Charleston, USA massacre, Confederate flag, animated cartoon

This animated cartoon video by Mark Fiore from the USA says about itself:

Last week’s horrific shooting at the “Mother Emanuel” church in South Carolina underscored America’s terrible racist past, not to mention present. While it’s all well and good the Confederate flags are starting to come down, that is the easiest choice imaginable from the toxic menu of racism, hatred and guns.

If only racism and gun-toting white supremacists would disappear with the removal of the Stars and Bars from government grounds and major retailers. I’m happy to see the bandwagon of politicians who used to support the display of the Confederate flag getting bigger every day.  Some of these guys were using the “heritage” defense of the flag just last week, then calling for its removal this week.

Thanks to the none-too-brave Nikki Haley, Republicans are tripping over themselves to defuse this potentially damaging campaign issue.  (Never mind that the current Majority Whip in the United States House of Representatives has his own history of hanging out with white supremacists and he seems to be doing just fine.)  Unfortunately, the racist past and present of the United States will be haunting us for a long time to come, but at least we won’t be able to buy a Confederate flag at Walmart.  (These are still on sale, however.)  Enjoy the cartoon, feel free to help the victims and the community most impacted by this tragedy.  And, as usual, be sure to check out the news behind the cartoon.

USA: Store owner who says Confederate flag doesn’t represent racism, revealed to have family ties to Ku Klux Klan: here.

This sudden rush to take down symbols of racism and slavery that the American political establishment has kept in place for decades is a defensive response to an outpouring of public horror over the Charleston killings and popular hostility to racism. This powerful reaction has taken the political establishment and both parties by surprise, forcing them to reckon with vast changes in popular consciousness of a broadly democratic character, particularly in the South: here.

ANOTHER BLACK CHURCH CATCHES FIRE South Carolina’s Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church is the seventh predominantly black church to catch fire since the Charleston shooting. Investigators have yet to label the fire an act of arson. [Andrew Hart, HuffPost]

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