Amid lots of and lots of outcry, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley finally held a press conference where she called for the removal of the Confederate flag from the state capitol. The General Assembly will be meeting today and can extend their session to debate on the removal of the flag, which would take two-thirds of the vote to pass.
“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,” Haley said. “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.”
Way to finally start a conversation about taking down a symbol of racism and slavery, America! And it only took about 150 years.
Team Blackness also discussed Meet the Press and their gigantic screw-ups and President Obama goes on Marc Maron’s podcast and says the N word and people lose their mind.
Subscribe on iTunes | Subscribe On Stitcher | Direct Download | RSS
Cacti
While I still don’t believe the confederate state governments have capitulated, I think we may have reached another culture wars tipping point nationally.
Given the synchronized changes of heart by the same group that had no opinion, or defended the rebel rag only a few days ago, the RNC must have sent out a blast fax that the confederate battle flag was a complete turkey with focus groups, internal polling, or both.
It appears to be a tacit admission that the bubba vote is no longer big enough to be a king maker nationally.
Paul in KY
Will be interesting to see if anything happens in Mississippi. They added the Dixie Swastika in about 1961 or thereabouts. No one knows why…
JPL
Business Insider links to Amazon sales and the confederate flag is trending.
srv
I predict sales of confederate themed bumper stickers and gimme caps will plummet like gun and ammo sales did when Obama assumed office.
FlipYrWhig
@srv: are “gimme caps” anything like “Jimmy hats”? If so, do they say “the South shall rise again”?
Roger Moore
Actually only about 1/3 of that. The Confederate battle flag didn’t go up at the SC state capitol until 1962; it just wasn’t a big deal until it became a symbol of resistance to the Civil Rights movement.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
The giggles about Obama using the n-word were on about the same level as fifth-graders snickering when their science teacher says “Uranus.” Possibly even less mature, actually.
ThresherK
@Paul in KY: Dixie Swastika is a term I’ll love to start using, and simulateously jealous that I didn’t think of it (or hear about it) until a week ago.
Larry Wilmore’s tidbit that That Flag has a history of being flown in Europe, as a stand-in for the actual (outlawed) Nazi flag, is embitteringly hilarious. Why isn’t my liberal media telling me this?
Germy Shoemangler
@ThresherK: Dixie Swastika would be a great name for a southern hardcore punk band. Doing Lady Antebellum covers.
Mandalay
I’m really concerned that people will get hurt when the bandwagon collapses…
Valdivia
Ebay and now Amazon have joined in dropping it too. I guess this is what they call a tipping point.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Roger Moore:
Yep. People who claim it has some kind of long history are talking out of their asses. No one gave a shit about the “Southern heritage” in that flag until the Civil Rights Movement.
It’s a white supremacist symbol. Period.
Paul in KY
@ThresherK: Did not think of it myself. Wish I had.
Germy Shoemangler
I really never thought I’d live to see this day. But I expect a nasty backlash.
GregB
It all depends but this week may see the destruction of the Confederate swastika as a symbol of Southern political pride, power and defiance for the conservative movement. Also we may see the Supreme court uphold the right to marital freedom and also the tossing aside of the last anti-Obamacare hail-Mary.
The Republicans will need to start furiously rewriting their playbooks.
WereBear
WOW.
This really is a tipping point. I can’t imagine this happening just a few years ago, when the Republicans were riding high and doing anything they damn well pleased with their “mandate.”
May the fall continue. And, indeed, accelerate.
allium
@Paul in KY: Truly a mystery for the ages, on par with the spike in difficulty in literacy tests in the late 19th century.
Germy Shoemangler
Finished on public buildings (hopefully) but I expect to see more of it than I ever did on “private” display. Trucks, cars, clothes…
But it’ll be a good way of identifying the dangerous assholes.
Jack the Second
Well, it was either talk about the flag or guns–
ThresherK
@Germy Shoemangler: Well, “backlash” compared to what?
Will it get worse in Wingnuttia, and Wingnuttia-adjacent districts of Enablia, than it has been in the last 6 1/2 years?
Is that even a measurable distinction, like telling me that one star in the sky is a kajillion miles away, and another is a million kajillion miles?
(PS, Along about c. June 2008 I had no idea what would be unloosed on the country from the Right starting in 2009.)
SuperHrefna
@Germy Shoemangler: I was driving through a sleepy north shore of Long Island village today and a big black pick up raced through: it had a confederate flag on the front grill and was flying a huge Stars and Stripes on a small flagpole in the truck bed… Very grim.
Germy Shoemangler
@ThresherK:
I voted for O in 2008 and I was overjoyed when he won (I’d voted against W twice so I was used to losing). About two seconds after I experienced the overwhelming joy I stopped and thought to myself “They’re gonna go nuts now. Absolutely crazy.” And I was right.
@SuperHrefna:
I literally never saw the confederate flag until I moved to upstate NY. I saw a pickup with a “window treatment” on the back window. I’ve seen contractors with tiny confederate flags on their bumpers. Lets me know who NOT to hire.
