What’s more, the Heritage Act includes provisions clearly intended to protect the rebel flag’s status. It stipulates a two-thirds majority vote for any change to a state monument. Unsurprisingly, modifications are extremely rare, with one exception occurring in 2004: the name of U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond’s biracial daughter was added to his statue. Meanwhile, a World War I monument still separates soldiers killed in battle into the categories “white” and “colored.” And in the Charlotte, North Carolina suburbs, those in support of the Confederate flag pointed to the Heritage Act as they fought to return the flag to a monument and to a courtroom.
In York County, Clerk of Court David Hamilton removed both the flag and portraits of Confederate generals during the renovation of a courtroom. But the dictates of the Heritage Act required him to return them to their original places.
South Carolina lawmakers remain committed to preserving the magnitude of this Act. Only last year, House Speaker Jay Lucas declared that exceptions or changes to the Heritage Act would not be considered by the legislature. And others even argue that the law is not powerful enough.
“The Heritage Act has no teeth,” South Carolina Secessionist Party member James Bessenger told the AP. His group recently pushed for the rebel flag to be restored to a monument in Walhalla, South Carolina after it was removed by Confederate soldier descendent Luther Lyle. Lyle lowered the flag out of respect for the victims of the Charleston massacre.
At first determined to fight the Secessionist Party and their supporters, Lyle decided against it when he realized the hefty legal costs involved.
“I’d rather spend that money on my grandkids,” he said.
