Bookstore at Gettysburg park removes Confederate flag items

(Gettysburg) — The visitor center at Gettysburg National Military Park will no longer sell standalone Confederate flags, in a decision that follows a move to end sales of the items throughout the entire National Park system.

National Park Director Jonathan Jarvis issued the request Wednesday and after initially resisting, Gettysburg decided to go along.

The nonprofit Gettysburg Foundation runs the bookstore along with a private operator, and made the change yesterday.

Eleven items that only feature the Confederate flag are now off the shelves, including two flags, a t-shirt, stickers and a pin.

Katie Lawhon with Gettysburg National Military Park says the logic is pretty simple.

“Because they don’t have the context, so if you have a t-shirt that has a United States flag and a Confederate flag side by side, that’s representative of the Battle of Gettysburg, you have the flags of two armies meeting at Gettysburg,” says Lawhon.

Lawhon says similar items will be acceptable, and the Confederate flag will still be shown in paintings and books.

“We want to be able to provide educational items to our visitors in our bookstores and we’re meeting that standard by selling a wide array of incredibly meaningful and wonderful books.”

She says the tragedy in South Carolina – where a white supremacist killed nine black worshippers during a bible study – raised awareness about how the flag is perceived

Walmart and Ebay have pulled items featuring the flag from their shelves, and South Carolina is considering removing it from its State Capitol grounds.

Two midstate manufacturers have also announced they will no longer make Confederate flags.