South Carolina's Senate voted 37-3 on Monday to take down the Confederate flag from the state's capitol grounds. If a majority votes in favor of the move during another vote on Tuesday, the proposal will move to the state's House of Representatives for their vote.
The proposal came in the form of a bill, known as bill S. 879. Amendments to the bill were proposed during the Senate's debate, including one that would allow the Confederate flag to be flown for 12 hours during Confederate Memorial Day, and another that would have required a 'nonbinding public referendum' on the bill, which would have delayed the vote on the bill. Both of these amendments were rejected by a majority of the Senate.
If the House of Representatives votes to take the flag down, and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley signs the bill, the flag will be taken down and placed in South Carolina's Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum. Haley has shown support in removing the flag previously.
This move comes after recent violence that occurred at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC, that resulted in the deaths of nine people, including Reverend Clementa Pinckney, pastor and South Carolina Senator. The alleged killer was found to have had white supremacist sentiments and to have posed with a Confederate flag in photos. Since then, debate stirred on whether the Confederate flag -- which many see as a symbol of white supremacy and racist violence -- should remain on government grounds.
"There is a quiet bigotry that still exists," South Carolina Senator Vincent Sheheen (D), who co-sponsored the bill, told VICE News. "We have to take whatever steps we can to begin to change that. [Taking the flag down] is one small step that reduces the culture of division."
Others argue that the Confederate flag is a part of the state's history, and "shouldn't take the blame" for the recent violence that occurred.
Senator Lee Bright (R) said he is especially opposed to taking the flag down during this time "than any other time just because I believe we're placing the blame of what one deranged lunatic did on the people that hold their Southern heritage high," he told CBS News.
Dozens of protesters both for and against taking the Confederate flag down from the state capitol gathered outside the Statehouse during the time of the vote.
