South Carolina Republican: scrap slave memorial if Confederate monument goes

• Sheri Few blames ‘weak politicians’ for taking down Confederate flag
• Pastor calls Few’s ad citing Charleston shooting ‘completely distasteful

Adam Gabbatt in New York
Wednesday 26 April 2017 19.28 BST

A South Carolina candidate for US Congress, who has been criticized for using the 2015 killings of nine black church members in a campaign advert, has said the removal of a Confederate monument in the state should be matched by the removal of a memorial to African American slaves.

Sheri Few, who is running for South Carolina’s fifth congressional district, was condemned by the pastor of the Emanuel AME church last week for a “completely distasteful” advert in which she criticized “weak politicians” for removing the Confederate flag from South Carolina’s statehouse in 2015, while wielding a semi-automatic rifle.

Few has made the flag’s removal, and the preservation of Confederate memorabilia, a central part of her campaign. On Monday she told the Guardian she stood by her controversial advert, and said if elected she would focus on “fighting the destruction of every bit of Confederate memorabilia in our country”.

Few’s comments came as New Orleans began to remove four Confederate monuments in the city. A number of statues celebrating the Confederacy have been removed across the country in recent years, and some streets named after Confederate generals have been renamed.

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