Rand Paul: Flag 'inescapably a symbol of human bondage and slavery'

Rand Paul waited until Tuesday to take a stand on the debate over the Confederate flag, but he minced few words.

In an interview on WRKO radio in Boston, the Kentucky senator said he agrees with South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s call Monday for the flag to be taken down.


“I think the flag is inescapably a symbol of human bondage and slavery, and particularly when people use it obviously for murder and to justify hated so vicious that you would kill somebody, I think that that symbolism needs to end, and I think South Carolina is doing the right thing,” Paul said.

“Obviously it’s a decision for South Carolina to make, but if I were in South Carolina that’s what I would vote to do and that’s what I would recommend to anybody who asked me my opinion,” he said.

Paul’s reaction, which came a day after Haley’s announcement and after the reactions of a number of other prominent 2016 contenders, drew a far firmer connection between the flag and slavery. Others, including Scott Walker, Jeb Bush and John Kasich, praised Haley’s decision without commenting directly on the symbolism of the flag itself.

“There have been people who have used it for Southern pride and heritage and all that, but really to every African-American in the country it’s a symbolism of slavery to them and now it’s a symbol of murder to this young man,” Paul said.