#CharlestonShooting ignites Confederate flag controversy

Wednesday’s killing of nine people at an historic African American Church in the US city of Charleston, SC triggered a debate on one of the state’s prominent symbols. The attack by captured white suspect Dylann Roof, which appears to be racially motivated and labeled a “hate crime“, led South Carolina governor Nikki Haley to order the state’s flags to fly at half-staff. One of the flags that flies outside the state capitol is the controversial Confederate flag, which originally belonged to the forces that fought against the abolition of slavery during the US civil war in the 1860s.

 

In addition to hashtags like #CharlestonShooting and #BlackLivesMatter, netizens also trended “confederate flag”, with more than 40,000 mentions so far in less than a day, to bring attention to the controversy surrounding the flag’s continued acceptance as a symbol of the American south.