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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Park Service Pulls Stars and Bars From Shops

WASHINGTON (CN) - Confederate flag memorabilia will no longer be sold in National Park gift shops and bookstores, the National Park Service said Thursday.

The Park Service said it's pulling the items because of the June 17 murders of nine churchgoers by a white supremacist in Charleston, S.C., who wanted to start a race war.

"All sales items in parks are evaluated based on educational value and their connection to the park," National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis said Thursday. "Any stand-alone depictions of Confederate flags have no place in park stores."

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley ordered the Confederate flag taken down from the Statehouse on Wednesday.

The South Carolina Legislature is considering a similar move, which has been endorsed by Gov. Nikki Haley.

Members of the Mississippi Legislature said that state should remove the Stars and Bars from the state flag, though Gov. Phil Bryant said he wants to keep it there.

Governors of Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina and Maryland this week suggested their states should remove Confederate flags from license plates, though it's uncertain when, or if, that will happen.

Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers said the statue of Jefferson Davis should be removed from his state's Capitol Rotunda, a suggestion endorsed by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

"Confederate flags have a place in books, exhibits, reenactments, and interpretive programs," Park Service Director Jarvis 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."

The gunman killed nine people during a Bible study class at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston.

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