the three weeks since the killing of nine black churchgoers in Charleston, the Confederate flag has become a fixed point of outrage, where fresh grief collides with old pride. The flag on the grounds of the state capitol here, in particular, represented official entrenchment. | In the three weeks since the killing of nine black churchgoers in Charleston, the Confederate flag has become a fixed point of outrage, where fresh grief collides with old pride. The flag on the grounds of the state capitol here, in particular, represented official entrenchment. |
| On Thursday night crowds surged into the streets, where people pitched tents around the statehouse square. They claimed their spots hours in advance, hoping for proximity to history. The standard of the former American confederacy – the battle flag of a long-ago bloody, racial conflict between the states, and a more recent ideological conflict – stood waving deep in enemy territory, surrounded by modernity: in downtown Columbia, verandas and parlors long ago gave way to hipster clothing shops, to kayaking outfitters, to Starbucks. | On Thursday night crowds surged into the streets, where people pitched tents around the statehouse square. They claimed their spots hours in advance, hoping for proximity to history. The standard of the former American confederacy – the battle flag of a long-ago bloody, racial conflict between the states, and a more recent ideological conflict – stood waving deep in enemy territory, surrounded by modernity: in downtown Columbia, verandas and parlors long ago gave way to hipster clothing shops, to kayaking outfitters, to Starbucks. |
| Through the evening a dozen state troopers stood around the flagpole with hands folded and the brims of their hats tilted against the flash of smartphone cameras. As the crowd swelled toward sunrise on Friday, it seemed to represent the larger citizenry of the American south: a calm and forward-looking people, shot through with a smaller number of zealots. | Through the evening a dozen state troopers stood around the flagpole with hands folded and the brims of their hats tilted against the flash of smartphone cameras. As the crowd swelled toward sunrise on Friday, it seemed to represent the larger citizenry of the American south: a calm and forward-looking people, shot through with a smaller number of zealots. |
| A black man named HK Edgerton caused a stir when he arrived from Asheville, North Carolina, wearing a Confederate uniform and carrying an enormous battle flag. He took up a position at the front of the crowd, which gawked at him. | A black man named HK Edgerton caused a stir when he arrived from Asheville, North Carolina, wearing a Confederate uniform and carrying an enormous battle flag. He took up a position at the front of the crowd, which gawked at him. |
| “I’m trying to set the record straight,” he said. | “I’m trying to set the record straight,” he said. |
| Was anyone paying him to be there? | Was anyone paying him to be there? |
| “That’s none of your business,” he said. | “That’s none of your business,” he said. |
| The Rev Jerome Coleman, of Johnston, South Carolina, stared at Edgerton in bewilderment. “How can you wave that flag, as a black man?” | The Rev Jerome Coleman, of Johnston, South Carolina, stared at Edgerton in bewilderment. “How can you wave that flag, as a black man?” |
| “I am proud of it,” Edgerton said. | “I am proud of it,” Edgerton said. |
| “But that flag means rape. Murder. Treason,” Coleman said. After a long gaze he said, “I love you anyway, brother,” and the two embraced. | “But that flag means rape. Murder. Treason,” Coleman said. After a long gaze he said, “I love you anyway, brother,” and the two embraced. |
| Related: South Carolina governor signs law ordering removal of Confederate flag | Related: South Carolina governor signs law ordering removal of Confederate flag |
| For weeks an emotional debate about the flag and its meaning has carried on across the United States, and in recent days wrenched the South Carolina state legislature. On Thursday, after a marathon deliberation among state representatives, Governor Nikki Haley approved a plan to lower the flag one last time. | For weeks an emotional debate about the flag and its meaning has carried on across the United States, and in recent days wrenched the South Carolina state legislature. On Thursday, after a marathon deliberation among state representatives, Governor Nikki Haley approved a plan to lower the flag one last time. |
| Thousands of people from around the country turned out to bear witness, or protest. One self-styled prophet wore burlap cloth and clutched an enormous book he had labelled in homemade block letters: HOLY BIBLE. He roared at the crowd about unjust taxation, until a group of university students smothered him with earnest questions about the state’s secession papers of 1852, adopted in 1860, particularly paragraphs one, 15, 16, and so forth, until the prophet’s arms hung limp at his sides. | |
| Another defender of the flag focused on it as a literal object: “Look at this flag. Did this flag ever hurt anybody?” | Another defender of the flag focused on it as a literal object: “Look at this flag. Did this flag ever hurt anybody?” |
