Showing posts with label charleston. Show all posts
Showing posts with label charleston. Show all posts

Thursday, July 9, 2015

South Carolina Votes to Remove Confederate Flag - UpDate: #ConfederateTakeDown

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General Lee Surrenders in 1865.
South Carolina GOP Surrenders in 2015

Gif by ThinkProgress Tumblr

Previous Related Posts:
Confederate Flag Lowered by Activist Bree Newsome
Conservative Heads Explode Over Confederate Controversy
Confederate Flags: Hate Gets Harder to Buy
Pressure Builds for South Carolina to Take Down the Confederate Flag
The Charleston AME Church Massacre
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UPDATE: The flag came down right on time Friday July 10th at 10 a.m.















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Original Post on Flag Debate in House

After some crazy debate in the South Carolina Legislature until one in the morning, with impassioned speeches from both Republicans and Democrats, the House finally agreed to pass the clean Senate Bill to take down the Confederate Flag on the statehouse lawn by Friday.



Today, Governor Nikki Haley signed the bill into law, and tomorrow morning both the flag and the pole are coming down!




































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Sunday, June 28, 2015

Confederate Flag Lowered by Activists in South Carolina

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Activist Bree Newsome climbed the flagpole in front of the South Carolina State Capitol building in Columbia on Saturday and took down the Confederate Flag. Both Newsome and fellow activist James Tyson, who waited at the bottom of the flagpole, were arrested, leading to twitter hashtags #FreeBree and #FreeJames.

With this act of Civil Disobedience, Bree Newsome has become a legend now, and the image of her climb to take down the flag has traveled around the world via social media.



From The State
Activists calling themselves “concerned citizens” said in a news release that they removed the flag about 5:30 a.m. Saturday. A woman identified by the group as “Bree” climbed the pole and pulled the flag down, the group said.
“Deciding to do what the SC Legislature has thus far neglected to do, the group took down the symbol of white supremacy that inspired the massacre, continued to fly at full mast in defiance of South Carolina’s grief, and flew in defiance of everyone working to actualize a more equitable Carolinian future,” the group said in a news release distributed to the media about 6:30 a.m.
The state Bureau of Protective Services confirmed it had arrested two people at the State House about 6:15 a.m. Those arrested were Brittany Ann Byuarim Newsome, a 30-year-old Raleigh resident, and James Ian Tyson, a 30-year-old Charlotte resident, the protective services bureau said.
They are charged with defacing state property, a misdemeanor that carries penalties of up to three years in prison or a fine of up to $5,000 or both.
Newsome was loudly reciting the 23rd Psalm as she was being arrested.



















Many were dismayed that the flag was immediately raised again, possibly because there was to be a pro-Confederate rally held later in the day.






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Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Confederate Flags - Hate Gets Harder to Buy

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Previous Related Posts:
Pressure Builds for South Carolina to Take Down the Confederate Flag
The Charleston AME Church Massacre
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One after another, retailers and flag makers are letting go of Confederate flag merchandise!

The list keeps getting longer: Walmart, Sears (which also owns Kmart), Amazon, Ebay, Etsy, and Target. And it isn't just the big box stores, but smaller venues like Spencer's Gifts, as well as flag-making companies that supply gift shops.

From Huffington Post
Amazon joined a growing group of retailers that plan to take Confederate flags off their shelves. On Monday, Walmart and Sears vowed to remove the banners and related items from their stores. Earlier on Tuesday, eBay banned Confederate flag paraphernalia from its website. So, too, did the online marketplace Etsy, known for its homemade crafts, which said it planned to remove all Confederate flag items from its site.

From Time
The announcements echoed those made on Monday by Sears and Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer. “We never want to offend anyone with the products that we offer,” Walmart explained in a statement.
Smaller retailers also seem to be taking cues from the giant merchants. Etsy, an online marketplace for handcrafted and vintage items, said it would no longer allow the sale of Confederate flag-themed, saying, “Etsy’s policies prohibit items or listings that promote, support or glorify hatred and these items fall squarely into that category.” Zazzle, a retailer where buyers can design their own custom merchandise, also pledged to remove Confederate flag designs within the next 24 hours, saying the flag “has clearly evolved into a symbol of discrimination and divisiveness.”
Gift retailer Spencer’s—whose website previously featured aviator sunglasses, flasks, knee high socks, cowboy hats, tank top dresses and tank tops all featuring the Confederate flag—has done similarly. “In light of the terrible event in South Carolina this past week and having the opportunity to hear from many of our Guests and associates,” Spencer’s said in a statement on Tuesday, “we have decided that we can no longer offer for sale a symbol that is viewed as divisive and not consistent with our culture and goal to make every Spencer’s store welcome to all people.”

















