S. Carolina law makes it tough to lower Confederate flags
WALHALLA, S.C. — In the aftermath of the racially motivated Charleston church slayings in 2015, the Confederate flag was removed from the South Carolina Statehouse during an elaborate nationally televised ceremony.
But in less prominent places, the fight over the flag rages on, with the rebel banner garnering at least two recent victories. That’s because a South Carolina law crafted more than 15 years ago requires the Legislature to approve by at least a two-thirds vote any change to a historical monument such as lowering a flag or adding a name. And one of the state’s most powerful lawmakers has vowed the law will not change.
Twice in the last month, Confederate flag supporters cited the law as they forced the banner to return to a Confederate monument and a newly renovated courtroom in the suburbs of Charlotte, North Carolina.
In the Blue Ridge Mountain gateway town of Walhalla, Luther Lyle, a descendent of Confederate soldiers and former caretaker of a Civil War monument there, had lowered the flag following the massacre at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.