| He pointed, and true enough, the object itself flapped on its pole, placid and impotent. It featured a blue St Andrew’s Cross on a red field, with a white star for each of the slaveholding states. Southern seamstresses created it after the first major land battle of the American civil war, when southern soldiers confused the official Confederate flag, or “stars and bars”, for the US “stars and stripes”, and shot at each other. | He pointed, and true enough, the object itself flapped on its pole, placid and impotent. It featured a blue St Andrew’s Cross on a red field, with a white star for each of the slaveholding states. Southern seamstresses created it after the first major land battle of the American civil war, when southern soldiers confused the official Confederate flag, or “stars and bars”, for the US “stars and stripes”, and shot at each other. |
| So it is, as an object, merely designed to be distinguishable from the United States flag. But for many people in South Carolina – and across these United States – the most important word in its description is “slaveholding”. | So it is, as an object, merely designed to be distinguishable from the United States flag. But for many people in South Carolina – and across these United States – the most important word in its description is “slaveholding”. |
| “This flag has always made me feel sad, man,” said Thomas Wiggins, a black man holding a sign that read HONK IF YOU WANT IT DOWN. The drivers of Columbia obliged, laying into their horns as they circled the statehouse. Wiggins said he has spent all his 47 years in South Carolina, and for the entirety of his life he has felt the weight of the battle flag’s significance. | “This flag has always made me feel sad, man,” said Thomas Wiggins, a black man holding a sign that read HONK IF YOU WANT IT DOWN. The drivers of Columbia obliged, laying into their horns as they circled the statehouse. Wiggins said he has spent all his 47 years in South Carolina, and for the entirety of his life he has felt the weight of the battle flag’s significance. |
| As he prepared to watch the flag come down, a joy came uncoiled in Wiggins; he shot an index finger to the sky and hollered, “WHEEEYEWWW!” | As he prepared to watch the flag come down, a joy came uncoiled in Wiggins; he shot an index finger to the sky and hollered, “WHEEEYEWWW!” |
| By 9am, jubilation had taken hold in large sections of the crowd. Witnesses laughed, sang, and chanted “Take it down”. Satellite trucks sprouted around the square, and television reporters lined up, jockeying for position with their backs to the flag. | By 9am, jubilation had taken hold in large sections of the crowd. Witnesses laughed, sang, and chanted “Take it down”. Satellite trucks sprouted around the square, and television reporters lined up, jockeying for position with their backs to the flag. |
| More smartphone cameras appeared, thousands of them, firing one last fusillade at the flag during its final hour. A game emerged among watchers: how exactly would the flag come down? It appeared to be designed as a permanent – and pugnacious – installation, with none of the usual ropes and pulleys. Some people guessed the job would require climbing gear, as the activist Bree Newsome used to pre-emptively pull down the flag, in an act of protest, two weeks earlier. Others expected a crane. | More smartphone cameras appeared, thousands of them, firing one last fusillade at the flag during its final hour. A game emerged among watchers: how exactly would the flag come down? It appeared to be designed as a permanent – and pugnacious – installation, with none of the usual ropes and pulleys. Some people guessed the job would require climbing gear, as the activist Bree Newsome used to pre-emptively pull down the flag, in an act of protest, two weeks earlier. Others expected a crane. |
| The statehouse square sits at the center of the city’s downtown, with the Capitol building surrounded by a green park, and beyond that modern buildings. People crowded on to rooftops and balconies to watch Friday’s proceedings. Packs of motorcyclists circled the area wherever roads remained open, revving their engines. Helicopters and airplanes circled overhead. Bickering between pro- and anti-flag factions became impossible to hear over the general cheer. | The statehouse square sits at the center of the city’s downtown, with the Capitol building surrounded by a green park, and beyond that modern buildings. People crowded on to rooftops and balconies to watch Friday’s proceedings. Packs of motorcyclists circled the area wherever roads remained open, revving their engines. Helicopters and airplanes circled overhead. Bickering between pro- and anti-flag factions became impossible to hear over the general cheer. |
| Earlier 60-year-old Tudy Phipps, a white woman, had rolled in her wheelchair as close as she could to the foot of the flagpole. “I was born and raised here, and I sense it’s time,” she said. “It’s time for it to come down.” | Earlier 60-year-old Tudy Phipps, a white woman, had rolled in her wheelchair as close as she could to the foot of the flagpole. “I was born and raised here, and I sense it’s time,” she said. “It’s time for it to come down.” |
