It's All About Me, Man: [ITSALLABOUTMEMAN] Re: The flag

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

[ITSALLABOUTMEMAN] Re: The flag

Hey Corinne,

I know what you mean, I think of that terrorist shooter wrapped in a flag - Chris Kyle, and his legion of wild eyed fanatics.

I dread the 4th of july when the whole neighborhood will be wrapped in that symbol of hate.

Can't want for the banning of the stars and stripes. thanks for your worthy efforts in this important cause.

Down with Old Glory, it's too damn gory!

Matt

On Tue, Jun 23, 2015 at 9:04 PM, Corinne Ball, MoveOn.org Civic Action <moveon-help@list.moveon.org> wrote:

Momentum is growing. Will you add your name to calls for the Confederate flag to come down in Mississippi?

Dear MoveOn member,

A massacre was committed last week. A gun-toting white supremacist walked into a historic Black church in South Carolina and left nine people gathered for Bible study dead. The last words they heard didn't come from scripture or their pastor, but from the shooter—in a racist, hate-filled tirade.¹

The shooter was arrested the next day—but it was hard to feel any relief. As I saw him transported by officers, the frightening smile on his face showed no remorse, no sympathy. And it was hard to separate that sadistic grin, and the hate it represented, from the other photos I'd seen of him—the ones where he was waving his Confederate flag.

I wasn't the only one who felt that way. The morning after the shooting, a MoveOn member named Karen Hunter started a petition calling for South Carolina to take down the Confederate flag that flies in front of the state Capitol. And within days, more than 550,000 Americans had signed on—making it one of MoveOn's biggest and fastest-growing petitions ever.

Yesterday, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley changed her previous positions—promising to call a special session of the state Legislature this summer to remove the flag if legislators don't act sooner.² We're paying close attention. And we're laying the groundwork for a major campaign to make sure the governor's words turn to action and the flag comes down for good.

And in the meantime, momentum is growing in other states too—most notably Mississippi. There, MoveOn member Jennifer Gunter started a petition calling for the image of the Confederate flag to be removed from the official state flag. Her petition is taking off, and has just passed 10,000 signatures.

Will you sign it today and help bring the Confederate flag down in another state?

The calls for the Confederate flag to come down aren't new—groups like the NAACP have carried that torch for decades—but the cause has taken on new life in the last week. There's a real domino effect happening here.

A powerful piece in The Atlantic made the case for taking down the flag the day after the murders.³ Then prominent Republicans including Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush joined in. And as of today, Walmart, Sears, Kmart, eBay, and Amazon have all pledged to stop selling merchandise featuring the flag.⁴

I can't remember the last time so many people and institutions shifted in such a short a time. In significant part, this shift is due to the hundreds of thousands of MoveOn members who have spoken out in the last week, standing on the shoulders of activists who've worked on this issue for generations.

Of course, this isn't just about a flag. The Confederate flag is the chosen symbol of white supremacists; it's an active reminder of centuries of racial oppression. And if we can help get rid of it on government buildings in states like South Carolina and Mississippi, as well as from the shelves of mega-retailers like Amazon and Walmart, we'll help show that we're better than the darkest moments of our history. That progress is possible.

That's why yesterday's speech from Gov. Haley—while it didn't bring the flag down immediately—was so important. And it's why Jennifer Gunter's campaign to remove the Confederate image from Mississippi's state flag is a critical next step.

Will you sign Jennifer's petition today and help her pressure Mississippi's state legislators to act?

Already, a top Mississippi Republican has said that the Confederate battle emblem should be removed from the state's flag, but it'll take more than one politician to make this happen.⁵ Let's not lose momentum for even a second. We can win, together.

Thanks for all you do.
–Corinne, Jadzia, Manny, Alejandro, and the rest of the team
Sources:

1. "Shooting suspect in custody after Charleston church massacre," CNN, June 18, 2015
http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=304867&id=121527-19284091-AKeDJkx&t=3

2. "Nikki Haley calls for removal of Confederate flag from capitol grounds," June 23, 2015
http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=304868&id=121527-19284091-AKeDJkx&t=4

3. "Take Down the Confederate Flag—Now," The Atlantic, June 18, 2015
http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=304804&id=121527-19284091-AKeDJkx&t=5

4. "Walmart, Amazon, Sears, eBay to stop selling Confederate flag merchandise," CNN, June 23, 2015
http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=304870&id=121527-19284091-AKeDJkx&t=6

5. "Gunn: Confederate part of MS flag 'needs to be removed,'" The Clarion-Ledger, June 23, 2015
http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=304869&id=121527-19284091-AKeDJkx&t=7

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This email was sent to Matt Love on June 23, 2015. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.