Reform Movement Commends Removal of Confederate Flag in SC

Contact: Max Rosenblum or Claire Shimberg
202.387.2800 | news@rac.org

Washington, D.C., July 9, 2015 – In response to the South Carolina state legislature taking down the Confederate Flag from their Capitol building, Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, issued the following statement:

Last night, the South Carolina House joined the State Senate in voting to remove the Confederate flag from Statehouse grounds and today, Governor Nikki Haley signed the bill into law. We are thrilled that the flag will be permanently taken down tomorrow.

We praise the leadership of both Governor Haley and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham on this matter and thank the entire legislature for taking this important and historic action. We hope that this show of bipartisanship can encourage Congress and other state legislatures to take down this symbol of hate. As South Carolina, and the entire country, continues to mourn the loss of the nine innocent people who were murdered in Emanuel AME Church, this action symbolizes compassion and unity.

While we commend this symbolic action, we also understand that the flag is only a symbol, and we urge the South Carolina state legislature and federal government to address the systemic racial and economic injustices that persist across our country and oppress our African American brothers and sisters. Our Jewish tradition teaches us that all people are created b’tzelem Elohim, in the Divine image (Genesis 1:27).  To this end, we must continue our work to create a world that treats every life with dignity and equal justice.