Charleston officials say they will defy South Carolina law and remove statue of slavery advocate John C. Calhoun on the fifth anniversary of the massacre of black church members by a white supremacist

Charleston officials have said they will defy South Carolina law and remove a statue of slavery advocate John C. Calhoun, on what marks the fifth anniversary of the massacre of black church members by a white supremacist in the state.  

Mayor John Tecklenburg announced Wednesday he will send a resolution to the City Council to remove the statue at Francis Marion Square 'not to erase our long and often tragic history but to begin to write a new and more equitable future.' 

'We are taking this action only after careful consideration of the facts of Mr. Calhoun's life,' the mayor said. 

The announcement was made at a press conference on the anniversary of the 2015 massacre at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston when gunman and white supremacist Dylann Roof stormed the iconic black church and shot dead the pastor and eight worshippers.

Statues, flags and displays of Confederate or racist symbols and historical figures are being removed across America, amid widespread protests calling for an end to systemic racism following the death of black man George Floyd at the hands of a white cop in Minneapolis on Memorial Day.   

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Charleston officials have said they will defy South Carolina law and remove a statue of slavery advocate John C. Calhoun (pictured)

Tecklenburg said the 100-foot tall statue, which has been in the square since 1896, will be pulled down and relocated to a local museum or educational institution.   

The removal of statues in South Carolina is governed by the Heritage Act, a 2000 bill that passed through the General Assembly. 

It requires a two-thirds vote from the state General Assembly to rename or remove monuments and to rename buildings.

This is a tough task in a state where conservative Republicans dominate the House and Senate, made harder after Republican House Speaker Jay Lucas said he would never consider another change while he led the House following the removal of the Confederate flag in 2015.

But Tecklenburg said the removal of the Calhoun statue isn't covered under the Heritage Act, because it is not on public property or in commemoration of one of the historical events listed in the act.  

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Mayor John Tecklenburg announced Wednesday in a press conference (above) he will send a resolution to the City Council to remove the statue at Francis Marion Square 'not to erase our long and often tragic history but to begin to write a new and more equitable future' 

Mayor John Tecklenburg said the removal of the statue does not fall under the Heritage Act and the move will be put to the council 

'This council before you today has the full authority to order its relocation to a setting where it can be placed in full historical context,' Tecklenburg said. 

'And it will be preserved and protected in another place where the full story of history can be told.' 

The mayor said the move will be put before the Charleston City Council for a vote, which is expected Tuesday.  

It remains to be seen if Tecklenburg's interpretation of the law will be disputed.  

His announcement came the day after civil rights groups including the NAACP, some state lawmakers and the current pastor of Mother Emanuel gathered at the statue demanding it be taken down. 

Rev. Nelson Rivers III said during a press conference Tuesday at the foot of the slave advocate's image that Calhoun 'represents Dylann Roof to us'.

Calhoun was the seventh US vice president between 1825 to 1832 and was a longstanding defender of slavery as well as a slave owner.  

In an 1836 speech before the US Senate, he said slaves in the South were better off than free blacks in the North.  

'The time has come to take down the monuments to honor the evil that was done in the name of Charleston,' Rivers said.  

'The time has come to not just acknowledge your racist evil wicked past. The time has come to take down the monuments that honor the evil that was done in the name of Charleston, in the name of South Carolina.' 

Rivers urged Charleston leaders to defy the Heritage Act - which does not include penalties for breaking it - and remove Calhoun's statue.

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The statue has paint thrown on it. Statues, flags and displays of Confederate or racist symbols and historical figures are being removed across America, amid widespread protests calling for an end to systemic racism following the death of black man George Floyd

The Heritage Act was last invoked in 2015 after the church massacre, when officials came together to remove the Confederate flag from its site on the Statehouse lawn. 

Pressure has been building in recent weeks to remove Calhoun's statue along with multiple other racist and Confederate statues across the state. 

Clemson University trustees voted Friday to ask the General Assembly to let it change the name of Tillman Hall, a main building on campus named for 'Pitchfork' Ben Tillman.

Tillman gained prominence supporting a white mob that killed four black men in 1876 after they surrendered to them. 

He later became South Carolina's governor and a US senator and was committed to destroying any rights black people obtained after the Civil War.

'We of the South have never recognized the right of the negro to govern white men, and we never will. We have never believed him to be equal to the white man, and we will not submit to his gratifying his lust on our wives and daughters without lynching him,' Tillman said in a 1900 congressional speech.

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A memorial is held outside the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston in 2015 after massacre when gunman and white supremacist Dylann Roof stormed the iconic black church and shot dead the pastor and eight worshippers. The announcement of the Calhoun statue's removal came on the fifth anniversary of the racist attack

The president of the University of South Carolina also wants lawmakers to let the school remove the name of J. Marion Sims from a women's dorm. 

Sims is honored as the father of modern gynecology, but conducted experimental treatment on slaves without anesthesia.

Sims and Tillman also have statues on the Statehouse lawn. 

Some African American lawmakers want plaques added, explaining their racist view while others, like Rep. Justin Bamberg, want the figures gone altogether.

'I dont like seeing 'Pitchfork' Ben Tillman every dang day I go to the Statehouse,' the Democrat said. 'He boldly and proudly supported lynching my people.'    

Several officials and institutions across America have pledged to remove racist and Confederate statues and symbols in the wake of Floyd's death and amid mounting calls for an end to systemic racism.  

California officials announced Tuesday that a Christopher Columbus statue will be removed from the state capitol, saying the presence of the 'deeply polarizing historical figure' is 'completely out of place today'. 

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 The new pastor of the Emanuel AME Church Rev. Nelson Rivers III said Calhoun 'represents Dylann Roof to us'

Officials in several other states including Virginia, Alabama and Florida have backed the removal of other Confederate statues while the US Navy and US Marine Corps have both banned Confederate flags from public places. 

Meanwhile, in some cases, protesters have taken matters into their own hands and toppled monuments linked to the Confederacy and slavery.  

A statue of Thomas Jefferson outside an Oregon high school named after him was toppled by a group of protesters during a demonstration this weekend.  

There are still 776 Confederate monuments across the US, according to Southern Poverty Law Center. 

The removal of the figures has fallen along political lines, with the Democrats welcoming the move while the Republicans have voiced anger.  

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week said it was the 'perfect time' to rid Capitol Hill  of the 11 remaining Confederate statues on display, saying they 'pay homage to hate, not heritage.' 

However, Republican lawmakers have pushed back, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel blasting what he called attempts to 'airbrush' history and saying he was only open to renaming military bases named after Confederate leaders but not removing Confederate statues.