There are many who are saying that odious flag should have been lowered or removed out of respect for the victims. I have a different view. It should not have been flying on official government property in the first place -- and it should permanently removed (and as our president said, placed in a museum).
This is NOT a flag of America. It is the flag of an enemy nation of the United States -- and a case could easily be made that flying it is an act of treason.
I know that some claim the flag represents their heritage. That's ludicrous. I was also born and raised in a former Confederate state, and for me the flag is nothing but an embarrassment -- the flag of an enemy nation, and a nation that killed many thousands of Americans to defend its right to keep people in slavery. It is not a defensible symbol of heritage, anymore than the Nazi flag is a symbol of heritage for German-Americans or the North Vietnamese flag is a symbol of heritage for Vietnamese-Americans.
It is however, a symbol of racism and hate. It has been used by the Ku Klux Klan, neo-nazi groups, militia groups, and other groups who support racism and hatred, and for most Americans, it instantly brings to mind racism, bigotry, and hate. That one fact alone should make it indefensible for a sate (or city) government to fly that flag.
There are also those who consider it a free speech issue. And I agree that individuals should be able to fly any flag they want to fly -- no matter how offensive it might be. But we are talking here about the state government of South Carolina flying this symbol of hate -- and that is indefensible. In a country that says it supports freedom and equal rights for all its citizens, it is simply wrong (and immoral) for a government entity to fly this flag.
This country still has serious racial problems (as was demonstrated this week in Charleston), and we need to be having a national discussion on how to solve that problem. But how can we do that when state governments continue to fly symbols of racial hatred?