Governor Charlie Baker
BOSTON (AP) — Gov. Charlie Baker has apologized for comments he made saying South Carolina residents “can make their own call” about flying the Confederate flag outside their state capitol.
Baker made the comment Thursday during an interview on a Boston radio station after a question about the flag following the shooting deaths of nine members of a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina, allegedly by a white man.
Baker, a Republican who reached out to Massachusetts’ black community during last year’s election, acknowledged what he called the heated debate that’s gone on. He added, “I do believe that the reason that flag still hangs there is, you know, what I would call sort of ‘tradition’ or something like that.”
During another radio interview later Thursday, Baker said the flag should come down.
