fight in the halls of congress. before that, there was a series of aggressive maneuvers from both sides. it thooz do with whether confederate flags can be displayed and sold when the federal government is involved. nbc news capitol hill correspondent kelly o donnell explains. reporter: congress is battling over new restrictions to remove confederate battle flags from federal property like national parks. democrats say there is no room for debate. don t republicans understand that the confederate battle flag is an insult to 40 million african-americans? reporter: this fight started when southern republicans tried to protect the use of confederate battle flags at government owned cemeteries where civil war dead are buried. to me it s a historical perspective. reporter: republican leaders tried to take that cemetery measure on to a major spedding bill. democrats were outraged and house speaker john bane area bankruptly canceled the vote. i actually think it s time for some adu
this comes more than 50 years after it was first raised at the state capital. 23 days after nine african-american members of mother emanuel church were murdered allegedly by a 21-year-old white supremacist who has been charged with those murders. republican governor nikki haley was surrounded by the families of the emanuel nine when she signed a bill to remove the flag, which was passed by the south carolina legislature late last night. another battle over the confederate flag broke out today in washington in the u.s. house of representatives. here we are on a day when the state of south carolina, by an act of legislature and the signature of the governor will be taking down the flag. the house of representatives, the republicans in the house of representatives are voting down any discussion even of battle flags, confederate battle flags in the capitol of the united
including businesses in this economic industry of south carolina. so i ll be working along with these families and along with my constituents in the state of south carolina to move all of us forward. senator kempson, thank you. and thank you as well. and a big thank you to all of the family members. thank you. michael beslaus is still standing by, is that my understanding? i m here. michael, i want to come back to something we just heard. this movement that appears to be afoot, perhaps, all over this country to reexamine confederate war memorials, to reexamine the placement of federal battle flags. do you think this is something that is going to continue to gain traction? are we going to see lots of lawmakers all over the country, especially in the deep south where those symbols are far more prevalent and prominent, take a second look at what those symbols are and what they mean
removal? when you were doing your doc, 25 years ago now, did you think that the removal of this flag would ever happen in a state like south carolina? no i didn t brooke. this is a really good day. but it s only a first step. i think the president said that. i think that governor haley also implied this. we have a lot of work to do to heal what is symbols and symbolic gestures are hugely important and this is clearly a powerful symbol and gesture is powerful and we now have to work to change the hearts and minds of people who obviously have inherited a legacy of racism and it s a more recent one. remember as you talked a great deal this is the southern cross that is not the flag of the confederacy. when ft. sumpter fell it was one battle flags of the arm knee of northern virginia and that s it. and its prominence in our
it s going to be because of you that we take our country back. to make sure we take our country back. are you ready to take our country back? this is the year we take our country back. why is it when democrats say take our country back no one says that s extreme nationalism, but when tea party supporters say it, it s ominous racism in disguise? you ve got to put it in context. when you see a confederate battle flag flying in south carolina, it s one thing. maybe somebody can argue it s heritage, but when you re in washington state and you see people flying confederate battle flags, it s a very different sign. this isn t about heritage. they re about as far away as you can get from the former confederacy. the reality is that the that these groups, you know, again, going all the way up to the top, they deny, they deny, they deny, and then the interesting thing with mark williams, it was the tea party federation who pushed him out.