(da Politico)
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, with Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott and a bipartisan array of other lawmakers beside her, called Monday for the state to remove the Confederate battle flag from the state Capitol grounds.
"This has been a very difficult time for our state," Haley said. "We have stared evil in the eye. ... Our state is grieving, but we are also coming together."
"It's time to move the flag from the Capitol grounds," Haley said.
The decision follows days of intensifying pressure on the Republican Party to repudiate the controversial Civil War symbol in the wake of the racially motivated mass shooting of black parishioners at a church in Charleston, South Carolina.
The alleged shooter, 21-year-old Dylann Roof, appeared over the weekend in photos brandishing the flag, alongside a 2,500-word manifesto outlining his hatred of African Americans. Roof had a "sick and twisted view" of the flag, Haley said.
The flag was removed from the Capitol dome in 2000, where it had flown since 1962, and moved to a nearby monument to Confederate soldiers.
