First South Carolina.
“Today, we are here in a moment of unity in our state, without ill will, to say it is time to move the flag from the Capitol grounds,” Haley said during a news conference attended by Republican senators Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott, along with other state leaders.
Then Mississippi?
Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn said Monday night that the Confederate emblem in the state’s official flag has to go.
“We must always remember our past, but that does not mean we must let it define us,” Gunn, a Clinton Republican, said in a statement. “As a Christian, I believe our state’s flag has become a point of offense that needs to be removed. We need to begin having conversations about changing Mississippi’s flag.”
Now Walmart? What? Politics is one thing, but money is, well, money.
Walmart, the country’s largest retailer, will remove all Confederate flag merchandise from its stores, the company told CNN Monday.
The announcement is the latest indication that the flag, a symbol of the slave-holding South, has become toxic in the aftermath of a shooting last week at a historic African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina. Gov. Nikki Haley announced in a Monday afternoon news conference that she supports removing the Confederate flag from the state capitol grounds.
I’m not naive, but the momentum to do something here is palpable and it’s moving very, very fast. And it may be a symbolic something, and may not go as far as I or others would like, but symbols do matter - taking them away from those inclined to hatred and violence is a constructive thing. Taking away the Confederate flag, or at least the state’s close affiliation with that flag and all that it represents, is a positive step. One of many that are needed, but a step forward.