Confederate flag items barred from national park shops

The National Park Service is removing all Confederate flag items on sale throughout the federal park system.

The action, announced Thursday in the aftermath of the shootings of nine African Americans in Charleston, S.C., applies to merchandise in bookstores and gift shops, said Jonathan B. Jarvis, park service director.

"We strive to tell the complete story of America," Jarvis said. "All sales items in parks are evaluated based on educational value and their connection to the park. Any stand-alone depictions of Confederate flags have no place in park stores."

No Confederate flag items are for sale at Philadelphia's Independence National Historical Park, park spokeswoman Jane Cowley said.

Park concessions are run by Eastern National Inc., which carried some Confederate flag items during the period of the Civil War sesquicentennial celebration commemoration. But Eastern National never sold stand-alone flags at the park. For the most part, it carried relevant history texts with flag illustrations, she added.

"Our theme," said Cowley, "is the Revolutionary War."

Jarvis said the slayings of the nine church members at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston had sparked a reconsideration and discussion about symbols of the nation's past.

"As that discussion spread across the country," he said, "one of our largest cooperating associations, Eastern National, began to voluntarily remove from the park stores that it manages any items that depict a Confederate flag as its primary feature. I've asked other cooperating associations, partners and concession providers to withdraw from sale items that solely depict a Confederate flag."