This national discussion we’re having about the Confederacy, its symbols and its place in American history has energized a lot of Americans.
News came out today that Wal-Mart — a company headquartered in Bentonville, Ark. — is pulling its Confederate gear out of its stores.
I mention the hometown of Wal-Mart because it’s in Arkansas, one of the states comprising the Confederate States of America.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/wal-mart-pulls-confederate-flag-products-in-wake-of-shooting/ar-AAbXYMU
The catalyst for this discussion, of course, was that terrible tragedy in Charleston, S.C., where a shooter vented his rage against black people by killing nine people in a church as he reportedly was studying the Bible with them.
Dylann Roof is accused of the crime. Roof, 21, is all but known to be a racist hater, wanting to launch a “race war” in the UnitedĀ States.
The Confederate States of America — and its symbol, the flag that for now flies on the statehouse grounds in South Carolina — committed a treasonous act in 1861 by seceding from the Union and then starting the Civil War with its bombardment of Fort Sumter in, of all places, Charleston Harbor.
The Confederacy long has symbolized treason. Over time it has symbolized hatred of some white people against black people.
Now we see a corporate giant taking its Confederate gear off its shelves.
Yes, the let the discussion continue and let it make clear the things for which the Confederacy stands.