S.Carolina lowers Confederate flag in wake of church massacre

COLUMBIA, S.C., (Reuters) – South Carolina yesterday removed the Confederate battle flag from the state capitol grounds in a joyous but solemn ceremony that relegated a divisive symbol of the South’s pro-slavery legacy to a museum.

The Civil War flag, which had flown at the State House for 54 years, came down less than a month after a white gunman killed nine black men and women in a historic Charleston church.

In Washington, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Friday that the man charged in the massacre, Dylann Roof, was erroneously able to buy a gun due to a mix-up in a federal background check.

On the State House grounds, an honor guard of black and white state troopers ceremonially lowered the flag and folded it to be taken to a nearby museum. Several thousand onlookers chanted “U-S-A, U-S-A” and broke out singing a refrain from a late 1960s pop song, “Na na, na na na, hey hey, goodbye.”

While the flag is a hated symbol of slavery and racism to many, it is an emblem of Southern pride and heritage for others.

The banner, a replica of the flag of General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, was moved to the “relic room” of a state-run military museum in Columbia, South Carolina’s capital. It will be stored there while an exhibit is prepared.

The rebel standard will be displayed alongside other flags and artifacts carried by Southern Confederate soldiers 150 years ago in the Civil War.

President Barack Obama, the United States’ first black president, tweeted, “South Carolina taking down the confederate flag – a signal of good will and healing, and a meaningful step towards a better future.”

The state legislature passed a bill ordering the flag’s relocation on Thursday by a wide majority after three days of tense debate.