“Whether it happens this session or five years, or 10 years, or 15 years from now - we are pushing the needle the right direction," Garvin said.Īfter the 2015 vote to remove the Confederate flag, House Speaker Jay Lucas said his chamber would not consider changing any monuments or other items honoring the Confederacy or other historical era as long as he was leader. After all, it took 15 years after the Heritage Act to get the Confederate flag off the Statehouse lawn, the Columbia Democrat said. Kambrell Garvin said he is aware his bills to eliminate the Heritage Act or assert local governments can control their street names and statues likely won't get anywhere this session.īut by filing them, Garvin said he reminds people that these memorials of racists honor people who treated a quarter of South Carolina's population as subhuman or worse and keeps pressure on lawmakers. Others add criminal penalties for local leaders or withhold state money for violating the act. One bill would fine local governments $25 million for removing monuments or renaming buildings without permission. Some deal with a lack of criminal or other penalties in the 2000 law. No Confederate statues were removed in South Carolina.Īt least nine bills altering or eliminating the Heritage Act have been filed before the 2021 General Assembly session starts Tuesday.
But in its more than 20 years on the books in South Carolina, it has almost exclusively protected Confederates and segregationists.Īfter the May police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota, statues of racists and Confederates across the South and the nation were taken down both by governments and by angry protesters. The Heritage Act mentions a wide range of events from the Revolutionary War to the Persian Gulf War. Clementa Pinckney, a pastor killed along with eight of his church members in a racist massacre at his Charleston church. That lawsuit was filed by the widow of state Sen. Leaders said they want to see what happens to a lawsuit before the state Supreme Court of the legality of the Heritage Act before taking any action.
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