Just after 1 a.m. this morning, the South Carolina House of Representatives voted to permanently remove the Confederate flag from the statehouse grounds. After hours of debate over adding amendments to the bill, which could have delayed the vote, Republican Rep. Jenny Horne delivered an emotional, tearful speech urging her colleagues to pass the bill without any changes.

“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. “If we amend this bill, we are telling the people of Charleston, ‘We don’t care about you. We do not care that somebody used this symbol of hate to slay (nine) innocent people who were worshiping their God.’”

“If any of you vote to amend, you are ensuring that this flag will fly beyond Friday,” she added. “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.”

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