WALMART & OTHERS DISCONTINUE THE SALE ALL CONFEDERATE FLAG ITEMS
Amid national tension over the Confederate Flag flying over government buildings, four major retailers have decided to take matters into their own hands and discontinue sales marked with the symbol of racism.
Wal-Mart, Sears, Amazon and eBay announced this week that they will no longer sell Confederate flags as well as any items (including clothing, towels, blankets and other paraphernalia) which include the Confederate Flag on it. This decision comes as the debate over whether or not the flag should be flown in public places was brought to the forefront again due to the murdering of 9 African-Americans at Emmanuel AME Church last week.
A photo showing the shooter, Dylann Roof holding a gun alongside a Confederate Flag, along with comments stating that this crime was meant to begin “race wars”, has rekindled and vocalized negative sentiments toward the flag and has caused major backlash amongst citizens.
Johnna Hoff, an eBay spokesperson, said that the Confederate flag has “become a contemporary symbol of divisiveness and racism.” A representative from Amazon told CNN that the company would remove items containing the flag’s image and Wal-Mart has made a decision to cease sales as well stating that they do not want to offend any of their customers.
Sears Holding Corporation, which owns Sears and KMart, has agreed to remove the flag as well as items with its image from third-party retailers on their sites. Neither store currently sells items with the image. This decision comes on the heels of items with the flag’s image being up over 1000 percent over a 24 hour period since the shooting.
South Carolina Governor, Nikki Haley, announced Monday that the flag will be removed from the Capitol grounds stating, “This flag, while an integral part of our past, does not represent the future of our great state.”
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