my granddaddy, thomas peterson evans joined the confederacy at age 16. 16 years old. he fought for four years. he met a young lady in brunswick, georgia. her name was emmy gaye. trust me i'm not talking just general information. i know what i'm talking about. after the war was over he went back and he married her. after many, many years i finally found out who i looked like. i looked like my great grandmother. ladies and gentlemen, there comes a time in our life and i ask my preacher on sunday morning publicly i said, preacher, this is going to be a contentious week in the state house -- i didn't say state house, i said columbia. he stopped me and said grady we will pray for you. i want to thank them for doing that. i want to thank you all for being so kind today. this has just been unreal. but i want my friends back home on both sides of the issue to know that i'm doing what i'm going to do to vote to take the flag down because i think it is in god's eyes the right thing to do. thank you. [ applause ] >> mr. collins is recognized on the amendment. >> thank you mr. sp

my granddaddy, thomas peterson evans joined the confederacy at age 16. 16 years old. he fought for four years. he met a young lady in brunswick, georgia. her name was emmy gaye. trust me i'm not talking just general information. i know what i'm talking about. after the war was over he went back and he married her. after many, many years i finally found out who i looked like. i looked like my great grandmother. ladies and gentlemen, there comes a time in our life and i ask my preacher on sunday morning publicly i said, preacher, this is going to be a contentious week in the state house -- i didn't say state house, i said columbia. he stopped me and said grady we will pray for you. i want to thank them for doing that. i want to thank you all for being so kind today. this has just been unreal. but i want my friends back home on both sides of the issue to know that i'm doing what i'm going to do to vote to take the flag down because i think it is in god's eyes the right thing to do. thank you. [ applause ] >> mr. collins is recognized on the amendment. >> thank you mr. sp