Confederate flag supporters describe how their views changed

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Like many other white southerners, Justin Hough used to consider the Confederate flag part of his regional heritage, not a symbol of hate.

The AP reached out to writers of these emails and letters after Gov. Nikki Haley's office released 10,000 pages of documents last week in response to requests for public records from last summer's flag debate.

In his letter, Hough said he was a graduate of The Citadel military academy who once loved "the Confederate flag, singing Dixie and defending our right to say the N-word."

Many letter writers castigated the Republican governor for trying to erase the memory of Confederate soldiers.

When Haley first campaigned for governor in 2010, she joined the ranks of South Carolina politicians who said the issue had been settled for all time by a 2000 compromise that moved the banner from atop the capitol dome to a 30-foot pole near a Confederate soldier monument.

The photos of Dylann Roof posing with the battle flag before the killings inside the historic Emanuel AME Church reopened difficult conversations about Confederate symbols, and just five days after the shootings, Haley said the flag must come down.