America
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s forceful appeal to remove the Confederate flag from the Capitol grounds
This has been a very difficult time for our state.
We have stared evil in the eye and watched good, prayerful
people killed in the most sacred of places.
We were hurt and broken.
We needed to heal.
We were able to start that process not by talking about
issues that divide us but by holding vigils, hugging our neighbors, honoring
those we lost, and falling to our knees in prayer.
Our state is grieving. But we are also coming together.
The outpouring of love and support from all corners and all
peoples in our state and nation has been amazing.
The families who lost loved ones have been unbelievable
pillars of strength and grace. Their expression of faith and forgiveness took
our breath away. They truly have shown the world what South Carolina looks like at our best.
And the Mother Emanuel church re-opened its doors
yesterday. Michael and I were there. We took our two little ones,
Rena and Nalin.
My children saw what true faith looks like.
My children saw that true hate can never, never triumph over
true love.
My children saw the heart and soul of South Carolina start to mend.
I want to talk a little about the heart of our state.
I want to talk about the people of South
Carolina I am so proud to serve. The country
and the world have watched our strength and resilience over the last few
days.
We are strong people who love God, our families and have a
deep faith. We believe in neighbors helping neighbors. We are a state
that has held tight to our traditions but continues to grow and change in ways
that move us forward.
We were recently named the friendliest state in the country,
and the most patriotic state too. American flags fly proudly from home to
home across South Carolina.
In just the last few months, the nation watched our state go
through another time of crisis, when we dealt with the betrayal of one of our
own in the tragic shooting of Walter Scott.
South Carolina
did not respond with rioting and violence, like other places have. We
responded by talking to each other, putting ourselves in each other's shoes,
and finding common ground in the name of moving our state forward. The
result: both Republicans and Democrats, black and white, came together and
passed the first body camera bill in the country.
And I stand in front of you a minority, female governor,
twice elected by people of South
Carolina. Behind me stands my friend, Senator
Tim Scott, elected by these same people as one of just two African-American
members of the United States Senate.
Five years ago, it was said that in the last fifty years, South Carolina is the state that has changed the most for the better. That was true when I quoted it at my first inauguration in 2011. It is even more true today. We have changed through the times, and we will continue to do so.
But that does not mean we forget our history.
History is often filled with emotion, and that’s more true
in South Carolina
than in a lot of other places.
On matters of race, South
Carolina has a tough history. We all know
that. Many of us have seen it in our own lives, and in the lives of our
parents and grandparents. We don’t need reminders.
In spite of last week’s tragedy, we have come a long way
since those days, and have much to be proud of.
But we can always do more.
That brings me to the subject of the Confederate Flag that
flies on our Statehouse grounds.
For many people in our state, the flag stands for traditions
that are noble. Traditions of history, of heritage, and of
ancestry. The hate-filled murderer who massacred our brothers and sisters
in Charleston
has a sick and twisted view of the flag. In no way does he reflect the
people in our state who respect, and in many ways, revere it.
Those South Carolinians
view the flag as a symbol of respect, integrity, and duty. They also see
it as a memorial, a way to honor ancestors who came to the service of their
state during a time of great conflict.
That is not hate. Nor is it
racism.
At the same time, for many others in South Carolina, the flag is a deeply
offensive symbol of a brutally oppressive past.
As a state, we can survive, and indeed we can thrive, as we
have done, while still being home to both of those viewpoints. We do not
need to declare a winner and a loser. We respect freedom of expression,
and for those who wish to show their respect for the flag on their private property,
no one will stand in your way.
But the Statehouse is different. And the events of the
past week call upon all of us to look at this in a different way.
Fifteen years ago, after much contentious debate, South Carolina came
together in a bipartisan way to remove the flag from atop the Capitol
dome.
Today, we are here in a moment of unity in our state,
without ill will, to say it is time to move the flag from the Capitol
grounds. One hundred fifty years after the end of the Civil War . . . the
time has come.
There will be some in our state who see this as a sad
moment. I respect that. But know this. For good and for bad,
whether it is on the Statehouse grounds or in a museum, the flag will always be
a part of the soil of South Carolina.
But this is a moment in which we can say that the flag, while
an integral part of our past, does not represent the future of our great state.
The murderer now locked up in Charleston said he hoped his actions would
start a race war. We have an opportunity to show that not only was he
wrong, but that just the opposite is happening. My hope is that by
removing a symbol that divides us, we can move our state forward in harmony,
and we can honor the nine blessed souls who are now in Heaven.
The General Assembly wraps up their year this week. As
governor, I have the authority to call them back into session under
extraordinary circumstances. I have indicated to the House and Senate
that if they do not take measures to ensure this debate takes place this
summer, I will use that authority for the purpose of the legislature removing
the flag from the Statehouse grounds.
That will take place in the coming weeks, after the regular
session and the veto session have been completed.
There will be time for discussion and debate. But the
time for action is coming soon.
I want to make two things clear.
First, this is South
Carolina’s Statehouse. It is South Carolina’s historic moment. And
this will be South Carolina’s
decision. To those outside of our state, the flag may be nothing more
than a symbol of the worst of America’s
past. That is not what it is to many South
Carolinians. This Statehouse belongs to all of us.
Their voices will be heard, their role in this debate respected.
We have made incredible progress in South Carolina, on racial issues, yes, but
in so many other ways. The 21st century belongs to us, because we have
chosen to seize what is in front of us, to do what is right, and to do it
together. I have every faith that this will be no different. It is
what we do in South Carolina,
it is who we are.
Second, I understand that what I have said here today will
generate a lot of interest. What I ask is that the focus still remain on
the nine victims of this horrible tragedy. Their families, the Mother
Emanuel Family, the AME Church family, the South Carolina family – we all deserve the
time to grieve and to remember and to heal. We will take it. I ask
that you respect that.
We know that bringing down the Confederate flag will not
bring back the nine kind souls taken from us, nor rid us of the hate and
bigotry that drove a monster through the doors of Mother Emanuel that
night. Some divisions are bigger than a flag. The evil we saw last
Wednesday comes from a place much deeper, much darker.
But we are not going to allow this symbol to divide us any
longer. The fact that people are choosing to use it as a sign of hate is
a something we cannot stand. The fact that it causes pain to so many is
enough to move it from the Capitol grounds – it is, after all, a Capitol that
belongs to all of us.
July Fourth is just around the corner. Soon we will
once again celebrate the birth of our nation and our freedoms. It will be
fitting that our state Capitol will soon fly the flags of our country and of
our state, and no others.
Thank you, and God bless the great people of South Carolina.