As some of her colleagues in the South Carolina House on Wednesday night fought over a bill that would remove the Confederate flag from the state capitol grounds, Republican state Rep. Jenny Horne gave an impassioned speech calling on her colleagues to act swiftly.
“The people of Charleston deserve immediate and swift removal of that flag from this grounds,” she said, calling on her Republican colleagues not to pass amendments that would delay final approval of the bill.
“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 said in her tearful plea on the state House floor. “And if any of you vote to amend, you are ensuring that this flag will fly beyond Friday. And 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.”
Horne mentioned her own southern heritage, but told colleagues that it wasn’t enough to keep her from voting to remove the Confederate flag.
“I have heard enough about heritage. I have a heritage. I am a life-long South Carolinian. I am a descendant of Jefferson Davis, okay? But that does not matter,” she said. “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.”
Following Horne’s speech, numerous of her House colleagues stood to give her a round of applause.
Early Thursday morning, the South Carolina House passed a bill that would remove the flag from the capitol grounds in a 94-20 vote, sending the legislation to Gov. Nikki Haley’s (R) desk.
Watch Horne’s speech courtesy of C-SPAN:
