COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Senate voted Monday to remove the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the State House. The bipartisan proposal, which emerged after last month’s massacre at a historic black church in Charleston, was approved by a 37-to-3 vote in the Republican-controlled Senate.
The Senate has one remaining ratification vote, now virtually assured of success.
This is just the first step. The South Carolina House of Representatives still have to vote on it.
The removal of the flag comes at with a very bloody cost. Many agree that three weeks ago a suggestion to remove the flag in the state would have been scoffed at — as it has been for at least 15 years. But the murder of nine members of Charleston’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church last month brought the debate to the forefront. It lead to calls from President Barack Obama to put it in a museum, retailers such as Walmart refusing to carry it in their stores and Bree Newsome climbing a pole herself to take down the flag.
All of this has lead up to today’s vote in the South Carolina Senate.
To read more of the update date coverage on the vote visit here.
