Take down that Confederate flag

A few things to know about the killing of nine black community leaders at a prayer service in Charleston, S.C.:

• Police say the 21-year-old white man arrested for the shootings told them he wanted to start a race war.
• A friend of the assailant told police the man feared “blacks were taking over the country.”
• The prayer service was being held in a church with historic ties to the anti-slavery and civil rights movements.
• The shooter drove a car with a license plate displaying a Confederate flag.
• South Carolina, unwilling to reject slavery and free a majority of its residents, fired the first shot in the Civil War, which claimed 600,000 American lives.
• The Confederate flag went up on the South Carolina State Capitol in Columbia in 1962, in defiance of the growing Civil Rights movement. It is used today as a symbol by the 16 hate groups that call the state home.
• The flag was moved, but, by law, still flies on Capitol grounds. The flag is attached in such a way that it could not even be lowered to half mast to honor the memory of the nine victims of the murderous assault.
• Only a two-thirds vote of both houses of the state General Assembly can have the symbol of rebellion and racism removed from its place of “honor.”

Until that happens, South Carolina can talk all it wants about racial harmony, equality, love and justice. We’re not listening.

A woman’s face on the ten

The tens of thousands of Americans who petitioned the White House to put a woman’s face on paper currency in this country are going to get their wish. Sort of.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced last week that a woman will be featured on a $10 bill in 2020, the 100th anniversary of the Constitution's 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. Petitioners had sought to have a woman placed on the $20 bill, to replace President Andrew Jackson, but Lew said the $10 bill was the one up for redesign, so it’s Alexander Hamilton facing displacement. Actually, Lew said Hamilton, a New Yorker, may share the $10 spot in some way with a woman.

Lew said he will make his decision on who the woman will be before the end of the year. As with the online petition, he is asking for suggestions, saying that the person nominated should have played a prominent role in American history.

Anti-slavery activist Harriet Tubman, who retired to New York, beat out New Yorker Eleanor Roosevelt, who gave new meaning to the title First Lady, in the poll for a woman’s face on the $20 bill. It is safe to say each of them will be a major contender for appearing on the $10. The last woman to appear on U.S. paper currency was Martha Washington, who was on the $1 Silver Certificate between 1891 and 1896.

You can make a suggestion for an honoree in the comments section of this editorial at recordonline.com, or at facebook.com/recordonline.