National Park Service pulls Confederate flag items from gift shops
The National Park Service is removing all Confederate flag standalone sales items — such as belt buckles and keychains — from its bookstores and gifts shops, National Park Director Jonathan Jarvis said Thursday.
"We strive to tell the complete story of America," Jarvis said in a statement on the park's mission. He noted that the killing of nine black parishioners at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., last week had sparked a national discussion about historic symbols and relics such as the Confederate flag.
As the debate spread nationally, Jarvis said, the initial decision to pull items that solely depict a Confederate flag as its primary feature was taken voluntarily by Eastern National, one of the park service's largest "cooperating associations," which manage gift shops and bookstores.
In response, Jarvis said, he then asked other cooperating associations, partners and concession providers to follow suit.
The director said that in telling the history of the United States, Confederate flags have a place in books, exhibits and other media where they are depicted in a historical context. He says those will remain for sale as long as the image cannot be physically detached.
Confederate flags, the statement says, include the Stainless Banner, the Third National Confederate Flag, and not just the Confederate Battle Flag.
The move comes as South Carolina's legislature has agreed to debate removing a Confederate battle flag from a monument on Statehouse grounds in Columbia.
On Wednesday, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley ordered Confederate flags removed from around a Confederate memorial on Statehouse grounds in Montgomery, Ala.