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Alabama Governor Orders Removal of Confederate Flags From Capitol

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Updated: | Originally published: ;

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley has ordered that the Confederate flags on the state Capitol’s grounds be taken down.

Bentley made the order Wednesday morning as calls to remove the flag from government buildings and stores mount following the Charleston, S.C. shooting at a black church last week, the Associated Press reports.

“The Governor ordered flags removed from the Capitol this morning,” his office said in a statement to TIME. “He does not want the flags to be a distraction from other state issues so he ordered them removed.”
The statement echoes what Bentley told AL.com as he was leaving the Capitol on the way to an event Wednesday.

“This is the right thing to do,” he said. “We are facing some major issues in this state regarding the budget and other matters that we need to deal with. This had the potential to become a major distraction as we go forward. I have taxes to raise, we have work to do. And it was my decision that the flag needed to come down.”

Bentley said he checked to see if there were any state laws preventing the removal of the flag and found none. Workers also removed three other Civil War-era Confederate flags from the Confederate memorial on the Capitol grounds, AL.com reports.

Other governors have distanced themselves from the flag since the shooting. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley called for the removal of the Confederate flag from the state Capitol grounds on Monday, while Arkanasas Governor Asa Hutchinson commended the decision from Wal-Mart, one of Arkansas’ largest employers, to stop selling Confederate flag merchandise.

[AP]

When the Confederate Flag Seemed Like a Fad

Confederate Flag 1951
University of Maryland students waving the Confederate flag.Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Confederate Flag 1951
Caption from LIFE. Daughters of Confederacy show how the flag should be saluted.Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Confederate Flag 1951
Caption from LIFE. Flag factories like this one in Washington are swamped with orders for flags from tiny ones for dime-store sale to 5-by-8 foot silk ones at $100 each.Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Confederate Flag 1951
Caption from LIFE. Three make a blouse.Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Confederate Flag 1951
Girls wearing hats displaying the Confederate flag.Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Confederate Flag 1951
31st Division Band displaying the Confederate flag.Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Confederate Flag 1951
Caption from LIFE. "I'm against Truman," explained Ed Tracy in buying flag in a shop in Westfield, N.J. One Washington store has sold 10,000 flags in the last year.Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Confederate Flag 1951
Caption from LIFE. Dam Yankee's car would enrage Daughters of the Confederacy, who have spoken out bitterly against using flags like fox tails on cars' radiator caps.Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Confederate Flag 1951
Caption from LIFE. Southern Senators' employes and visitors wear new Confederate tie. Reborn gag: "Save your Confederate money—the South will rise again."Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Confederate Flag 1951
Caption from LIFE. University of Maryland students display 1864 flag, battle flags.Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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Write to Nolan Feeney at nolan.feeney@time.com