2015 was a year that South Carolinians won’t soon forget; the year was filled with controversy and drama which has trickled in to 2016. The Confederate Flag was finally brought down from in front of the State House located in Columbia, SC and since then, lawmakers have been debating on exactly where to put the battle flag, which for some is a symbol of heritage – for others, it’s a symbol of hate.
Now that lawmakers have decided that the Confederate flag should rest in a museum, they now need to figure out where this museum will be built. Representative Chip Limehouse proposed what he believed to be a better idea. His proposal is to house the flag inside the North Charleston Museum which already houses the H. L. Hunley, a confederate submarine. Limehouse is convinced that pairing the submarine along with the flag would increase tourism for the city of North Charleston.
As for lawmakers in the low country, they don’t seem to be supporting Rep. Limehouse idea. According to an interview with ABC News 4, The Mayor of North Charleston isn’t interested in bringing the flag to the city. Keith Summey stated in his interview:
“I was unaware of Representative Limehouse’s proposed legislation to move the Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum to North Charleston until I saw it reported by the Charleston area media. The legislation was introduced without discussion with anyone at the city. I certainly have no intentions of supporting this legislation or the idea of bringing the Confederate museum to North Charleston.”
Officials at Friends of the Hunley also don’t seem to want anything to do with housing the flag in their museum, President and Executive Direcotor for Friends of the Hunley made the following statement:
“We are a maritime exhibit with a collection of artifacts focused on our nation’s naval history. We are not sure if we could even accommodate their collection at this point. This idea would require a lot of discussion and thought before it could be seriously considered from our perspective.”
Although Rep. Limehouse is still drafting a committee to support bringing the battle flag to Charleston, he doesn’t seem to remember that the push to remove the flag from in front of the State House was born because of the massacre that occurred at Mother Emmanuel Church. One of the symbols used by Dylann Roof, who has confessed to wanting to start a race war, was the Confederate Flag. After the murders, the flag was seen by some as a true symbol of hate and was quickly removed from the State House. Memorializing the flag here in Charleston just seems to be a step backwards in the wrong direction, especially now where race relations continues to be an uncomfortable subject.
The majority of citizens in S.C. understand that there are some people who may indeed believe this flag is a symbol of heritage and not hate. Feel free to create whatever type of museum or shrine for this flag of the confederacy. However, Req. Limehouse, you’re going to have to find somewhere else to build your confederate shrine – the people of Charleston are tired and fed up, and we don’t any part of honoring a battle that was lost over 150 years ago.
Source
Syllabus Magazine, the Carolina’s source for Music, Culture and Fashion
