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In South Carolina, the governor has called for the Confederate flag to stop flying over the capitol. The governors of Virginia and North Carolina quickly declared that they would remove the flag from state license plates. Meanwhile, several of the country's top retailers -- including eBay and Amazon -- announced in quick succession that they would stop selling Confederate flag merchandise. Now MJ Lee reports at CNN that the debate over the Confederate flag is the most recent and vivid illustration of how changes in the business community can influence and pressure politics. "What you are seeing is a broad, acknowledgment across both the consumer, the political and the business community that that particular emblem is no longer part of something that should be a state-issued emblem," says GOP strategist Scott Jennings.
Walmart, Amazon, eBay and Sears announced within the span of one day that they would ban the sale of Confederate flag merchandise from their stores, saying they had no intention of offending customers. As Walmart CEO Doug McMillon put it, the decision was straightforward: "We want everybody to feel comfortable shopping at Walmart." Corporate and business leaders say that the abandoning the flag is a step towards inclusiveness for a region that has long struggled to shed negative images. "The business community -- they have a lot of say and power all over the country, whether it's on religion or ethnicity or LGBT issues," says Ralph Northam. "When you're running a business, you have to have the doors open and welcome diversity."
takyon: Alabama Governor Orders Removal Of Confederate Flags From Capitol
'Dukes of Hazzard' toy car General Lee loses its Confederate flag
Note: These moves are in response to the events in Charleston.
Original Submission
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 24 2015, @11:40PM
"When you're running a business, you have to have the doors open and welcome diversity."
Let's welcome diversity by banning a symbol of our national heritage. Because that makes sense.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 24 2015, @11:42PM
I tried to log in to post the OP (also this.) Apparently there is a problem with logins just now...
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 24 2015, @11:46PM
> Let's welcome diversity by banning a symbol of our national shame. Because that makes sense.
(1) FTFY
(2) It isn't banned. Only some sort of collectivist would argue that a business shouldn't be able to pick and choose what products it wants to deal in.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2015, @02:20AM
Absolutely it is banned from the establishments listed. That was the point of the article.
And if you are going to spin it as a symbol of our shame, it is worth pointing out that the flag we still fly is every bit as much a symbol of that shame.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2015, @05:39AM
> Absolutely it is banned from the establishments listed.
Which is such weak tea that only the most dedicated racist would consider it a ban.
> it is worth pointing out that the flag we still fly is every bit as much a symbol of that shame.
The US was flag was not created specifically to represent a political movement dedicated to enslavement.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2015, @05:02PM
Fuck you and the hooded Klan member you rode in on! That damned flag may be a part of our national heritage but it is a shameful part of our heritage. It is a symbol for treasonous secessionists. Those that proudly parade it around are aligning themselves with traitors to the nation. The people who fought on the side of the Confederacy were not engaged in defending some noble cause; they wanted to defend the right of white Southerners to own black people as slaves. When are we finally going to call out the people who proudly fly this flag as what they truly are, racists who are pining for the days of the antebellum South? The President is absolutely right on this one: the only proper place to display this flag is in a museum.