| She thought a moment and added, “It was stolen from us, you know. By the racists, the hate groups, the Klan. So it’s time.” | She thought a moment and added, “It was stolen from us, you know. By the racists, the hate groups, the Klan. So it’s time.” |
| A few minutes after 10am, a state law enforcement honor guard approached the pole. Weeks earlier, these men – seven white and two black – had escorted state senator Clementa Pinckney’s casket to the statehouse. Pinckney’s death pricked the consciences of his colleagues, who subsequently cited his work for racial harmony as they debated pulling down the battle flag. The honor guard took down the flag and handed it over to Allen Roberson, director of the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum, where it will remain. | A few minutes after 10am, a state law enforcement honor guard approached the pole. Weeks earlier, these men – seven white and two black – had escorted state senator Clementa Pinckney’s casket to the statehouse. Pinckney’s death pricked the consciences of his colleagues, who subsequently cited his work for racial harmony as they debated pulling down the battle flag. The honor guard took down the flag and handed it over to Allen Roberson, director of the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum, where it will remain. |
| The crowd vibrated with emotion, both contentious and euphoric, making clear the flag had grown beyond its physical dimensions. It had done what all flags do: it signified something larger than itself. | The crowd vibrated with emotion, both contentious and euphoric, making clear the flag had grown beyond its physical dimensions. It had done what all flags do: it signified something larger than itself. |
| Even so, the argument about the object – “Did this flag ever hurt anybody?” – holds true, in another sense. In the weeks since the Charleston shooting the flag became a totem for racial strife, allowing pained people across a nation to gather their diffuse anger and focus it on ever-narrower targets: on the south, on South Carolina, on a single flagpole. But the original reasons for that anger, including black people dying at the hands of police in Missouri, Ohio, New York and elsewhere, remain complex, unresolved, and far-flung from any southern statehouse. However powerful the Confederate flag may be as a symbol, it didn’t kill those people. | Even so, the argument about the object – “Did this flag ever hurt anybody?” – holds true, in another sense. In the weeks since the Charleston shooting the flag became a totem for racial strife, allowing pained people across a nation to gather their diffuse anger and focus it on ever-narrower targets: on the south, on South Carolina, on a single flagpole. But the original reasons for that anger, including black people dying at the hands of police in Missouri, Ohio, New York and elsewhere, remain complex, unresolved, and far-flung from any southern statehouse. However powerful the Confederate flag may be as a symbol, it didn’t kill those people. |
| “This was a very smart move by the politicians in South Carolina. They traded the flag away,” said history professor Edward Baptist, of Cornell University. “And it’s a lot easier for a white, northern media establishment to focus on the flag than, say, stop-and-frisk policies nationwide.” | “This was a very smart move by the politicians in South Carolina. They traded the flag away,” said history professor Edward Baptist, of Cornell University. “And it’s a lot easier for a white, northern media establishment to focus on the flag than, say, stop-and-frisk policies nationwide.” |
| Related: Progressive rebels in the American south fight a flag – and the Klansman next door | Related: Progressive rebels in the American south fight a flag – and the Klansman next door |
| Beyond those larger issues, there remain places where Confederate flags still officially fly. Mississippi’s state flag, for instance, bears a smaller version of the battle flag in one corner. State legislators there plan to take up the issue in January. In the meantime other icons of the Confederacy – flags, monuments, markers, license plates and bumper stickers on automobiles – are increasingly drawing petitions around the country. | Beyond those larger issues, there remain places where Confederate flags still officially fly. Mississippi’s state flag, for instance, bears a smaller version of the battle flag in one corner. State legislators there plan to take up the issue in January. In the meantime other icons of the Confederacy – flags, monuments, markers, license plates and bumper stickers on automobiles – are increasingly drawing petitions around the country. |
| On Friday, though, opponents of the flag in South Carolina celebrated a victory they had fought for – marched for, protested for – for half a century. | On Friday, though, opponents of the flag in South Carolina celebrated a victory they had fought for – marched for, protested for – for half a century. |
| Thomas Wiggins – the man urging cars to honk as they passed – dropped his face into his hands. “Man,” he said, “I don’t even know the words for this feeling.” | Thomas Wiggins – the man urging cars to honk as they passed – dropped his face into his hands. “Man,” he said, “I don’t even know the words for this feeling.” |
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