COLUMBIA, S.C. – Tensions over the Confederate flag flying in the shadow of South Carolina's Capitol rose this week in the wake of the killings of nine people at a black church in Charleston. The symbolism was rendered more raw because the suspected gunman briefly escaped in a car bearing Confederate insignia.
South Carolina was the last state to fly the Confederate battle flag from its Capitol dome until a 2000 compromise moved it to a 30-foot flagpole elsewhere on statehouse grounds.
The flag was hoisted above the statehouse in 1962. Some saw it then as a symbol of Southern heritage. Others called it a defiant sign against the civil rights movement and a bitter reminder of slavery.
Gov. Nikki Haley says renewed discussions about the flag should wait.
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