Capitol employees removed the four flags on Wednesday on the governor’s orders, local media reported. Roof allegedly killed nine black people at Emanuel A.M.E. Church last Wednesday in what is widely considered a racially motivated attack.
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The Confederate flag flying in front of the state capitol building in South Carolina this week.
“The governor doesn’t want the flag to be a distraction”, Jennifer Ardis, a spokeswoman for Bentley, told United States of America Today. She said she could not comment on flags in the Old House and Senate Chamber.
Alabama governor Robert Bentley unilaterally ordered the removal of the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the state capitol this morning, saying the decision was “partially” related to the shooting in Charleston, South Carolina last week.
Dylann Roof, the 21-year-old white man who was charged with the shooting deaths, had posed with a Confederate battle flag in photos posted on a website that also displayed a racist manifesto. The Sons of Confederate Veterans hosted a news conference under the flag on the State House grounds on Thursday. “But if anyone were ever to ask me about it, I certainly wish we could get rid of it”.
Prodded by Gov. Nikki Haley’s call the day before to move the flag to a museum, South Carolina’s lawmakers overwhelmingly approved measures to hold a debate on the flag later this summer.
But some people still wave the flag with pride, and Georgetown University law professor Paul Butler has some words for those people.
“I know that the Confederate symbol is a small outdated nowadays”, he said.
“As our industry works collectively to ensure that all fans are welcome at our races, NASCAR will continue our long-standing policy to disallow the use of the Confederate Flag symbol in any official NASCAR capacity”, NASCAR said in a statement.
“Apple has removed our game from AppStore because of usage of the Confederate Flag,” Game-Labs, developer of “Ultimate General: Gettysburg” said.
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Along with Spurrier, South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner, ex- quarterback Connor Shaw and many others have sent out support of removing the flag. Separately, the rebel government also flew several Confederate national flags.
