South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley signs bill to remove confederate flag

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley on Thursday signed into law to remove the Confederate battle flag from the state Capitol, the culmination of a years-long movement that was reignited by the murders of nine members of a historically black church in Charleston.

Before adding her signature to the legislation, Haley spoke of the black victims, who were killed by a white man after they welcomed him into a June 17 prayer meeting at Emanuel African Methodist Church.

Their act of love and faith, Haley said, set into motion a chain of events that led to the flag’s removal less than a month later.

“May we never forget the actions that those people took to get us to this point today,” the governor said.

Haley noted that when the confessed killer, 21-year-old Dylann Roof, was caught, relatives of the victims said in court that they forgave him. That act of forgiveness, Governor Nikki Haley said, sparked a wave of compassion around the country that motivated people to change things.

In days of the shooting, photos of Roof was released of him holding the Confederate flag, a Civil War object also seen as a symbol of racism. That sparked a national debate on the flag and that it was time for the flag to be removed. Many businesses stopped making and selling the flag and its images, and public officials discussed removing the flag from public grounds.

The flag will be removed at 10 a.m. ET Friday.

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