Downing of a Flag

[somber music] <Rev.

Kylon Middleton> The church was still not available, because it was still a crime scene at the time.

I had a great relationship with folks at the College of Charleston.

So we took the funeral to the College of Charleston.

It was supposed to be just a little funeral for Clementa Pinckney, right.

It was not to be an international event.

<Rev.

Goff> We come at this hour for the Homegoing celebration of our departed and beloved brother, the Reverend Senator Clementa Pinckney.

We were waiting on the president to arrive to deliver the eulogy.

So it was probably a six or seven hour funeral.

I was in a daze, most of it through from the time it happened for many weeks afterwards.

<Rep.

Jenny Horne> I think that the most impactful part of that funeral for me was when his wife and his two little girls came out.

[somber music] That's a image that I'll never get out of my mind.

<Rev.

Kylon Middleton> You have to be in awe of President Barack Obama.

<Gov.

Riley> His eulogy was remarkable.

<President Obama> This whole week I've been reflecting on this idea of grace.

The grace that Reverend Pinckney would preach about in his sermons.

<Pastor> Uh huh!

The grace described in one of my favorite hymnals, the one we all know.

Amazing Grace.

<Gov.

Riley> And then you could tell he was trying to tell himself it was okay to start singing.

<Bakari Sellers> And he takes this really interesting pause.

And it was a really awkward pause.

It was one that when you're crying with your eyes closed and somebody pauses for too long, you look up because you feel like something's happened.

And then he sung the most horribly off key note anybody had ever heard in their lifetime.

<President Obama> Amazing grace!

[applause] How sweet the sound, <Bakari Sellers> It was a moment, it was the one moment that I thought that this country had actually lived up to the promises that it set forth and set out to do.

<Pres.

Obama> ...a wretch like me.

<Rev.

Kylon Middleton> It was unifying, it was spiritually uplifting, and it was church.

<All> Was blind.

But now I see.

[ominous music] <Dr.

Cleveland Sellers> The flag always represented to me the state of South Carolina saying we are a racist state.

And you don't have any place.

<Newscaster> Mr.

Floyd, why have you not permitted Negroes to bowl at your bowling alley here in Orangeburg?

<Mr.

Floyd> Because I have my own customers that patronize me 52 weeks a year.

<Cecil Williams> The students of South Carolina State were trying to integrate the bowling alley.

<Dr.

Cleveland Sellers> I see those policemen down at the valley with these helmets on and I thought that was strange.

I had never seen South Carolina Highway Patrolmen in white helmets.

And then they started laying down on the ground, and I said, they got their guns pointed.

<Cecil Williams> And for around 10 seconds, just pumped bullets into a crowd of 150 students.

<Dr.

Cleveland Sellers> And it was like a flash.

I mean, you could actually see light and smoke and then you could smell the gunpowder.

I spread out like this, you know how you do a belly flop?

And it shot from the backside up under here and it tore through this little, there's a little muscle right in there that it tore through.

I was arrested, I was placed on death row.

Anytime you have law enforcement officers who are state hired, walk onto a campus, open fire on unarmed students, and you shoot 30.

To me, it looked like shooting fish in a barrel.

<Cecil Williams> Three youth were killed, 28 were injured, and it has become known as the Orangeburg massacre.

<Rep.

Gilda Cobb-Hunter> It's just amazing to me how the history books talk about Kent State and how difficult it was here in South Carolina to get even a mention in history books about the Orangeburg Massacre.

[ominous music] <Andrew Young> When I decided to run for governor, how was I going to deal with the Confederate Flag?

And I looked it up.

And it turned out that the Confederate Flag is really the Cross of St.

Andrew from 15th century Scotland.

<Congressman Ben Jones> St.

Andrew was Christ's first disciple.

Andrew was also crucified, and he was crucified with a sort of X. That's the first meaning of that symbol.

And that's the one I fear that people have forgotten about.

<Conor Boyd> To me, the Confederate Flag is a symbol of pride, symbol of my ancestry, being of Scotch Irish descent.

[Celtic music] <Amb.

Andrew Young> Everything that the Presbyterian, the Protestants in Scotland, were fighting for were things that I believed in.

And so, if for five centuries, it's been associated with St.

Andrew of Scotland, [laughs] five years with the Confederacy doesn't ruin it.

The Klan burned crosses for decades.

But that doesn't mean I'm going to take the cross down that's in my church.

[projector rattles] [dramatic music] <Rev.

Nelson Rivers> In 1976, I was reading The Post and Courier.

