SC governor candidate Catherine Templeton's 'proud of the Confederacy' remarks stir controversy

[n2doc]

COLUMBIA — Catherine Templeton made waves in her first public forum as gubernatorial candidate by saying she is “proud of the Confederacy" and pledged “we’re not going to rewrite history” by removing Confederate monuments.

Templeton's comments late Tuesday upset African-American leaders in the state, who are still stung by the racially-charged mass shooting at a Charleston church two years ago and the vicious fight to remove the Confederate battle flag from the S.C. Statehouse grounds.

“I don’t think she understands the diversity we have in South Carolina and that we’re not all a bunch of flag-waving yahoos,” said Joe Darby, the AME church’s presiding elder over the Beaufort district. “When you elevate the Confederacy, you stomp on the memories of those who were subjugated, the slaves. She’s stomping on my ancestors. If she’s proud of her heritage over nine lives, it’s a shame.”

Templeton, a former two-time state agency head running in her first campaign, spoke Tuesday at a Republican town hall held in Pickens County, a conservative area bordering North Carolina and Georgia with the state's smallest percentage of African Americans.

more
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/south-carolina-governor-candidate-catherine-templeton-s-proud-of-the/article_09021944-779b-11e7-ae02-abd0141abad3.html