White Supremacy and murder in South Carolina

In the latest of what seems to be an ever-increasing wave of violence against unarmed African-American people, a white man with a gun walked into the historic Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina where a prayer meeting was in progress.   The pastor and eight people in the congregation are dead.

The suspect is a 21 year old white man whose reported confession has not yet been confirmed by the police.  But he has been arrested and charged with nine counts of murder in what is being treated as a hate crime.   

The suspect had posted a picture of himself on social media wearing a jacket with flag patches that have become emblems of support for white supremacist groups, although there is no evidence he is actually a member of any such group.   Acquaintances say that he harbored hatred for black people, spewed racist rhetoric, and recently talked about doing something violent -- resulting in a concerned roommate hiding the suspect's gun for a few days before later returning it.

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley condemned the shooting and called for the death penalty.   But there is a bitter irony here.    Gov. Haley also presides over state government in Columbia, SC, where the Confederate flag flies on the state capital grounds, at the Confederate Memorial.   Prior to 2000, it used to fly over the capitol dome itself, beneath the U.S. flag and the South Carolina flag.   A prior controversy resulted in its being moved to the memorial site, still on the grounds and within sight of the capitol building.

Someone on the internet has raised the question:   "Will South Carolina honor the victims of this church shooting by lowering the Confederate flag to half-staff?"  Gov. Haley has already ordered flags to be flown at half-staff for nine days -- one day for each of the victims.

But the Confederate flag is not on a pulley, so it cannot simply be lowered to half-staff but, rather, would have to be removed.  State law, however, prohibits its removal except by a vote of the legislature. 

The S.C. Division of General Services has not yet clarified whether the Confederate flag will be lowered, along with the U. S. and South Carolina flags.

This is not the most important question, which I will give deeper thought to before posting later:   the conflict of love vs hate in South Carolina -- and throughout our land.

Ralph