South Carolina Republican and descendant of Jefferson Davis fights back tears to deliver impassioned speech imploring her colleagues to remove the Confederate flag

  • Republican Rep Jenny Horne broke down in tears as she delivered speech  
  • Delaying removal of flag would add 'insult to injury' for victims, she said
  • Impassioned speech came after group of Republicans mounted opposition
  • House eventually approved its removal in a stunning reversal early today 
  • Horne reminded the floor she is a direct descendant of Confederate President Jefferson Davis 

This is the emotional moment a South Carolina Republican Rep fought back tears to deliver an impassioned speech imploring her colleagues to vote to take down the Confederate flag by Friday.

Jenny Horne wept as she scolded members of her own party for trying to stall the debate over removing the flag from the Capitol grounds and reminded her colleagues she was a descendant of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

She broke down as she remembered the funeral of her slain colleague state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, who was one of nine gunned down in the Charleston church massacre in June.  

Emotional: Rep. Jenny Horne cried as she recalled the funeral of her slain colleague state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, who was gunned down as his wife and daughter locked themselves in an office

Emotional: Rep. Jenny Horne cried as she recalled the funeral of her slain colleague state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, who was gunned down as his wife and daughter locked themselves in an office

Contentious: The move early Thursday came after more than 13 hours of at times contentious debate, just weeks after the fatal shootings of nine black church members, including a state senator, at a Bible study in Charleston

Contentious: The move early Thursday came after more than 13 hours of at times contentious debate, just weeks after the fatal shootings of nine black church members, including a state senator, at a Bible study in Charleston

She yelled over her choking sobs
She reminded her colleagues that she is direct descendant of Confederate President Jefferson Davis

She yelled over her choking sobs as she reminded her colleagues that she is a direct descendant of Confederate President Jefferson Davis

Horne said she didn't intend to speak but got frustrated after a group of Republicans had mounted opposition Wednesday to immediately removing the flag

Horne said she didn't intend to speak but got frustrated after a group of Republicans had mounted opposition Wednesday to immediately removing the flag

'I cannot believe that we do not have the heart in this body to do something meaningful such as take a symbol of hate off these grounds on Friday,' Horne screamed into a microphone.

'For the widow of Sen. Pinckney and his two young daughters, that would be adding insult to injury and I will not be a part of it!

'If we amend this bill, we are telling the people of Charleston that we don't care about you,' she said.

'We are saying that we do not care that someone used this symbol to slay... innocent people who were worshipping their God.

'I'm sorry, I have heard enough about heritage. I have a heritage. I am a lifelong South Carolinian.

'I am a descendant of Jefferson Davis, but that does not matter. 

'It's not about Jenny Horne. It's about the people of South Carolina who have demanded that this symbol of hate come off of the statehouse grounds.' 

Passionate: Jenny Horne wept as she scolded members of her own party for trying to stall the debate over removing the flag from the Capitol grounds

Passionate: Jenny Horne wept as she scolded members of her own party for trying to stall the debate over removing the flag from the Capitol grounds

She said later during a break she didn't intend to speak but got frustrated after a group of Republicans had mounted opposition Wednesday to immediately removing the flag.

'At that point we were losing the vote. It was going south,' she told the Washington Post.

'If what I did changed the course of the debate, and I do believe it did, then it needed to be done. 

'Because that flag needed to come down a long time ago.'

To make sure that will happen, Horne invoked her link to Davis, the president of the Confederacy.

'We discussed a lot about heritage and lineage and all those things, but it's not really relevant to the discussion because it's nothing personal,' Horne said afterwards.

'Yes, I have a very rich lineage but I don't go around and brag about it and talk about. My point was: 'Yes, that's great, you've got a lineage. But this is not about you as an individual.' 

'It's about the state and the well-being of the state and its people.'

The South Carolina House eventually approved its removal in a stunning reversal early today in a state that was the first to leave the Union in 1860 and raised the flag again at its Statehouse more than 50 years ago to protest the civil rights movement.

At each turn, those who opposed the move were beaten back by a slightly larger, bipartisan group of legislators who believe there must be no delay. 

The move came after more than 13 hours of contentious debate, and just weeks after the fatal shootings of nine black church members, at a Bible study in Charleston.

Horne said: 'If you cannot be moved by the suffering of the people of Charleston you don't have a heart'

Horne said: 'If you cannot be moved by the suffering of the people of Charleston you don't have a heart'

The House approved the Senate bill by a two-thirds margin, and the bill now goes to Republican Gov. Nikki Haley's desk.

'I am a descendant of Jefferson Davis, but that does not matter. It's not about Jenny Horne. It's about the people of South Carolina who have demanded that this symbol of hate come off of the statehouse grounds
Republican Rep Jenny Horne

Haley posted a statement on her official Facebook page early Thursday saying: 'It is a new day in South Carolina, a day we can all be proud of, a day that truly brings us all together as we continue to heal, as one people and one state.'