SuperHrefna
@Jack the Second: Yes it reminds me of something I read on @Deray’s Twitter yesterday – if you can make racism out to be the size of the n word,( or a flag) then all white people have to do to not be racist is not say that word ( or not fly that flag). It really lets us off the hook for all the complexities of our racist society. No wonder the GOP is jumping at the flag thing! So much easier to do than dismantling racism.
Mike J
@SuperHrefna:
Confederate flag sales soar on Amazon
Unrelated to the treason flag, I saw a large pickup at the lake last week with Jer USA lem spelled out in 12″ letters across the back. I was unaware that we had annexed the West bank. I would think it would really upset the other people trying to annex it.
beltane
Better that they stockpile flags than guns.
Germy Shoemangler
@Mike J:
Fucking assholes. Walmart, but not Amazon? Makes me want to NEVER ORDER ANYTHING EVER AGAIN FROM AMAZON
Germy Shoemangler
@beltane: They’ve already got all the guns they can use.
beltane
@Germy Shoemangler: I’m still waiting for Obama to announce that rat poison is illegal for human consumption.
Shakezula
The flag maker Valley Forge will stop making them.
In other news, can we stop saying UpChuck Todd is tone deaf or screwed up or had a failure of judgement or did anything but make a conscious decision to troll African-Americans at a time when many are feeling more stressed and frightened than usual? If you’re not convinced read the explanation he issued after the blow back started to rip off the unsightly brown stain around his mouth. Please? Thanks.
Mandalay
@Germy Shoemangler:
As long as you know where to buy the stuff. All these retailers are now planning to drop Confederate merchandise: Walmart, Amazon, KMart, Sears, eBay. More will surely follow; it’s become toxic.
Some redneck’s will surely remain defiant but that flag is all but dead now. And it took less than a week.
Germy Shoemangler
@Mike J: I checked the BoingBoing comments; someone did a screen grab of amazon questions about the flag:
Is this flag flammable? I’m worry it will be damaged if near a burning cross.
I’m looking for a confederate flag to burn and defecate on. How thick is this flag?
japa21
Actually, I heard this morning that the flag was originally flown at the capital in 1961 in commeration of the beginning of the Civil War and was only supposed to be flown for one year. Then 1962 came about and we know what happened then. Ironically, SC was one of the southern states that did not make a big feal about desegregation, unlike a few others.
And of course, since 62 any attempt to remove the flag has been met with strict opposition.
Mike J
@beltane: “Today, I am announcing a new law. The law of gravity. 32 ft/s^2. There will be serious consequences for people that go to the top of a large building and attempt to violate this law.
Thank you and may God bless America.”
srv
@Germy Shoemangler:
Derp.
chopper
@FlipYrWhig:
perfect.
trollhattan
Can’t wait until the next big NRA convention. “See, we told you Obama is coming for our guns and ammo. And now, he’s taking Our Flag!!!”
They won’t be able to help themselves. In the meantime, they’ll be able to order Chinese-made stars-n-bars from the same place they get their meth precursor chemicals from. One-stop shopping in Hooterville.
ThresherK
@SuperHrefna: I blame Ina Garten and all her friends who have taken over the Hamptons.
Seriously, I don’t know what to think.
Why? Well, I grew up in a shore town where inheritors (i.e. kids a generation younger than me) have to figure out how to pay the property taxes to keep pre-Depression-built homes in their families, because of all the NYC and NYC-adjacent money driving up the “values” of houses which can only be realized when the house is sold.
(Doesn’t excuse allying with those people and That Flag.)
Germy Shoemangler
@srv: Headline:
Derp
Villago Delenda Est
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): Abso-fucking-lutely.
Villago Delenda Est
@Mike J: “Jump, you fuckers!”
bemused
The over 10 year effort to rename Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis has ramped up. A petition to rename was started again last week after the Charleston murders.
Paul in KY
@allium: Tis a mystery for sure…
Villago Delenda Est
@Germy Shoemangler: But the merchants of death want them to buy more!
WaterGirl
@GregB: wow, you apparently woke up on the right side of the bed this morning. your glass is definitely half-full today!
AxelFoley
@srv: Ok
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Mike J:
If that’s supposed to be President Obama, note that he almost invariably says, “God bless the United States of America,” not just, “America.” I noticed it back in 2008. Interesting difference from other presidents and candidates.
fuckwit
@Jack the Second: There’s definitely a Briar Rabbit aspect to it for sure.
But, you know, we can walk and chew gum at the same time. First the Dixie Swastika, then the racism, then the guns. I’m firmly of the belief that the racism is driving the gun fetishism. Get rid of the racism and then the gun fetishsim becomes a lot easier to eradicate.
fuckwit
@Mandalay: It was not that easy. It took 9 sweet churchgoers murdered in cold blood, by a racist, and a huge outrage on social media, for that flag to finally die.
A guy
What is bill ayres flag? After all didn’t he want a revolution