The  funeral of Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney is scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday at TD Arena on the College of Charleston campus. College of Charleston President Glenn McConnell is still not ready to speak out about the StarsnBars. 

McConnell, a former Republican leader of the state legislature and lieutenant governor the South Carolina, used to run a Confederate memorabilia shop, and was an ardent supporter of flying the Southern Cross (aka StarsnBars) on statehouse grounds.  President McConnell was appointed ot this role (in a school under crtiicism for racism) by the current Governor, Nicki Haley.

Although McConnell was an alumnus of the College of Charleston, his candidacy was controversial because he has no academic credentials and because of his role in defense of Confederate symbols. At one point, Senator McConnell considered legislative action to go after the state’s largest utility company after it banned employees from parking company vehicles at the Maurice’s Gourmet Barbecue shops owned by Maurice Bessinger.  Bessinger refused to serve black people and sold a pamphlet purporting to explain the Biblical justification of slavery. McConnell also sold Bessinger’s products at his own memorabilia shop after major retailers refused to stock them.

With a BLACK President coming to speak at McConnell’s school, what was this man to do?

Now he says:

President McConnell Issues Statement on Confederate Flag

Statement from College of Charleston President Glenn McConnell:

My Response: As a Jewish American who is proud of my heritage, all I can say is “That is Damn White of You..” I have visited Germany many times. I have met Germans whio are rightly proud of their history and traditions. I have never met any German who would does not feel pain, what Germans call shuldigkiet, over the horrors of their own past.

I served with Senator Clementa Pinckney in the South Carolina Senate since he joined that body in 2001. He was a friend of mine and many other senators. His big smile lifted our spirits and his powerfully mellow voice conveyed great intelligence as well as a kind and loving heart.

During this period of grief, before Reverend Pinckney and the eight other Christian martyrs killed by a hateful terrorist have yet to be buried, I had hoped to avoid commenting on political issues. However, the rising tide of emotion over Governor Nikki Haley’s call to remove the Confederate soldier’s flag from State House grounds and numerous requests for me to comment have made a respectful period of silence on political issues impossible.

So here is where I stand: About 15 years ago, when I was a state senator, my colleagues and I forged a bipartisan and biracial compromise. We removed the Confederate soldier’s flag from atop the State House dome and relocated it behind the Confederate soldier’s monument, a place of historic – not political – context. We also erected an impressive monument celebrating the many African American contributions throughout our state’s history. And we passed the Heritage Act, to protect both Civil War and Civil Rights monuments, street names and building names all across the state. Our plan was designed to end acrimony and move our state forward with a spirit of good will and mutual respect. As imperfect as all compromises are, it lasted for 15 years.

Today is a different time. In the aftermath of the horrific tragedy that spilled the blood of nine souls within the hallowed halls of Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church, the time has come to revisit the issue of the Confederate soldier’s flag, which a number of our citizens regard as offensive.

Many other citizens regard the old soldier’s banner as a fitting memorial to the Confederate dead. However, on State House grounds, we should seek to respect the views of all citizens as best we reasonably can.

Therefore, I support Governor Haley’s call to remove the Confederate soldier’s flag from State House grounds as a visible statement of courtesy and good will to all those who may be offended by it. At the same time, I also urge all public officials and activists who are focusing on this issue to come together, the way the good people of Charleston joined hands following the terrible tragedy we suffered, and agree not to transfer the fight to other physical vestiges and memorials of our state’s past. In a spirit of good will and mutual respect, let us all agree that the monuments, cemeteries, historic street and building names shall be preserved and protected. How sad it would be to end one controversy only to trigger a thousand more.

The people of South Carolina are entitled to their complete history, the parts that give us pride as well as sadness. We learn from our past and we grow from exploring our shared history.

If we all insist on it, this experience can mark the beginning of a new era. Let us all pledge to respect each other and stand together in firm opposition to any efforts to sanitize, rewrite or bulldoze our history.

Here in South Carolina, there has never been a time when our nation’s motto was more needed than it is today: e pluribus unum: “out of many, one.” If those of us alive today can find a way to understand and respect and forgive each other, only then can we truly pay honor to the martyrs who were slain last week while they prayed together in a house of worship.