COLUMBIA, S.C. -- South Carolina lawmakers on Monday began debating whether to bring the Confederate flag down outside the Capitol, starting with a pair of senators whose families arrived in the state before the Civil War.

Both men -- one white, one black -- have come to the same conclusion: The rebel flag no longer represents the valour of Southern soldiers but the racism that led them to separate from the United States more than 150 years ago.

Republican Sen. Larry Martin, who is white, had fought off attempts to move the flag for decades. But he changed his mind after nine people were shot to death during Bible study at a historic African-American church in Charleston by a man police say was motivated by racial hatred.

Sen. Darrell Jackson, a black Democrat, helped write the compromise that brought the Confederate flag off the Statehouse dome in 2000 and put it in its current location on a pole on the capitol's front lawn. South Carolina had been the last state to fly a Confederate flag on its Capitol dome.

Jackson said he regretted not going farther to get rid of the flag completely 15 years ago.

The only flag supporter to speak was Sen. Lee Bright, who briefly introduced an amendment to put the fate of the flag to a popular vote.

The Senate expected to continue the debate Monday afternoon.

A survey asking lawmakers how they intend to vote after Gov. Nikki Haley's call to remove the flag found at least 33 senators and 83 House members agreed with her, satisfying the two-thirds majority required by law to alter the flag's position. The survey by The Post and Courier newspaper, the South Carolina Press Association and The Associated Press asked only about whether to keep or lower the flag.

But some powerful Republicans have not said how they will vote, including House Speaker Jay Lucas. Some Republicans want to keep the flagpole and put a different flag on it.

Democrats have said they cannot support any flag linked to the Confederacy. Haley and business leaders agree.

"There is no good-looking Confederate flag. It all stands for the same thing -- secession," said Lonnie Randolph, president of the South Carolina chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Outside the Statehouse, dozens of protesters began to arrive. Some called for the flag to come down. Others said the state was giving in to Northern liberals and civil rights activists.

- Associated Press writer Seanna Adcox contributed to this report.