A sheriff in South Carolina has refused US President Barack Obama's order to fly the American flag at half-staff in memory of Nelson Mandela.
Picken County Sheriff Rick Clark did not want to accept Obama's order, telling the media that the American flag can only be flown at half-staff as a tribute to US citizens.
"It's perfectly normal for me that, as a sign of respect for Mandela, the flag should be lowered to half-mast in South Africa, his country, but in America, in my opinion, that should be reserved for people who have sacrificed for our country." , said Sheriff Clark.
The media reports that this sheriff on Friday ordered that a South Carolina police officer who died in the line of duty be honored in this way.
Flags in this district were also flown at half-staff on Saturday as a sign of respect for the victims of Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941.
Reuters reminds that South Carolina is one of the states of the American South, which has long had problems with giving full rights to blacks and where, in the sixties of the last century, Martin Luther King led the fight for the civil rights of African Americans.
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a Republican, paid tribute to Mandela on her Facebook page after it was announced he had died.
However, insulting comments on Mendel's account soon appeared, as he was called a "villain", a "pious Marxist" and a "socialist thug".
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