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New Bill Would Prohibit Flying of Confederate Flag over Confederate Cemeteries

Britt Reints / Creative Commons

The debate over the Confederate flag is still raging in Washington, where elected officials are clashing over where and when it’s appropriate to display the Confederate flag.

Several amendments to the Interior Appropriations Bill up for a vote this week could potentially change what happens at three national cemeteries in Virginia: Fredericksburg, Yorktown and Poplar Grove. They would ban the flag be flown over Confederate graves and prevent anything with the Confederate flag to be sold at the gift shop. Frank Earnest at the Sons of Confederate Veterans says the efforts are misguided.

“You know to say we’re going to have a battlefield that commemorates what these brave men from both sides did but we’re not even going to allow you to buy it in the gift shop, it’s a ludicrous denial of history."

Lynetta Thompson at the Richmond NAACP says she doesn’t want to see the flag in the gift shop or flying over the cemeteries. 

“I relate it to a time of lynching because when lynching was done, it was always with that flag flying, not the United States flag."

So far, Republicans have been able to thwart the amendments. But Democrats are pushing to have them be part of regular order, so they can at least be debated on the House floor.

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