South Carolina Senate votes to remove Confederate flag

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- South Carolina lawmakers on Wednesday took the first step to removing the Confederate flag from atop the<br>Statehouse dome, exactly 139 years after the first shots of the Civil

Wednesday, April 12th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- South Carolina lawmakers on Wednesday took the first step to removing the Confederate flag from atop the
Statehouse dome, exactly 139 years after the first shots of the Civil War were fired.

South Carolina is the only state that flies the Confederate flag above its Statehouse, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is leading a tourism boycott of the state until the flag is removed.

"I think it's a great day because a lot of people are sacrificing their special interests in favor of what is best for the people of South Carolina. Ladies and gentlemen, we've been
fighting this battle a long time," Democratic Sen. McKinley Washington said of the Senate's 36-7 vote to take the flag down.

The bill is up for final approval in the Democratic-controlled Senate Thursday morning. Final approval is usually a procedural matter, and if given the OK it would then head to the Republican-controlled House.

In 1994, the House adjourned without considering a Senate-approved plan to remove the flag. Gov. Jim Hodges, a
Democrat, supports removing the flag.

"The hour has come as it came with General Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia," said Republican Sen. Glenn McConnell, who owns
a Confederate memorabilia shop in Charleston.

The Civil War began April 12, 1861, when Confederate troops in South Carolina fired on Fort Sumter, the federal installation in
Charleston harbor.

McConnell said it was time for the flag to come down. "We have fought this thing and we have fought this thing, and the olive
branch is now out on both sides."

This is the first flag bill this session to reach the floor in either chamber. Key senators had hammered out an agreement they thought would satisfy flag supporters and opponents.

The bill would remove the banner from the dome and place a similar battle flag behind an existing monument honoring Confederate soldiers on Statehouse grounds. The flag would fly on the north side of the Statehouse from a pole no taller than 20 feet. That element was added to satisfy black lawmakers and other flag opponents who did not want the flag in a prominent position to passers-by.

The bill also would remove the Confederate flags hanging in the House and Senate chambers, and would protect all monuments,
memorials and buildings erected or named in honor of the Confederacy or civil rights movement.

Earlier in the day, lawmakers began debating a compromise plan as hundreds of flag supporters lined up to watch.

Opponents of the flag say it is a racist symbol, while supporters say it represents Southern heritage and honors Confederate war dead. Only the Legislature can take down the flag.

As the Legislature debated, tennis player Serena Williams, who is black, withdrew from the Family Circle Cup next week in Hilton
Head Island, the biggest sports name to back the NAACP boycott.

Not all senators were on board.

"Race relations will not be the same in this state in my lifetime if you take that flag down," said Republican Sen. Harvey Peeler. He said "the rebels would yell" if the flag was removed
because they do not want to be told what to do.

Hundreds of supporters with Confederate flags decorating hats, shirts, belts and jewelry lined up to get inside the Senate gallery to watch the debate.

"We need a nonpartisan, binding referendum," Steven Roark said. "The people who lost their lives for that flag didn't know
anything about politics. They just knew they had to pick up the squirrel gun and fight for the farm.