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.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by TheRaven on Thursday June 25 2015, @09:02AM
Of course, during the Civil War, he just went for it because, well, why not?
He went for it because the British Empire was planning on entering the war on the side of the South (who were good trading partners and who would give Britain a chance to put the rebellious colonies in their place). If slavery had been a side issue in the war, then it would have been the North against Britain and the South, which would have been enough to decide matters quite solidly in favour of the south. Once the war was publicly about slavery, it became politically impossible for Parliament to intervene in favour of slavery.
It was a brilliant bit of politics, but the fact that it took 30 years after the end of the war to actually enforce the emancipation proclamation tells you how important the issue actually was to the north.
sudo mod me up