Another COLOROFCHANGE PETITION : TAKE DOWN THE CONFEDERATE FLAG FROM THE SOUTH CAROLINA CAPITOL !!

ColorOfChange member Jamarr Brown's started an  iam.colorofchange petition to Governor Nikki Haley  and members of the South Carolina Legislature reading: "We demand that you respect all South Carolinians  and use your power and influence to ensure the  confederate flag is removed from the capitol  grounds."

Dear friends, I just started a petition to "Take Down the Confederate Flag  From the South Carolina Capitol"  Here's why this is important:  On Wednesday evening, a 21-year-old white South Carolina  man murdered 9 Black people at the Mother Emanuel AME  Church in Charleston, South Carolina. This was an act of  violence reminiscent of the September 15, 1963 bombing of  the 16th Street Baptist Church.  For generations, the confederate flag has represented the  terror and violence perpetrated on Black communities.  Unfortunately, the confederate flag is still flying on the South  Carolina Capitol Grounds today. The killer, Dylann Storm Roof, grew up in a South Carolina  that still embraced the confederate flag — a flag that was born  out of a government defending the enslavement of Black people  and resurrected as an emblem for whites violently opposing  racial integration. He attended high school in Columbia, just  a few minutes from the state capitol grounds where that flag  is waving. That flag sends a message that South Carolina  still cherishes a legacy of racial violence. Even more  disturbing, the flag allows those who decide to act out this  history to justify their actions. Roof is one of those. While  committing his act of terror he said, “I have to do it. You rape  our women and you’re taking over the country." He did not have to murder innocent churchgoers, but the  racial culture that exists led him to believe that he could. But,  he was mistaken - black people cannot take over a  country that they have been a part of since the very  beginning. The United States is our home. And, South Carolina is my home.  In fact, my family has lived in the state for four generations  now. We have witnessed racism, oppression and economic  depression in our community for decades. We deserve better.  And, we are demanding better.  It’s time now for South Carolina to take down this terrible  symbol of racial violence once and for all. This is only one step but an important one. I hope you'll  join me. Jamarr Brown