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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina state senators have rejected an amendment that would allow the Confederate flag to continue to fly outside the Statehouse -- but only on Confederate Memorial Day. They've also voted down a suggestion to leave the fate of the flag up to a popular vote. They're continuing debate on other amendments dealing with the future of the flag.
One Republican senator who wants to leave the flag in place says the flag has been misused by people like Dylann Roof, who's charged with nine counts of murder for last month's shootings at a historic black church.
But among the senators who believe the flag no longer represents the valor of Southern soldiers are a white lawmaker who, for decades, fought attempts to remove the flag from Statehouse grounds, and a black senator whose family was also in South Carolina during the Civil War.
Republican Sen. Larry Martin, who is white, says he changed his mind after the shootings of nine blacks at the church in Charleston.
Sen. Darrell Jackson, who is black, helped write the compromise that took the flag off the Statehouse dome in 2000 and put it on a pole in the capitol's front lawn. He says he regrets that he didn't go further to get rid of the flag completely.
%@AP Links
173-a-18-(South Carolina Senator Darrell Jackson, D-Richland, on state Senate floor)-"about certain things"-South Carolina Senator Darrell Jackson says he doesn't share in the celebration of the Confederate monument outside the statehouse. (6 Jul 2015)
<<CUT *173 (07/06/15)££ 00:18 "about certain things"
170-a-13-(South Carolina State Senator Lee Bright, R-Spartanburg, in state Senate debate)-"think that's fair"-South Carolina State Senator Lee Bright says he supports putting the Confederate flag debate up to a public vote. (6 Jul 2015)
<<CUT *170 (07/06/15)££ 00:13 "think that's fair"
APPHOTO SCJC101: William Cheek, left, Nelson Waller, center, and Jim Collins, right, protest proposals to remove the Confederate flag from the grounds of the South Carolina Statehouse on Monday, July 6, 2015, in Columbia, S.C. The General Assembly returns Monday to discuss Gov. Nikki Haley's budget vetoes and what to do with the rebel flag that has flown over some part of the Statehouse for more than 50 years. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins) (6 Jul 2015)
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APPHOTO NYAJ101: FILE - In this June 19, 2015 file photo, the Confederate flag flies near the South Carolina Statehouse in Columbia, S.C. The General Assembly returns Monday, July 6, 2015, to discuss what to do with the rebel flag that has flown over some part of the Statehouse for more than 50 years. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt, File) (19 Jun 2015)
<<APPHOTO NYAJ101 (06/19/15)££
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