Jenny Horne, a Republican in South Carolina's House of Representatives, staged an impassioned — and at times tearful — speech about removing the Confederate flag from capitol grounds late Wednesday night.
"We are going to be doing this all summer long," she lamented from the chamber floor,
CNN reported. "And if any of you vote to amend, you are ensuring that this flag will fly beyond Friday. And for the widow of Sen. (Clementa) Pinckney and his two young daughters, that would be adding insult to injury, and I will not be a part of it."
Just hours later, around 1 a.m. Thursday, the lawmaking body voted 94-20 to remove the flag from the Civil War memorial on the capitol grounds. It was removed Friday morning, ending its 54-year presence.
The flag will be housed in the Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum. It will eventually reside among a multimillion-dollar shrine, as per the language of the bill.
During her speech, Horne said the she understands the heritage aspect of the flag, and remained steadfast in her opposition to its presence at the capitol.
"I'm sorry. I have heard enough about heritage. I have a heritage. I am a lifelong South Carolinian. I am a descendent of Jefferson Davis, okay? But that does not matter. This is not about Jenny Horne. It's about the people of South Carolina who have commanded that this symbol of hate come off of the state house grounds," she said.
"Remove this flag and do it today. Because this issue is not getting any better with age," she concluded.
After the vote, Horne took to Twitter to announce that the flag was coming down.