Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky broke his silence Tuesday on the Confederate battle flag controversy in South Carolina, saying he agrees with the calls from Gov. Nikki Haley and other elected leaders for the flag to be pulled down from a monument at the state Capitol.
“I agree,” Mr. Paul said during an interview with WRKO in Boston. “I think the flag is inescapably a symbol of human bondage and slavery and particularly when people use it, you know, obviously for murder and to justify hatred so vicious that you would kill somebody.”
“I think that symbolism needs to end, and I think South Carolina is doing the right thing,” he said.
Mr. Paul said he understands that some see it as a symbol of southern pride and heritage, but he said it is also a symbol of slavery to blacks. He said it is time to put the flag in a museum.
Mr. Paul had passed on previous opportunities to weigh in on the thorny issue.
On Monday, Mrs. Haley and the state’s two U.S. senators, Tim Scot and Lindsey Graham, another 2016 GOP candidate, were among the elected leaders to call on the state legislature to debate the issue and remove the flag from the Capitol grounds.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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