In light of the events last week in Charlottesville, there has been renewed interest in removing or changing racist, Confederate statues and flags in South Carolina.

And because of our history and heritage, we have a lot of them.

Talk about a rogue’s gallery. Here is a small sample of some of the statues and monuments we have in South Carolina:

·     The State House has six monuments honoring the Confederacy.

·     Clemson University has a building named for “Pitchfork” Ben Tillman, a former S.C. governor and U.S. senator who was also a member of an all-white, post-Civil War militia responsible for lynching African-Americans. (Winthrop University also has a building named for him)

·     Also on the SC State House grounds is a statue honoring Marion Sims, “the father of modern gynecology.” Sims made his discoveries by torturing female slaves without anesthesia.

·     In York County, the courtroom flies a Confederate flag and displays pictures of Confederate generals, prompting African-Americans to wonder if they can get a fair trial.

According to The (Columbia) State newspaper, “The city of Greenwood, for instance, wants to change its monument honoring its fallen World War I soldiers. Now, those soldiers are listed separately on two plaques – one listing the “colored” dead, another listing the “white” dead.”

So why can’t SC communities simply remove or change these offensive items? Because the SC legislature passed a law called “The Heritage Act” that requires that at least two-thirds of both the House and Senate must approve any change to any monument. That means local government can’t change or remove any of these offensive flags or statues.

Sign our petition to repeal The Heritage Act. Let local South Carolina communities vote to remove or change offensive monuments.