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After nine people were killed in a racially motivated mass shooting at Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina, last week, an uproar followed over the Confederate flag, considered by many to represent the ideology of white supremacy.
Because the Confederate flag flies, by legislative mandate, over the South Carolina State Capitol in Columbia, the governor of that state is encouraging lawmakers to take action and move the flag off the statehouse and in to a museum.
The debate has spilled far beyond South Carolina, and while the talk goes on, there has also been quick action. Here are some of the latest developments:
- Monday, Walmart and Sears became the first companies to ban the sale of items featuring Confederal flag images. Those steps were taken as part of a massive national reaction to mass shooting in Charleston. Within a day, Amazon, eBay and Etsy joined the movement and also announced bans on the sale of Confederate flag merchandise. Warner Bros. also ended licensing "The Dukes of Hazzard" merchandise with the confederate flag on the roof of the General Lee.
- As Confederate flag merchandise became harder to get, some buyers stocked up. Yahoo suggested the sales of Confederate flags might be driven not just by collectors, but also by people planning to burn flags on June 27 the date some people say they will burn Confederate flags.
- The board of South Carolina's 173-year-old military academy, the Citadel, voted 9 to 3 to remove the Confederate Naval Jack from the campus chapel. Board members said a Citadel graduate and the relatives of six employees were killed in the attack last week.
- In Tennessee, bi-partisan leaders called for a bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general and an early Ku Klux Klan leader, to be moved out of the State House. However, Ben Jones, who played "Cooter" on "The Dukes of Hazzard" is not removing the Confederate flag from his restaurant, "Cooters Place," in Gatlinburg.
- In Virginia, Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, ordered that the Confederate flag no longer appear on license plates, and political leaders in Maryland, North Carolina and Tennessee vowed to do the same.
- In Georgia, after initially saying the Confederate flag would remain, Gov. Nathan Deal, said changes should be made to the Sons of Confederate Veterans tag.
- And in Arkansas, school district officials replaced a Rebel mascot and "Dixie" fight song.
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