I read the name of a man named Kay Patterson that I thought was a woman, cause I'd never met a man named Kay.

And he was railing about the flag.

I said, that sounds like my kind of dude.

<Sen.

Maggie Glover> An awesome, trailblazing senator.

<Gov.

Hodges> Retired Marine.

A real no-nonsense guy.

<Gov.

Beasley> One of the most colorful political characters in South Carolina.

[laughter and applause] <Sen.

Kay Patterson> January 11, 1931, I was born in Darlington county, out in the country, called it the sticks, back in the woods.

During that day, a high school went from first grade to 11th grade.

At that time, the White children rode the bus.

We couldn't ride the bus.

I've never been on a school bus in my life.

We had to walk the seven miles one way, 14 miles a day, walking.

<Sam Davis>...but Kay is the kind of person that makes you stay true to the cause.

No matter what they say to you, no matter what they say about you.

[bluegrass music] <Rep.

Todd Rutherford> Kay Patterson did not shy away from using what some would term colorful language.

I believe even he said that he had a masters in profanity.

<Sen.

Kay Patterson> I'd raise hell, talking just as loud as my voice would go.

<Rev.

Nelson Rivers> Kay would cuss in the general assembly.

Other folk would do it but they wouldn't do it on the microphone.

<Sen.

Maggie Glover> When once questioned about what did Black people want, Patterson's answer was, "...the same damn thing you want."

[bluegrass music] <Sen.

Darrell Jackson> I was a page in the Senate when I was in college and Kay Patterson was in the House, just giving it to them on the Confederate Flag.

<Sen.

Kay Patterson> I had to get up and talk about it almost every day.

Wasn't nobody else was talking about.

And we're going to fight until it comes down comes hell or high water.

<Sen.

Darrell Jackson> When Kay Patterson came in the 70s, it was a totally different atmosphere from even when I came in the 90s.

<Sen.

Kay Patterson> Back during that day, it was hell here in South Carolina.

And when I talked about that flag, I got all kinds of nasty mail and death threats.

Nasty letters, letter starts off says, "Dear Nigger."

That's a nice letter when they start off like that.

<Gov.

David Beasley> To take the flag down in the 80s, it's just not possible.

[somber music] [somber music] <Officer> Roof... [cameras shutter] <Jennifer Berry Hawes> A couple days after the shooting, Dylann Roof had his first bond hearing.

<Judge> This is the case of State vs.

Dylann Roof.

Mr.

Roof is charged with nine counts of murder, and one count of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.

Before we go into the bond process, is there a representative of any of the families that would be here that wish to make a statement before this court?

<Jennifer Berry Hawes> The first person who stood up, Nadine Collier lost her mother in the shooting.

<Malcolm Graham> I was on my way back, listening to it in the car and nearly wrecked the car.

Based on what I was hearing.

<Jennifer Berry Hawes> Several other victims' family members spoke in similar themes of Christian mercy and love and forgiveness.

[somber music] <Jennifer Berry Hawes> That message just really resonated around the country.

<Rev.

Joseph Darby> I said that's an expression of the faith lived out as faith is manifested in the historically Black church.

<Malcolm Graham> They lost family members too.

but to forgive two days after the shooting, when my sister was still in the morgue on a cold steel table was unimaginable for me.

<Rev.

Cress Darwin> Healing comes when healing comes.

It's not just a group of people of faith, but people who were steeped in faith.

That's who they were.

<Malcolm Graham> It challenges your faith, right?

Where was God?

And I guess the parting comment on that is understanding what I learned in that basement where they died, the meaning of Emanuel, which is God is with us.

And so I have to believe that even in the midst of that horror that she was protected by His grace.

[projector rattles] [bluegrass music] <Dr.

John Coski> The Dukes of Hazzard television show in the late 1970s, early 1980s, was something of the apogee of the Confederate Flag's prominence in American popular culture.

I don't see an issue with the Confederate Flag being on top of the General Lee in the Dukes of Hazzard.

<Donald Livingston> The Dukes of Hazzard was a popular program that had the battle flag on the Robert E. Lee.

And there's nothing racist about that.

There were just a bunch of good old boys.

<Ben Jones> The best car action ever filmed for television.

It was astonishing.

<John Schneider> Well, I guess we only got one choice.

<Tom Wopat> Go for it.

<Ben Jones> And you had the heroes who always did the right thing.

They were just good old boys.

But they've taught by their Uncle Jesse to do the right thing.

<Uncle Jesse> You boys are reacting to prejudice.

