CHARLESTON, S.C. — For years, South Carolina lawmakers refused to revisit the Confederate flag on Statehouse grounds, saying the law that took it off the dome was a bipartisan compromise, and renewing the debate would unnecessarily expose divisive wounds.

But opinions changed within five days of the massacre of nine people at a historic black church in Charleston, as a growing tide of Republicans joined the call to remove the battle flag from a Confederate monument in front of the Statehouse and put it in a museum.

On Monday, Gov. Nikki Haley did what a previous Republican governor found to be political suicide. Herself a Republican, she not only called for the flag’s removal but pledged to call legislators back to Columbia if they don’t deal with it in a special session in the next few weeks. Just hours before they return to work Tuesday, a rally to bring the flag down will be held outside the Statehouse.

Haley’s announcement came days after authorities charged Dylann Storm Roof, 21, with murder. The white man appeared in photos holding Confederate flags and burning or desecrating U.S. flags, and purportedly wrote of fomenting racial violence.

Haley has for years deflected questions about the flag. But she said Monday she was moved by the outpouring of love and forgiveness that followed the “true hate” of the crime. She noted her entire family attended Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal on Sunday, when the church reopened its doors.

“My children saw what true faith looks like. My children saw that true hate can never, never triumph over true love. My children saw the heart and soul of South Carolina start to mend,” she said.

She stressed that, for many South Carolinians, the flag still represents noble traditions of heritage and duty, but for many others, it is a “deeply offensive symbol of a brutally oppressive past.”

“The hate-filled murderer who massacred our brothers and sisters in Charleston has a sick and twisted view of the flag. In no way does he reflect the people in our state who respect, and in many ways, revere it,” she said.

The governor’s declarations sparked action in other arenas as well Monday: Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn called for the Confederate emblem to be removed from the state flag, becoming the first top-tier Republican in the state to do so.

In Tennessee, both Democrats and Republicans called for the removal of a bust of Confederate general and early Ku Klux Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest from an alcove outside the Senate’s chambers.

And Wal-Mart announced Monday that it is removing any items from its store shelves and website that feature the Confederate flag.

Removing the flag in South Carolina won’t be easy, despite the shifting sentiment.