In a highly-charged speech, Horne told fellow members: 'I cannot believe that we do not have the heart in this body to do something meaningful such as take a symbol of hate off these grounds on Friday. 

'We need to follow the example of the Senate - remove this flag and do it today because this issue is not getting any better with age.' 

As House members deliberated well into the night, there were tears of anger and shared memories of Civil War ancestors. 

Black Democrats, frustrated at being asked to show grace to Civil War soldiers as the debate went over 12 hours, warned the state was embarrassing itself.

The closest vote in the GOP-controlled body came on an amendment to place the state flat beside the monument to Confederate soldiers at the front of the Statehouse.

The flag is due to come down soon
People walk through the South Carolina state house grounds on Wednesday where the flag was flying

Opponents of removing the flag talked about grandparents who passed down family treasures and lamented that the flag had been 'hijacked' or 'abducted' by racists

Theron Foster, of Columbia, S.C., protests outside the South Carolina statehouse, on Wednesday, July 8

Theron Foster, of Columbia, S.C., protests outside the South Carolina statehouse, on Wednesday, July 8

Changing the Senate bill could have meant weeks or even months to remove the flag, perhaps blunting momentum that has grown since the church massacre. 

She said later during a break she didn't intend to speak but got frustrated with fellow Republicans.

Opponents of removing the flag talked about grandparents who passed down family treasures and lamented that the flag had been 'hijacked' or 'abducted' by racists.

Rep. Mike Pitts, who remembered playing with a Confederate ancestor's cavalry sword while growing up, said for him the flag is a reminder of how dirt-poor Southern farmers fought Yankees not because they hated blacks or supported slavery, but because their land was being invaded.

Those soldiers should be respected just as soldiers who fought in the Middle East or Afghanistan, he said, recalling his own military service. 

Pitts then turned to a lawmaker he called a dear friend, recalling how his black colleague nearly died in Vietnam.

Surrender: Rep. Christopher Corley, R- Aiken, shows his frustration by waving a white flag of surrender during debate

Surrender: Rep. Christopher Corley, R- Aiken, shows his frustration by waving a white flag of surrender during debate

'I'm willing to move that flag at some point if it causes a twinge in the hearts of my friends,' Pitts said. 'But I'll ask for something in return.'

The debate began less than a day after the U.S. House voted to ban the display of Confederate flags at historic federal cemeteries in the Deep South.

House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford said Democrats were united behind the Senate bill, which would send the flag to the state's Confederate Relic Room - near the resting place for the final rebel flag that flew over the Statehouse dome until it was taken down in 2000.

Democrats didn't want any new flag going up because it 'will be the new vestige of racism', Rutherford said.

STATEMENT FROM GOV. HALEY

'Today, as the Senate did before them, the House of Representatives has served the State of South Carolina and her people with great dignity. 

'I'm grateful for their service and their compassion. It is a new day in South Carolina, a day we can all be proud of, a day that truly brings us all together as we continue to heal, as one people and one state.'

After a break around 8pm, Rutherford said Democrats were willing to let the other side make their points, but had grown tired. 

He said while much had been said about Confederate ancestors, 'what we haven't heard is talk about nine people slaughtered in a church'. 

Democrats then finally began debating, saying they were angry with Republicans asking for grace for people who want to remember their Southern ancestors. 

Rep. Joe Neal told of his ancestors, four brothers who were bought by slave owners with the last name Neal.

'The whole world is asking, is South Carolina really going to change, or will it hold to an ugly tradition of prejudice and discrimination and hide behind heritage as an excuse for it,' Neal said.

Other Democrats suggested any delay would let Ku Klux Klan members planning a rally July 18 a chance to dance around the Confederate flag.

'You don't have to listen to me. But there are a whole lot of people outside this chamber watching,' Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter said.

Under the Senate proposal, the Confederate flag would have to come down within 24 hours of the governor signing the bill.

Dylann Roof  has been indicted by a grand jury on nine counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder
Suspected shooter Dylann Roof

New charges: Dylann Roof has been indicted by a grand jury on nine counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder. The heinous crime has brought fresh attention to race relations and the use in America of the Confederate flag, a prop the alleged killer posed with for photos

In Washington, the vote by the U.S. House followed a brief debate on a measure funding the National Park Service, which maintains 14 national cemeteries, most of which contain graves of Civil War soldiers.

The proposal by California Democrat Jared Huffman would block the Park Service from allowing private groups to decorate the graves of Southern soldiers with Confederate flags in states that commemorate Confederate Memorial Day. 

The cemeteries affected are the Andersonville and Vicksburg cemeteries in Georgia and Mississippi.

Also Wednesday, state police said they were investigating an unspecified number of threats against South Carolina lawmakers debating the flag. Police Chief Mark Keel said lawmakers on both sides of the issue had been threatened, but he did not specify which ones.

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