The Good Lord put us here on this earth to overcome things like hating people.

[bluegrass music] <Congressman Ben Jones> We have some guests here today who are film crew that's shooting a film for PBS.

And of course, the issue of the day is the rebel flag.

<Crowd member> Yeah!

<Congressman Ben Jones> And yeah.

Yeah is right.

Hazzard County was colorblind.

<Crowd member> That's right.

<Ben Jones> You know, there wasn't no racial prejudice in Hazzard County.

That just made me so happy because we had transcended.

There was no - nobody had a problem with it.

That old flag is going to keep on flying on, well, it's been 160 years, and we honor it and respect it as a symbol of standing up for something that might not be very popular.

And if y'all think that we're ever going to be ashamed of our ancestors, you're just wrong.

[bluegrass music] <Sen.

Darrell Jackson> The 1990s were perhaps better than the 80s and the 80s were better than the 70s.

But it doesn't mean that the 90s were great.

<Gov.

David Beasley> Since January of 1991, there have been 31 confirmed church arsons in South Carolina, 18 African American churches.

<President Clinton> All of you who've been afflicted by this.

We know that we're not going back to those dark days, but we are now reminded that our job is not done.

<Rep.

James Clyburn> The church is symbolic to the Black community.

[ominous music] <Rev.

Joseph Darby> It was a difficult thing to see.

<Rep.

James Clyburn> People who burn churches were doing what they thought was necessary to destabilize.

<Jerry Mitchell> Before people hate, they fear, and when they fear they start to dehumanize.

Racists or others who are so inclined have permission to destroy people because, "well, they're not really human."

<Gov.

Riley> It was evidence of something you want to not believe.

<Ted Koppel> Joining us now from his office at the State Capitol in Columbia, South Carolina, Governor David Beasley.

When the President of the United States visits as he did this morning, I can imagine that in certain quarters, there's going to be some resentment.

<Gov.

David Beasley> We welcome the President of the United States and everybody in America to stand with us, stand united to speak out against these church burnings because it's clearly wrong.

<Ted Koppel> Do you feel as you look back now on the debate over the Confederate Flag, that maybe you made a mistake?

<Gov.

David Beasley> Well, that's a very divisive issue in South Carolina and emotions are strong from both sides.

And it's an issue that we're trying to resolve and work through.

[ominous music] <Scott Malyerck> Governor David Beasley kind of shocked the state, <TV announcer> In just a few moments, we will go to the governor's mansion in Columbia live.

<Gov.

David Beasley> Seeing the church burnings, the KKK Museum, coupled with just the general aura of the flag itself and what it meant to these people and to that people, I told South Carolina, we're bigger than this.

We're better than this.

Thank you for joining me tonight for what I consider to be the single most important 15 minutes I've ever spent with you, maybe the most important moments we'll ever spend.

<Rep.

James Clyburn> David and I, pretty good friends.

He was being himself.

He really genuinely thought this should be a positive movement on the flag.

<Gov.

David Beasley> The Confederate Flag flying above the State House, it flies in a vacuum.

Its meaning its purpose are not defined by law.

And because of this, any group can give the flag any meaning it chooses.

Politically, there was no reason I couldn't wait till after the election, but it was just, it needed to be done.

I, therefore, will call upon the General Assembly to adopt the 1997 South Carolina Heritage Act.

It will fly the flag in front of the Capitol at the Confederate Memorial.

<Sen.

Maggie Glover> That was not the Republican stance.

Bringing the flag down was just not on their agenda.

<Gov.

David Beasley> Boy, that was a tough message.

And because you weren't speaking to the people who believed the flag should come down.

You're trying to speak to the crowd that wanted to keep it up.

<Gov.

Hodges> I was the Democratic leader in the legislature at the time, and reached out to Governor Beasley to say that I wanted to work with him.

Within a short period of time after his announcement, the Republican members of the legislature made it abundantly clear that they were not interested in addressing the flag issue.

It is a soldier's banner which belongs to our heritage, not to the chant of community stirrers, people haters, or politicians bent on placating those who holler the loudest.

<Gov.

David Beasley> I was surprised by some of the people who said they would stand with me, who didn't.

<Charlie Condon> Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Charlie Condon, Attorney General for South Carolina.

Thank you for giving me this opportunity to respectfully disagree with my friend, David Beasley.

<Gov.

David Beasley> It was disheartening to see someone who could be with me 100%, and then I see him speaking hours later against.

