SC governor: National spotlight is ‘painful’

Gov. Nikki Haley (R-S.C.) said on Sunday that the national spotlight on her state’s debate over the Confederate flag is “painful.”

Haley said on NBC’s “Meet the “Press” that she wants to focus instead on last month’s mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston.

{mosads}“Nine people died,” she said. “We have been dealing with nine funerals.”

“That’s what I want people talking about – the Emanuel nine and how they forever changed this country,” Haley added.

South Carolina removed the Confederate battle flag from its Capitol grounds in Columbia on Friday morning.

Haley said that the historic moment is one that will inspire greater unity among South Carolinians.

“It is a new day for South Carolina,” she said. “It felt like a weight had been lifted off the state of South Carolina.”

“The flag coming down is a thing I believe needed to happen,” Haley added.

Haley cited the peaceful ceremony lowering the flag as proof her state is heading away from the controversial symbol.

“We’ve already been moving in this direction,” she said. “We’re not the state that everybody thinks we are.”

“We didn’t have people getting out of hand – we had hugs,” Haley said of the flag’s lowering.

“We love our God, we love our country, we love our state and we love each other,” Haley said of South Carolina’s people.

Southern states are grappling with the Confederate battle flag’s legacy after last month’s attack on Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.

Dylann Storm Roof, the alleged shooter, reportedly displayed the Confederate flag on his car’s license plate.

Roof is accused of uttering racial epithets before opening fire on churchgoers during the incident on June 17.