Time to bring down the Confederate flag

“TODAY we are here in a moment of unity in our state, without ill will, to say it’s time to move the flag from the capitol grounds.” With those words, Republican Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina took a step away from her base and another step towards sanity.

The church shootings in S. Carolina continues to send shockwaves throughout the nation. Republican politicians, who owe much of their power in the conservative (nee white) south, have split on the issue the display of the Confederate flag.

UPDATE: July 23, 2015, 11 a.m.. A day after Haley's announcement, In the wake of Walmart, Sears, and eBay’s announcements that they will stop selling goods with Confederate flags printed on them, sales on Amazon of such goods are soaring, with purchases up more than 3,000 percent in the past 24 hours. Go figure.

UPDATE: JULY 23, 2015, 3 p.m. Amazon has announced that it will stop selling any products with the Confederate flag.

Haley, the first and only Sikh elected as a state governor and the second Indian American chief executive, had a change of heart after pressure intensified, not only from the national media, but from her own constituency. Previously, as a politician, she avoided taking a stance one way or the other.

The Confederate flag has become a flash point between those who think that is a sign of the feudal society that depended on slave labor and those who see it as a symbol of past glories. A November poll from Winthrop University in South Carolina found that 73 percent of whites in the state want the flag to remain where it is in front of the state capitol. The same poll reported that 61 percent of blacks want it taken down. 

The most common argument for keeping the flag is that it historic and represents southern heritage and pride.

The Confederate flag is still popular in the South.

"It's a symbol of family and my ancestors who defended the state from invasion. It was about standing up to a central government," said Chris Sullivan, who is a member of the Sons of the Confederacy. "The things that our ancestors fought for were not novel and they really are the same issues we have today."

Uh ... but, didn't the South lose the Civil War? Are they proud that their ancestors fought and died for a lifestyle and culture that perpetuated slavery, human bondage and racism? A society that encouraged a oligarchy of the super wealthy and a class of serfs consisting of black slaves and poor whites?

Imagine how we would feel if Germany insisted on continuing the use of the Nazi symbol on their flag because it represented their heritage and culture.

For me, anyone touting the Confederate flag - on a pole, a t-shirt, belt buckle, a bumper sticker or hat - is saying, "Yeah, I'm racist. People of color are inferior and should be treated as such. Whaddya gonna do 'bout it?"  The problem is, there appears to be a resurgence of Confederate pride among young people and people are emboldened to show their feelings that used to be socially unacceptable and their true beliefs out. All that's missing are the white sheets.

Haley agreed with GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush that the Confederate flag's proper place is in a museum. 

"On matters of race, South Carolina has a tough history. We all know that," Haley said at a press conference on Monday.

She was joined by the state's two Republican senators. Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. Tim Scott along with Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus in calling for the Stars & Bars to come down. 

It will take a two-thirds vote by the state legislature to bring down the flag in front of the state capitol.

It's unfortunate that it took a tragedy that took nine lives before some people were able to see the folly of keeping alive the spirit of the Confederacy - remember, those states sought to rip apart the Union. We have to give Gov. Haley some credit for taking this step, albeit a little too late for the victims at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.