Walmart will stop selling Confederate flags and any merchandise featuring the flag, CNN reported on Monday.
“We never want to offend anyone with the products that we offer. We have taken steps to remove all items promoting the confederate flag from our assortment — whether in our stores or on our web site,” Walmart spokesman Brian Nick told CNN. “We have a process in place to help lead us to the right decisions when it comes to the merchandise we sell. Still, at times, items make their way into our assortment improperly — this is one of those instances.”
The store currently carries Confederate flags, as well as clothing with the flag’s design, but the renewed debate over the flag led Walmart to reconsider carrying such merchandise.
Sears Holdings Corporation, which owns Sears and Kmart, will also stop selling products with the flag, according to Reuters.
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) on Monday called for the Confederate flag to be removed from the state’s capitol grounds.
After a white man fatally shot nine people at a historic black church in Charleston, S.C., some lawmakers and activists have called for the state to take down the Confederate flag.
During a Monday press conference, Haley said that the suspect in the shooting, Dylann Roof, had a “sick and twisted view of the flag.”
“My hope is that by removing a symbol that divides us, we can move forward as a state in harmony and we can honor the nine blessed souls who are now in heaven,” she said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) also called for the state to remove the flag from the capitol.
They will continue, however, to sell tube tops, Daisy Dukes and camouflage-patterned dinnerware.
I wonder why the 1% of the 1% are suddenly going with “let’s focus on the symbol” and maybe people will forget reality - magic distraction. Keep following the money.
How about the guns, ammo and attitudes that go with it?
Ultimate irony? By shopping at Walmart and driving all the small stores out of business, the typical Walmart shopper in East Bumfuck has no place to take their business in any “boycott.”
It’s a good thing that Haley is seeking to remove that flag but her rationale that she is doing so because it is ‘divisive’ - while also true and important – has a flavor of ‘both sides do it.’ But this ignores the fact that taking down means that monsters such as the CCC will be deprived of a false sense of encouragement because they believe society approves flying the thing.