South Carolina may shell out millions to display notorious Confederate flag

South Carolina’s government could be looking at a multi-million dollar bill if it continues with plans to put the Confederate flag which flew on its statehouse grounds until July on display in a museum.

The flag was removed after nine people were murdered at a black church in Charleston, SC. White supremacist Dylann Roof has been charged with the killings. The same resolution that mandated the flag’s removal also pledged that it would be placed in the state’s Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum. (Other institutions that have removed Confederate memorials from public grounds, such as the University of Austin, have made similar decisions.)

But, as The State reported, that effort won’t come cheap. The commission that oversees the museum recently put a price tag of $3.6 million on its plans to display the flag.

From The State:

The commission voted unanimously to approve the plan, which includes opening a new wing at the Relic Room, which is located in the same renovated textile mill as the S.C. State Museum. The proposal also includes an electronic presentation of the names of all 24,000 South Carolina Confederate soldiers killed in the Civil War and the conservation and display of period Confederate battle flags now in storage. The war began when Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor and was fought from 1861 to 1865.

Things could be worse: the commission initially proposed that $5.3 million be spent on the new display. Some lawmakers scoffed at that idea.