The South Carolina House of Representatives have voted to remove the Confederate flag from the South Carolina capitol, NBC reports. They voted 94-20 after 13 hours of deliberation that ended Thursday morning (July 9). The flag was raised over 50 years ago in protest of the Civil Rights Movement.
“South Carolina can remove the stain from our lives,” said black Democrat Rep. Joe Neal. “I never thought in my lifetime I would see this.”
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The flag will be shipped to South Carolina governor Nikki Haley and will be held in the Confederate Relic Room.
The controversy surrounding the flag was sparked after 21-year-old Dylann Storm Roof fatally shot nine black people at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church on June 17th in Charleston, SC.