<Charlie Condon> I wish with all my heart that David and I were still standing together on that issue tonight.

<Rep.

Gilda Cobb-Hunter> Ask David Beasley about messing around with the flag and the flag supporters.

<Gov.

David Beasley> Everywhere I went, there were these mass protesters.

And I mean, they weren't saying, you know, we disagree with you governor and good luck.

You had those that were intensely engaged to protect the flag at all costs.

And I mean, at all costs.

Threatened to kill me, threatened to kill my family.

We actually had to send my kids and wife out of state for a couple of weeks.

<Rep.

Gilda Cobb-Hunter> I'm a firm believer that David Beasley lost because of his position on the flag and the flag needing to come down.

<Scott Malyerck> In politics, timing is everything.

And it wasn't time under Governor Beasley for the flag to come down.

There wasn't that strong sentiment for it to come down.

<Rep.

Gilda Cobb-Hunter> Sometimes you lose the battle and win the war.

And I've always thought that what he did was a good thing.

<Gov.

David Beasley> After the election, that night, I brought in my top team.

And I said, one, we did what was right at the right time, did we do it the right way?

They said yes.

I said, "Well, then we've been successful."

[projector rattles] <Newscaster> Atop South Carolina's Capitol, the US and state flags respectfully fly at half staff, while also on the Capitol grounds flies the Confederate Battle Flag at it's full height.

<Bree Newsome Bass> When the shootings happened in Charleston, it was just so offensive that they would lower the American Flag but keep the Confederate Flag at the top of the pole.

That was when it kind of became a serious conversation among myself and other activists I was in community with.

We went to a lot of different locations to kind of train on how to do this method.

Eventually did end up finding an actual flagpole at a school and was able to practice there, but we were trying to be, you know, careful about it.

Cause I mean, there was so much attention on the issue at the time.

<James Tyson> Bree was such a star because quite literally she had not climbed before.

And by the end of the week, she was getting up those things like she was a pro.

[ominous music] My adrenaline was boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom... <Bree> There were several other people who were participating in this action because we needed people to be lookouts pretending to be you know, joggers to let us know when the police who were guarding the flag kind of like stepped away on their rotations.

We were in the IHOP parking lot.

It's clear, let's go.

<James> As soon as we pulled up to the front entrance of the State House, me and Bree immediately jumped out.

<Bree> I had on my helmet.

I had my backpack, I had my gear.

James was disguised as a construction worker.

<James> And then a small complication trying to get over the fence with all the ropes and lines we had around us.

<Bree> I had pliers, I had scissors, I had bolt cutters, we weren't exactly sure what we were going to have to do to get it down.

The flagpole is 30 feet high.

We had practiced me getting like maybe about eight feet off the ground, just so that if they were to come over and try to grab me, I would at least be out of reach.

<James> I remember sitting at the base of the pole and looking across the field and what seemed like an endless expanse, watching these state police officers running across the quad shouting... "Get down off that pole.

Get down off that pole."

It didn't look like people that ran very often.

<Policeman> Ma'am!...Ma'am!...

Get off the pole.

<Bree> I'm telling them, this is a nonviolent action.

I'm going to get the flag.

I'm going to come down and then I'll surrender.

<James> The White commanding officer that arrived on scene about 15 minutes after the two responding officers very promptly and casually ordered the two Black officers to tase Bree off the pole.

<Bree> I had three tasers trained on me at one point.

So they were to shoot me full of electricity while I'm attached to a metal pole, that could have electrocuted me.

<James> That's when I said, "Look, guys, "the whole world is watching."

And I'm going to be holding onto this pole the entire time.

So you're going to have to tase both of us."

<Bree> That's why he's holding on to the pole.

That wasn't part of the safety measure.

That was because he was telling them like, if you electrocute her, you'll have to electrocute me too.

And then they de-escalated.

[applause] <James> Bree was taken in one direction I was taken in another direction.

<Bree> When we went in, we weren't exactly sure what the impact was.

We couldn't see the news.

<Newscaster> Two people were arrested earlier today after one of them removed the Confederate Flag from the flagpole outside the South Carolina State House.

Both were charged with defacing a monument.

<Rep.

Todd Rutherford> A text went out between a number of Black lawyers.

Did anybody want to represent her?

And I said, "Absolutely, I'll represent her."

<Bree> The first time I met Todd Rutherford was when I was in jail.

<Rep.

Todd Rutherford> I said, 'I've been waiting decades, 'did you - ?

What special training did you have?

'And was it locked up there?

