The connection of the Confederate Battle Flag with the murders of nine church members in South Carolina has prompted the National Park Service to end sales of the flag in gift shops and bookstores located inside parks.
“We strive to tell the complete story of America,” Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis said of the agency’s reputation for telling difficult parts of our history. “All sales items in parks are evaluated based on educational value and their connection to the park. Any stand-alone depictions of Confederate flags have no place in park stores.”
In a news release the director said the murders of nine church members at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, which is near Fort Sumter National Monument, galvanized a national discussion that includes symbols and relics from our nation’s past such as the Confederate Battle Flag. A manifesto linked to the suspect in the case included photos of himself with versions of the Confederate flag.
“As that discussion spread across the country,” Director Jarvis said, “one of our largest cooperating associations, Eastern National, began to voluntarily remove from the park stores that it manages any items that depict a Confederate flag as its primary feature. I’ve asked other cooperating associations, partners and concession providers to withdraw from sale items that solely depict a Confederate flag.”
In the telling of the historical story, Confederate flags have a place in books, exhibits, reenactments, and interpretive programs, the Park Service said. Books, DVDs, and other educational and interpretive media where the Confederate flag image is depicted in its historical context may remain as sales items as long as the image cannot be physically detached. Confederate flags include the Stainless Banner, the Third National Confederate Flag, and the Confederate Battle Flag.
Comments
Lee ---
If one checks wikipedia for William Tappan Thompson, who helped to design the confederate flag, his own commentary was that "As a people, we are fighting to maintain the Heaven-ordained supremacy of the white man over the inferior or colored race; a white flag would thus be emblematical of our cause.... Such a flag...would soon take rank among the proudest ensigns of the nations, and be hailed by the civilized world as THE WHITE MAN'S FLAG.... As a national emblem, it is significant of our higher cause, the cause of a superior race, and a higher civilization contending against ignorance, infidelity, and barbarism. Another merit in the new flag is, that it bears no resemblance to the now infamous banner of the Yankee vandals."
Oh - THOSE states rights.
Fascinating. Thank you Rick.
"Which states rights were they in favor of?"
The rights guaranteed them by the Constitution
This flag is part of the history of the United States
"If one checks wikipedia for William Tappan Thompson, who helped to design the confederate flag"
Sorry Rick, that is not the flag that is being discussed today. That flag put the Stars and Bars on a white field to express white supremacy. The flag under discussion today has no white field and was not designed by William Tappan Thompson.
How about enlightening us on exactly whose rights were guaranteed by the Constitution? White rights? Black rights? Was the right to keep slaves guaranteed in the Constitution? If so, where?
There never was a "right" to keep slaves.
The 13th amendment using the Constitutional process made it illegal at the federal level.
And the issue today regarding the Stars and Bars has nothing to do with slavery.
"And the issue today regarding the Stars and Bars has nothing to do with slavery."
But everything to do with racism. You may or may not have noticed a slight linkage between the two.
I'm continually amazed at the things you line up to defend, and then deny you are defending. I generally try to stick to things that, when my grandson asks me "Why, Grampa?", I can easily and comfortably answer.