The National Park Service on Wednesday asked its bookstore and gift shop vendors to remove standalone Confederate flag items from their shelves – a move one of their biggest merchants agreed to make.
“With this particular flag, the connotation is that because it represents the Confederacy that fought on the side of secession and slavery it can be viewed as a racist symbol,” said National Park Service spokeswoman Kathy Kupper.
The service is asking vendors to remove products that solely feature the flag as a symbol, like a Confederate flag pin or belt buckle.
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Gifts and souvenirs that include the flag – a book with the Union and Confederate flags on the cover, for instance – would remain because, Kupper said, it puts the Confederate flag “in the context of history.”
A non-profit that runs the gift shop at the Ft. Sumter National Monument in South Carolina began pulling flag items from shelves on Monday. Eastern National is removing the flag items from its stores in 159 other national parks and the park service is asking its other vendors to follow Eastern National’s lead, Kupper said.
While the request is unprecedented, Kupper said, park officials expect its more than 70 vendors to comply.