'Because I want to know how you did this, 'because I'm so embarrassed that I didn't climb my ass 'up there and take the flag down myself.'

And she said, "No, it wasn't even locked.

"It was just clipped."

She said, "I had bolt cutters, but I didn't need them."

<Bree> It was an important statement for me personally to make.

Because I wanted to demonstrate that I was not going to allow myself to be ruled by fear.

<James> An hour after we've been processed, the warden for the jail came down and she thanked me and Bree.

That was a total mind blow.

I was just like, 'oh, okay, so we did something good.'

<Bree> There is a time and a place where we have to challenge the law itself.

Rosa Parks was arrested.

What she did, we celebrate it now, it was against the law.

I think that's important for us to recognize that the law itself can be unjust.

[soft music] <Rev.

Nelson Rivers> 1999.

I want to make it a national policy if we're going to boycott South Carolina this year, We know it's going to be pain, but the flag flying is even more painful.

<Interviewee> I think they should leave it.

I think that they make a big deal about too much.

<Interviewee> It's part of the history of the state.

It's not having anything to do with race, whatsoever.

<Gov.

Hodges> In '99, when the NAACP took action, it garnered national attention.

<Rep.

Gilda Cobb-Hunter> People have perceptions that we were somehow backwards in this state because we flew the flag.

<Trav Robertson> I started to learn about the perceptions of my state of what other people thought about us as a people.

I was driving to Amarillo, Texas.

I pulled into a gas station.

This very large burly trucker hopped down.

I mean, he made a beeline for me and I thought, my God did I cut this guy off or something, and it startled me.

He looked at me and he pointed he said, "Hey, you're from South Carolina, aren't you?

And I said, Yes, sir.

I am.

And he said, y'all need to take that flag down.

It's a disgrace.

Completely opposite of any stereotype that I had in my mind as this White, middle class trucker jumps down to tell me about the Confederate Flag.

<Sen.

Maggie Glover> One of the first entities that made the boycott successful for us was the NCAA.

<Scott Malyerck> There were a number of organizations and institutions who looked at South Carolina and looked at our refusal to bring down the flag as something they didn't want to be a part of.

<Maurice Hobson> So racism is bad for business.

That is that.

That's the short answer.

<Sen.

Kay Patterson> It has been the economic sanctions of the NAACP, which brought people to the table.

<Newscaster> At the Governor's mansion complex, inside the Lace House, influential lawmakers, Black leaders and Confederate Flag representatives sat down to try to sort out a solution.

[dramatic music] <Rev.

Nelson Rivers> We met in a secret meeting that Jim Hodges hosted in the Lace House.

[dramatic music] <Gov.

Hodges> We needed to give people a time and an opportunity to be heard.

[dramatic music] <Rev.

Nelson Rivers> I said to Jim Hodges, 'Jim, take the flag down, man.'

"Nelson, I can't do that."

[dramatic music] <Rev.

Nelson Rivers> In that meeting, Glenn McConnell sitting here, next to me.

<Sen.

Glenn McConnell> Our flag got abused.

It got taken by politicians and used for racial causes.

<Rev.

Nelson Rivers> By now we're adversaries.

We not even act like we like each other.

Glenn McConnell said, "We need to have symbols of the Confederacy.

John Drummond was instrumental in shaping the discussion about the flag.

John Drummond says, "Man, you don't understand."

Now, I'm giving you a quote.

These are not my words.

These are the words from John Drummond, John Drummond said, "Glenn, the whole goddamn capital "is a monument to the Confederacy.

"Walk the Capitol grounds.

"Everything out there is a monument to... "the doggone soldier's a monument "to the Confederacy.

"Wade Hampton.

"Everything out there is a monument."

I say, 'Yeah, that's right.

Say it, John.'

I didn't say it but John said it.

And Glenn McConnell says to me, "Mr.

Rivers, I get where I think about the Confederate widows "and all they lost, and all of a sudden my heart grieves.

"And I start to cry."

I listened to him, I looked at him, when he got through, I said, 'Senator, learn this lesson.

'Never have a pain contest with a Black man 'in South Carolina.

'You will always lose.'

[somber music] <Larry McCluney> It symbolizes millions of young men who took up arms to defend their homes from an invading army.

<Carl Jones> We take great pride in the fact that we are descended from generations of men who were willing to stand up and defend by force of arms if necessary, what was theirs.

<Rep.

Christopher Corley> There is an attachment to the old and to where you've come from and to who came before you.

<Kathleen Parker> I have a little bit of sympathy for people like that, who just whose identity is so tied in to their heritage and the people that they come from, you know, nobody wants to be ashamed of their ancestors.

And while you can certainly be ashamed of what they fought against, where does that leave them?

You know, where does that leave them?

So, I think a certain amount of understanding is appropriate.

<Rep.

Jake Knotts> They're not going to take this flag off this State House grounds.

[applause and cheers] <Will Folks> I do want to try to speak up for a lot of the folks who I believe were unfairly demonized during the process.

Things get so conflated, and the Confederate Flag got conflated.

Politicians conflate it because they can rile up a base and get votes.

The media conflate it because it gets ratings, it's controversial.

[Demonstrators Singing] I do believe, take the flag down today.

[Demonstrators Chanting] <Dr.

Bobby Donaldson> If you want to talk about the heritage and the history of the flag, tell the whole history.

Talk about the subjugation of Black people, talk about the race riots where the flag was used.

Talk about John Lewis being attacked, attacked by young men with rocks and bats and Confederate Flags.

<Kweisi Mfume> We have come to this state capitol, standing beneath this Confederate Flag to say that we will continue to march and we will continue to boycott until it flies no more.

<Sen.

Maggie Glover> It's the largest march on the State House in South Carolina's history.

People for as far as the eye could see, coming to this State House, asking for the Confederate Flag to come down.

<Newscaster> When the NAACP launched its economic boycott of the state, political and business leaders demanded state lawmakers take action this year.

<Gov.

Hodges> As the governor, you don't have the power to make it happen without legislative action.

We did not have the luxury of me simply by fiat saying we're going to move the flag, and that's the end of it.

We had to have a legislative resolution to get that done in an increasingly conservative state.

<newscaster> Outside the Senate chamber, dozens of Confederate Flag supporters jam the lobby, all eyes turn to what was about to unfold on the Senate floor.

[soft music] <Sen.

Maggie Glover> Oh, the compromise legislation.

<Sen.

Kay Patterson> I agreed to get from atop the State House, out of the House chambers, out of the Senate chambers and put it on the ground by the Confederate soldier.

<Sen.

Darrell Jackson> One of the most difficult decisions of my life.

<Sen.

Harvey Peeler> If you take the flag down tonight, in the morning, South Carolinians will greet each other differently if they greet each other at all.

<Rep.

Gilda Cobb-Hunter> I am one who likes clarity and closure.

There was no clarity there to address those people who said, I don't want it on the grounds period.

<Sen.

Kay Patterson> A half a loaf is better than no loaf at all.

If we can settle it.

I may just have to swallow and vote for it.

I know the NAACP not going to accept that.

I don't think they will.

<Rev.

Nelson Rivers> I get a call at midnight, said "Nelson, they sold us out."

'What do you mean?'

Every Black senator, save one, voted for the compromise.

<Sen.

Maggie Glover> It broke my heart.

And I could not.

I could not vote for that.

<Newscaster> With the Senate's approval, the flag bill then began maneuvering its way through the House.

<Rep.

Gilda Cobb-Hunter> There were people who were like, "Well, dog.

I never saw the rag on top of the dome."

"Now y'all moved it right down there in front of my face, "so I can't help but see it."

<Gov.

Hodges> When we reached the final resolution, it was because two of the senior African American leaders, Senator Kay Patterson, and Senator John Matthews came in to me and said, "Governor, "we have gotten as much "as we're going to get out of this.

We have a chance "to move it off the dome, "but that's the best we're going to be able to do."

There's no more appropriate place for a Confederate Flag than beside an honored statesman, soldier and South Carolinian.

It is a simple, appropriate way to resolve this debate.

<Sen.

Kay Patterson> You don't know how much hell, I... [laughs] You don't know how much hell I caught for agreeing to that.

<Rep.

Todd Rutherford> When he agreed with the compromise, a lot of us found ourselves on the opposite side and tried to find every respectful way to disagree with somebody who we knew to be a lion in the movement.

<Gov.

Hodges> I felt good that the legislature was able to come together and do something.

[projector rattles] <Sen.

Malloy> When Clem died, and the other people at Mother Emanuel, I think the conversation regarding the Confederate Flag immediately started.

<Gov.

Haley> This has been a very difficult time for our state.

We have stared evil in the eye and watched good prayerful people killed in one of the most sacred of places.

<Malcolm Graham> She attended all of the services for the victim including my sister, Cynthia.

<Bakari Sellers> You would have to believe that somebody who went to nine funerals understands the reason the flag did come down.

