Walmart Clearing Shelves of Confederate Flag Merchandise

Walmart said Monday it would empty its store shelves of all merchandise bearing the Confederate flag, distancing itself from what has become a toxic symbol of racism in the days following last week’s bloody massacre inside a Charleston, SC, church.

The decision by the nation’s largest retailer follows a call earlier in the day by Gov. Nikki Haley to remove the Confederate flag from the state capitol grounds. For too many in South Carolina, Haley said, the flag is a “deeply offensive symbol of a brutally racist past.”

Walmart spokesman Brian Nick told CNN that immediate steps are being taken to remove items promoting the Confederate flag from both stores and the company’s website. Walmart stores sell Confederate flags as well as folding knives, T-shirts, blankets and shower curtains featuring the flag, according to Amazon.com.

“We never want to offend anyone with the products that we offer,” Nick said. “We have a process in place to help lead us to the right decisions when it comes to the merchandise we sell. Still, at times, items make their way into our assortment improperly -- this is one of those instances.”

Related:

• S.C. Governor Calls for Confederate Flag’s Removal
• White Supremacist Who Inspired Charleston Church Shooter Gave to GOP Candidates

The shooting that left nine people dead in the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston has renewed decades-old debates about the appropriateness of displaying the Confederate flag, which suspect Dylann Roof, 21, brandished in widely circulated photos taken from his website.

Supporters of the flag call it an emblem of states’ rights and constitutional liberty and argue the Confederacy did not exist to preserve the institution of slavery. But the flag’s designer, a Savannah, Ga. newspaper editor named William Thompson, wrote that the flag was in part meant to symbolize “the heaven ordained supremacy of the white man over the inferior colored race.”

Roof reportedly told those gathered for prayer at the church last week, “I have to do it. You rape our women and you’re taking over our country. And you have to go.”