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Monday, June 22, 2015

Pressure Builds for South Carolina to Take Down the Confederate Flag ~ Update: Nikki Haley Presser

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Previous Related Post:
The Charleston AME Church Massacre
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In the sad wake of the Charleston deaths at the hand of racist Dylann Roof, Twitter exploded over the weekend with calls for Governor Nikki Haley and the South Carolina House of Representatives to move quickly and take down the emblem of hate, the Confederate Flag, standing just outside the State House in Columbia.

From CNN
. . . while U.S. flags have been lowered, the Confederate battle flag remains high -- even padlocked into place.
Why?
It is a matter of state law.
Back in 2000, civil rights activists successfully lobbied to have a much larger Confederate flag removed from the Capitol dome. But there was a compromise. The South Carolina Heritage Act decreed that just about all other tributes to Confederate history would be virtually untouchable. The only way to change anything of that nature -- including the smaller flag that was erected on the State House lawn -- would be to gain the endorsement of two-thirds of lawmakers.



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Update: Monday, June 22, 2015

Word is spreading that Governor Nikki Haley will announce at 4 p.m. that the flag will come down.

UPDATE: Nikki Haley announced that there would be a push for the South Carolina House and Senate to take down the flag this summer:


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The Charleston AME Church Massacre

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Last Wednesday evening a white man named Dylann Roof walked into a Bible Study at Emmanuel AME Church in historic Charleston. He sat quietly for some time, appearing to listen to the religious message, before standing up and shooting nine innocent people while terrorizing the survivors with racist statements.

Later it was discovered that Dylann Roof had been planning some kind of attack for months, and had told his drinking buddies that whites needed to kill the blacks and bring back segregation. He later said he almost didn't shoot anyone at the church because they were so nice to him, but his evil purpose overcame any conscience he had (if any). But we don't have to guess at his reasons because Roof wrote an online manifesto stating his plan and why he chose that church:













A week later the sorrow still simmers across the nation, as families plan funerals and calls rise up from all sides to take down the festering symbol of racism that is the Confederate Battle Flag. But I deal with the flag controversy in a separate post. The rest of this post is about the victims and their families.






























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Thursday, April 9, 2015

The Murder of Walter Scott in Charleston SC



Walter Scott was murdered by police officer Michael Slager in Charleston, South Carolina. Like so many sad killings we've had this year, this is another white cop shooting a black man.

And he might have gotten away with it "Scott Free" if not for one brave soul, a young man named Feidin Santana, originally from the Dominican Republic, who stood filming with his camera while the policeman first tazed Scott on the ground, then shot him multiple times in the back as he fled.

In an interview Santana said he had considered deleting the video, fearful for his own life, then he decided to take it to the police. But when he got there and the police told him to wait while he went to get more officers, he got nervous and left to find a lawyer. After that, the video was released to the family and the media.

There are gruesome details gleaned from the video - the original police report said that CPR was given to Scott after the shooting, but the video showed none given by Slager or the assisting officer who arrives moments later. The taser was moved by Slager from where it was originally used and then thrown down beside the body, probably to justify the shooting. And the worst - Slager put handcuffs on Scott as he lay on the ground, probably after he died. Why do cops do that? I call that abuse of a dead body!

(Note: Cops in St. Louis also put cuffs on the dead body of Kajieme Powell.)

The only good thing out of this is that local Charleston officials immediately arrested Slager, then fired him. His own lawyer quit in the middle of the day. Good and good. Then tonight, the website GoFundMe shut down Slager's defense fund. Good for them too!

From the New York Times
The shooting unfolded after Officer Slager stopped the driver of a Mercedes-Benz with a broken taillight, according to police reports. Mr. Scott ran away, and Officer Slager chased him into a grassy lot that abuts a muffler shop. He fired his Taser, an electronic stun gun, but it did not stop Mr. Scott, according to police reports.

Moments after the struggle, Officer Slager reported on his radio: “Shots fired and the subject is down. He took my Taser,” according to police reports.

But the video, which was taken by a bystander and provided to The New York Times by the Scott family’s lawyer, presents a different account. The video begins in the vacant lot, apparently moments after Officer Slager fired his Taser. Wires, which carry the electrical current from the stun gun, appear to be extending from Mr. Scott’s body as the two men tussle and Mr. Scott turns to run.

Something — it is not clear whether it is the stun gun — is either tossed or knocked to the ground behind the two men, and Officer Slager draws his gun, the video shows. When the officer fires, Mr. Scott appears to be 15 to 20 feet away and fleeing. He falls after the last of eight shots.

The officer then runs back toward where the initial scuffle occurred and picks something up off the ground. Moments later, he drops an object near Mr. Scott’s body, the video shows.




















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