COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – A Republican state representative says it’s past time for the Confederate flag to be removed from Statehouse grounds.
Rep. Doug Brannon of Landrum told The Associated Press on Saturday that he’ll introduce a bill in December to move the flag and the pole it flies from to the state’s Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum. December is the first opportunity for bills to be pre-filed for the legislative session that resumes in January.
Brannon has been in the House for five years. He says he’s always thought the flag should be taken off Statehouse grounds, but he just didn’t have the nerve to propose doing so until Wednesday’s massacre at a black church in Charleston.
A rally calling for the flag’s removal is planned for later Saturday at the Statehouse.
