The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has now banned large Confederate flags from all its national cemeteries.
According to a letter sent to Democratic Rep. Jared Huffman, the agency will no longer allow Confederate flags to be flown from flagpoles, The Hill reports.
This new ban, which the VA mulled over for a year, applies to all national cemeteries and adheres closely to a House amendment pioneered by Huffman back in May. Interestingly, Huffman’s amendment never actually made it into the final VA spending bill, which prompted Huffman and other Democrats to complain directly to the VA.
“We are aware of the concerns of those who wish to see Confederate flags removed from public venues because they are perceived by many as a symbol of racial intolerance. We are also aware that the national cemeteries originated during the Civil War and that they are the final resting places of those who served on both sides of that conflict and, as such, flags of the Confederacy are also viewed by some merely as historical symbols,” Ronald Walter, VA interim undersecretary for memorial affairs, told Huffman.
Huffman applauded the news Tuesday, decrying the flag as a symbol of hatred and celebrating the flag’s removal from national cemeteries.
“While racist individuals and groups continue to embrace the Confederate battle flag, it has never been more clear that this anachronistic symbol of hatred, slavery, and insurrection should not be promoted or gratuitously displayed on federal property,” Huffman said in a statement Tuesday, according to The Hill. “That’s why I am so grateful that the Department of Veterans Affairs responded to our letter and to public concerns and decided to prohibit the large-scale display of Confederate flags on our national veterans cemeteries.”
The VA has, however, built in one exception to the new rule: People can use very small Confederate flags at the cemeteries on Memorial Day and Confederate Memorial Day.
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