Jeb Bush Slams Confederate Flag As “Racist” Even As White Outfit Is Planning A Pro-Flag Rally In South Carolina on July 18

Jeb Bush, presidential hopeful of Republican Party in the United States, has termed the Confederate flag as a "racist" symbol and hailed the efforts to remove the flag outside the South Carolina State Capitol, after the racially motivated Charleston church shootings took place.

Bush said this in South Carolina during a camogn trip and recalled how he "decided to do something politically incorrect" and removed those flags outside the Florida state house when he was the governor in 2001. “The symbols were racist," Bush said during the campaign stop at a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant. “If you're trying to lean forward rather than live in the past, you want to eliminate the barriers that create disagreements, and so I did," Bush defended his thoughts. South Carolina’s Republican Governor Nikki Haley is among the high-profile Republicans who have demanded the removal of the flag.

White Group’s Rally

Meanwhile, Ku Klux Klan will hold a pro-Confederate flag rally at the South Carolina capitol. Klan is a white supremacist group with a history of violence against African-Americans. The Civil War-era flag is the new flashpoint for pro and anti groups, after a church shooting that killed nine African Americans, during a Bible study session soared sentiments against it. The massacre has triggered a nationwide outrage for eliminating symbols of the Confederacy from public spaces, retail stores and internet sites.

The shooter, Dylann Roof, had posed with a Confederate flag in the photos posted online and also displayed a racist manifesto. The June 17 shootings, exacerabted calls for South Carolina to stop displaying the Confederate flag on the statehouse grounds.

The “Loyal White Knights” chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, based in North Carolina said it has obtained the approval to hold the rally at the statehouse on July 18. “We’re standing up for the Confederacy,” said James Spears, who is known as ‘great titan’ in the group. He said speakers at the rally would address many current topics including slavery. The rally will be followed by a ceremonial cross lighting ceremony on a private property.

Governor Nikki Haley said he does not endorse the rally. “This is our state, and they are not welcome,” Haley said in a statement. South Carolina, is about 185 km northwest of Charleston, where the shootings occurred.

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