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South Carolina Representative Speaks Of Slavery During Flag Debate

Rep. Joseph H. Neal's speech is the one everyone ought to remember.

Rep. Jenny Horne's impassioned speech begging the South Carolina House to vote to take down the confederate flag was impressive indeed, but it pales in comparison to this one, made by Rep. Joseph Neal on the real meaning the flag imparts to African-Americans.

Here are a few quotes, but really just watch the whole thing.

"I sat and listened all day long with great interest and empathy for what was said. ... When we talk about this situation with that flag in front of the Statehouse, I would point out to you that in all the conversations that we heard today, they all focused on one side of this situation. It was all about the Confederate dead. It was not about others who suffered and died too.

"I even heard conversations about African Americans who fought for the Confederacy, and I did a little research, and what I turned up was this: Did you know that in South Carolina, there were no blacks who fought for the Confederacy? Because the Confederate Congress did not approve black soldiers fighting for the Confederacy until a month before Appomattox. And if you look at your timeline, you’ll find that Sherman marched through and burned Columbia two months before Appomattox.

"So what I want you to understand is this: When we talk about grace, and we talk about this issue, we really ought to be talking about the whole ball of wax here. All of us.

"I find it interesting that no one brought up the fact that there were a million-plus Africans here who were suffering under the weight of enslavement. And it wasn’t really mentioned and no one talked about what they were going through. And they went through it for almost 400 years. ... Let’s remove that flag, let’s do it now. ...

"My heritage is based on a group of people who were brought here in chains. Who were denigrated, demagogued, lynched and killed, denied a right to vote, denied the right to even have a family."

Now compare and contrast this with the oozing white privilege pouring out of Lynn Westmoreland:

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