I was pleasantly surprised.

In the prior gubernatorial race her opponent, Vincent Sheheen, supported the removal of the Confederate Flag and she said that she did not.

<Sen.

Vincent Sheheen> I believe that South Carolinians and our young people who leave this state all too often are tired of the image that the leaders of this state project.

<Gov.

Haley> I spend a lot of my days on the phones with CEOs and recruiting jobs to this state.

I can honestly say I have not had one conversation with a single CEO about the Confederate Flag.

<Malcolm Graham> She got to the point where she was ready to say the Confederate Flag needed to come down and that she would lead that charge.

<Gov.

Haley> 15 years ago, after much contentious debate, South Carolina came together in a bipartisan way to move 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's time to move the flag from the Capitol grounds.

[applause] [classical music] <Sen.

Vincent Sheheen> I just remember a small group of us getting together in the leadership's office, shell-shocked really, not knowing what to do, crying, trying to chart a path forward.

We began to talk about how that Confederate Flag needed to come down.

If slavery was the original sin of America, then South Carolina is where we picked that fruit and ate it over and over and over again.

And maybe we need as much healing, if not more, than anywhere else.

And I want us to talk about the future.

Because that's why we are going to pass this bill and lower the Confederate Flag from the State House grounds.

I think that speech really, you just it's from the heart, and you say what needs to be said, which was really about Clem.

I believe that out of horror can come healing.

And I believe it will.

I believe that out of death can come redemption.

And I believe it will.

And I believe that we can do this if we do it together.

And I believe we will.

<Gov.

David Beasley> I remember walking to the Senate, they were debating the issue.

And the Senate's what killed me in '98.

I didn't know how they were going to react when I walked in.

They were in session.

I walked in.

And it was dead silence.

And all the Senators stood and gave me a standing ovation.

One of the most emotional times of my life.

I couldn't believe it.

I was overwhelmed personally, but I was overwhelmed for my state.

<Jennifer Berry Hawes> Although the bill passed the Senate fairly easily, it was not a sure bet in the House.

The House is the much more conservative body, it had a much stronger pro flag contingent.

<Rep.

Michael Gambrell> There's a no win situation on this vote whatsoever, <Rep.

Christopher Corley> I stood on the premise that there was a compromise that was already reached, and it shouldn't have been reopened.

Because the nature of the compromise was that it was supposed to settle the debate.

<Rep.

Mike Burns> I've got about 4000 emails about the flag issue.

And I'm sure each of our colleagues has about the same.

<Rep.

Gilda Cobb-Hunter> Well, first and foremost, a 15-hour session was supposed to be four or five hours.

<Rep.

Harold Mitchell> Going into session the morning of the debate, they came walking to us, you know, like they were ready to attack us like Mike Tyson coming out of the corner.

<Rep.

Jenny Horne> It was ugly.

I mean, the debate was real ugly.

The amendments were done in an effort to delay.

<Rep.

Michael Pitts> This particular amendment, if the flag comes down, what would be done with it?

<Rep.

Jenny Horne> If we took a Senate bill, and we amended it in the House, it would have to go back to the Senate.

Can you tell me if we amend this bill, how much longer and how many more days that, that flag is going to continue to fly in the face of the Charleston Nine.

<Rep.

Merrill> I appreciate you treading on emotion continuously, but, the fact of the matter is that it won't be more than a day or two.

<Rep.

Christopher Corley> If the Republicans were going to basically go back on a 15 year old compromise and pull the flag down, they should have gotten something in return.

<Rep.

Todd Rutherford> Being on the floor that night, and it's emotional.

So we're up there, and the Speaker called me in the back and said, "Look", he said, "I don't think" "we're going to be able to do this."

And I said, 'We can't do that.'

And James Smith, who ran for governor after that, he came in the back, he said, he said, "No sir," he said, "you tell your people "to get it together.

"We ain't going to do this, and you can make that happen.

"You make that happen."

And the Speaker just hung his head and we walked out.

And later on Jenny Horne gave her speech.

<Rep.

Jenny Horne> I cannot believe that we do not have the heart in this body to do something meaningful, such as take a symbol of hate off these grounds on Friday.

[sober music] <Rep.

Joe Neil> That flag that stands outside, has stood as a thumb in the eye of those families in Charleston, who lost loved ones.

And we all know it.

<Rep.

Gilda Cobb-Hunter> Joe Neil had a beautiful voice.

He was a Baptist preacher.

He got up here and made such an impassioned speech, about grace.

<Rep.

Joe Neil> Let's give grace where grace needs to be not just one way but for all of us.

I know I need grace.

And I think you do too.

In fact, all of South Carolina needs grace, because at this moment, we've got some hard decisions to make.

And the whole world is watching us.

<Gov.

Haley> Can the TV guys hear?

Alright, I will yell as loud as I can.

The Confederate Flag is coming off the grounds of the South Carolina State House.

[applause] So tomorrow morning at 10 am, we will see the Confederate Flag come down.

We are a state that believes in tradition.

We're a state that believes in history.

We're a state that believes in respect.

So we will bring it down with dignity.

And we will make sure that it is put in its rightful place.

<Rep.

Todd Rutherford> It was unbelievable, standing out there with my kids, watching the flag come down, in this disbelief that this is real, you know, this is history.

And this is something that people died over, and fought over.

And we're actually here watching it come down.

<Bakari Sellers> I actually wrote an op-ed piece that said, I wish my father was here.

But he had stated that, you know, "Now son, "it's your turn."

It was a good day in South Carolina.

It's one of our better days.

[applause] <Gov.

David Beasley> To see the flag placed in the proper place, bringing it into a chapter that should have ended many years before.

[applause] <Sen.

Maggie Glover> It took horrific death to move this state, and her Governor, to finally bring down the last vestiges of slavery.

<Jennifer Pinckney> The girls and I, and I remember this, we sat on my bed and we watched the whole thing.

Didn't want to deal with the crowds.

We didn't want to deal with the media.

I just wanted a quiet time with my girls at home.

That was it.

<Rep.

Harold Mitchell> I can remember when Senator Pinckney's father, with his deep voice, you know, he told a couple of us, "God doesn't make mistakes."

"And if it took my son "to get you all back here "to take that flag down out there "and to deal with this issue, "it's well with my soul."

<Sen.

Darrell Jackson> The part of me that was bitter was more so it took my friend's death, and eight other people, for you to realize that this is something we should have done a long time ago.

<Sen.

Vincent Sheheen> I think we shouldn't kid ourselves, that flag, it came down because of Clem.

[somber music] <Jennifer Berry Hawes> If the flag is a symbol, so is it's removal.

I thought it was so interesting how carefully they removed it and rolled it up with this symbolism of handing that to an African American State Trooper who carried it away.

Who would have thought back in 1961, that that's what would happen to the flag in 2015.

<Will Folks> An outcome that needed to happen that should have happened.

And that ultimately did happen, I think happened in a way that maybe fueled more division than it healed.

Where's the flag right now?

Where is it?

Nobody knows.

Because it was supposed to be given a place maybe not of honor, but a place again, where history could be properly contextualized.

And that hadn't happened.

[somber music] <Carl Jones> They want all of us to forget our roots and our traditions, as Americans.

And when we do that, it's like Karl Marx said, if you separate a people from their history, they're more easily persuaded.

<Sen.

Vincent Sheheen> I think it's sad that South Carolina's politics have gone national.

And it's reached such a boiling point that what we're seeing in the country now reflects what we saw in the state five years ago.

<Steve Murray> I think our country is at an important and overdue moment of reckoning.

My hope is that the discussion continues beyond just the fate of monuments.

<Rep.

James Clyburn> I'm passionate about history, most of all, because I think history should instruct us.

I think it was George Santayana, who wrote, if we fail to learn the lessons of history, you're bound to repeat them.

I think that what leads to most of the problems we have is the fact that people are ignorant of their history.

<Jerry Mitchell> It's so easy to think of these things as being so distant in the past.

But Myrlie Evers, the widow of Medgar Evers, said, "Yes," "these are wounds that are being reopened.

But these are wounds that never healed.

And that's why they need to be reopened and cleaned out.

And then they can heal.

<Larry McCluney> Until we can sit down at a table as brothers and talk about the differences and the issues that we have in this country today, it's not going to get better.

<Rep.

Gilda Cobb-Hunter> I'm all about let's get together.

Let's agree to disagree, agreeably.

<Gov.

Hodges> I think the mistake we all make is to believe that simply by removing a flag from the grounds that those issues go away.

It still takes a lot of understanding and effort to continue to make progress.

<Rep.

Gilda Cobb-Hunter> As we are going around the country removing symbols, let's not forget the other "S" which is substance.

If we don't address that, we are just, they used to say "whistling Dixie."

I think that's probably appropriate.

[Rep.

Gilda Cobb-Hunter laughs] [soft music]