An initiative to remove the Confederate flag from the South Carolina State House grounds picked up steam, a week after the massacre of nine black church members, and criticism over the emblem long associated with slavery spread to other US southern states.
US retailers joined lawmakers in distancing themselves from the banner, with industry leaders Amazon.com Inc and Wal-Mart Stores Inc pulling the images of the rebel flag from their stores and websites, joining Google Inc , Sears Holdings Corp and eBay Inc .
The Civil War-era flag of the South’s pro-slavery Confederacy has become a lightning rod for outrage over the shootings in Charleston, South Carolina, which authorities say was motivated by racial hatred.
In Columbia, the capital of South Carolina, hundreds of people chanted «Take it down,» while state lawmakers voted on Tuesday to open debate on removing the Confederate flag from the State House grounds.
Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old white man charged with nine counts of murder for the shooting at the church last Wednesday, had posed with a Confederate flag in photos posted online with a racist manifesto.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald