A video featuring a South Carolina House member’s four-minute speech that is credited with turning around the vote on the Confederate battle flag has gone viral.
The Washington Post reports that the 11th-hour speech by Republican Jenny Horne was a key to the governing body’s decision, on a 94-20 vote, to remove the flag from the South Carolina statehouse.
The bill was headed to the desk of Republican Gov. Nikki Haley, who was expected to sign it into law.
Horne, a descendant of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, took to the podium after more than 13 hours of often contentious debate on the measure, at a point when the measure appeared poised to receive amendments that were likely to sink it.
In a speech that she later said was unplanned, Horne made an emotional argument for the removal of the flag, which she called “a symbol of hate.”
Here’s her speech:
Good for her. Even as a Republican and a direct descendant of Jefferson Davis, she understands the situation and remembers just whom she represents.