National Park Service Bans Confederate Battle Flag (ICYMI)

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Image: A figurine portrays a Confederate soldier bearing the battle flag (eparks.com).

Amid the national controversy over the Confederate battle flag, the National Park Service announced Thursday that it will remove items bearing the flag’s image from park bookstores and gift shops.

“All sales items in parks are evaluated based on educational value and their connection to the park,” said National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis. “Any stand-alone depictions of Confederate flags have no place in park stores.”

The ban applies to the Henry Hill Visitor Center at the Manassas National Battlefield Park, the site of the first major battle of the Civil War. The not-for-profit partner organization that operates the visitor center’s gift shop began removing items with the flag’s image on Monday, said Kathy Kupper, a park service spokeswoman.

The items include lapel pins, stickers, belt buckles and ball caps, she said. The not-for-profit organization, Eastern National, runs about 300 stores in 160 national parks.

The Civil War began in April 1861 at Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, S.C. Jarvis said the shooting deaths last week of nine members at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, near the Fort Sumter National Monument, “galvanized a national discussion that includes symbols and relics from our nation’s past such as the Confederate Battle Flag.”

Southern forces flew the red flag, with diagonal blue stripes and stars, in combat during the Civil War, and a square version appeared in the upper left corner of the second and third versions of the Confederate States’ national flag. The second version is a white flag known as “the Stainless Banner.”

Today, many Southerners see the battle flag as a symbol of their heritage. But African Americans and many others view it as a symbol of slavery and racism.

The public’s reaction to the removal of the gift shop items has been mixed, Kupper said. “We’re hearing from all across the spectrum.”

Some park visitors who wanted to buy items with the Confedcerate battle flag have been upset, she said. On the other hand, “there are people who are applauding the effort.”

The National Park Service ban applies to the battle flag, the Stainless Banner and the Confederacy’s third national flag, Jarvis said.

He said that books, DVDs and other media “where the Confederate flag image is depicted in its historical context” can be sold in national parks, “as long as the image cannot be physically detached.”