"Hey, hey, hey, goodbye!" the crowd outside of the South Carolina Capitol House chanted, according to CNN.
After the state's Senate and House voted on its removal, the Confederate flag was taken down by uniformed highway patrol officers around 10 a.m. this morning. In a statement prior to the ceremony, S.C. Governor Nikki Haley expressed her belief that "no one should drive by the statehouse and feel pain. No one should drive by the statehouse and feel like they don't belong. So I think it's a hopeful day for South Carolina. I think it's a day we can all say we've come together as a state."
The flag - known for it's controversial background - hung in front of the Capitol for 54 years.
Early Thursday morning the South Carolina House of Representatives came together and, like the Senate, voted to remove the Confederate flag from in front of the Capitol building. According to Governor Nikki Haley's spokeswoman Chaney Adams, it will officially be taken down tomorrow morning.
Haley is scheduled to sign off on the bill today at 4 p.m. The House of Representatives spent 13 hours debating whether or not the flag should be removed. It was a 93-27 vote that resulted in "hugs, tears and high fives in the chamber," according to the Associated Press.
This historic announcement comes weeks after photos surfaced of Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof posing with several Confederate flags. Bree Newsome, enraged at the fact that the flag still flew in front of South Carolina's state house, proceeded to remove it in June, leading to a short-term jail stint.
The banner will reportedly be placed in a local history museum after the Friday morning ceremony.
Source: AP
