Gov. Carney on Confederate flags: ‘Take them down’

Delaware Gov. John Carney, D-Delaware says it’s time to stop flying Confederate flags on public property.

During an interview at a press conference this week, the Democrat addressed this weekend’s white supremacist rally in Virginia, and stated his opinion on Confederate flags.

“The Confederate flags flying across the south in different places, like Georgetown, misrepresent the history—they’ve been a way of rewriting history since Civil War times, and I think we ought to follow the lead of South Carolina and take them down,” Carney said.

Carney’s spokesman further clarified those comments by saying the governor believes the Confederate flag symbolizes the country’s history of racism and injustice, and would be inappropriate on public property. But, he said Delawareans have a right to display flags on their private property, even when they’re offensive to many people.

There is a Confederate monument in Georgetown outside a private museum, as well as private Confederate flags flying in southern Delaware.

Across the country, elected leaders are responding to the violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville—where a man allegedly rammed a vehicle into counter-protesters, killing one.

Carney spoke of his dismay over the rally, where marchers shouted racial and religious slurs.

“I think what happened in Charlottesville is awful, it’s completely un-American and unacceptable,” he said. “It just doesn’t belong in the United States. My heart goes out to the family of the young woman who was killed, and the others who were injured. It does show we need to work harder to create understanding among people, but that racism and hate has no place in society or in public discourse.”

The group leading the march said they were protesting the pending removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

Political leaders across the country have since called for the demolition of Confederate memorials in their hometowns.