Lindsey Graham: Confederate Flag Is a “Part of Who We Are”


Following the mass shooting inside a black church in Charleston, South Carolina on Wednesday, one flag was conspicuously not lowered to half-mast in tribute to the nine lives lost in the deadly attack—the Confederate flag, which regularly flies on the grounds of the state capitol, despite countless calls for its removal because of its racist roots.

The rebel flag’s presence in Columbia was especially disturbing this week after images surfaced showing the suspected gunman’s embrace of the flag, which was on his license plates. (Dylann Roof also wore patches baring the flags of Apartheid-era South Africa and Rhodesia, the racist symbolism of which was evident.)

While other GOP politicians, including Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, are criticizing the flag’s enduring presence, Sen. Lindsey Graham, who hails from South Carolina and is now running for president, has come to the rebel flag’s defense. According to Graham, the Confederate flag is an integral “part of who we are.”

This isn’t exactly surprising, considering Graham appeared on “The View” yesterday to promote his new e-book and brushed aside the obvious racial overtones of the attacks, suggesting that suspected shooter Dylann Roof was seeking to massacre Christians. “This guy’s just whacked out,” he said. “It’s 2015—there are people who are looking for Christians to kill them.”

Although Graham acknowledged to CNN the flag has been used to push racist agendas in the past, he said “the problems we have in South Carolina and throughout the world” do not stem from symbols, but because of “what’s in people’s heart.”

“How do you go back and reconstruct America?” he asked hopelessly.

Actually, here’s one solution: remove the damn Confederate flag.

 

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate