Confederate flag under fire after Charleston shooting

Many chilling images have emerged in the wake of the Charleston church shootings. Among them, a photo of the man police say was the shooter — Dylann Roof — sitting on a lawn, holding a Confederate battle flag.

Debate over the flag has bubbled over ever since.

In South Carolina, the Confederate flag flies at a monument near the state legislature, but Republican lawmakers have vowed to change the law so it can be removed.

Kerry Haynie is an associate professor of Political Science and African & African American Studies at Duke University. He believes that saying the Confederate flag is just a way to honour Southern heritage is incomplete because that Southern heritage includes the KKK, lynching, and slavery. We reached him in Durham, North Carolina.

Journalist and author Tony Horwitz travelled through the Southern US in the 1990s talking to people who saw the Confederacy as a noble cause. He turned that investigation into a book called "Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War". He joined us from West Tisbury, Massachusetts.

Note: we had planned to speak with Julie Hawkins, author and member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, as part of this segment but were unable to reach her.

What do you make of the debate around symbols of the Confederacy? Weigh in on Twitter @TheCurrentCBC, Facebook, or via email.

This segment was produced by The Current's Idella Sturino and Howard Goldenthal.

RELATED LINKS

How The South Lost The War But Won The Narrative - Tony Horwitz, Talking Points Memo

Todd Rutherford needed help. And then he saw the Confederate flag. - Washington Post

Calls to Drop Confederate Emblems Spread Nationwide - New York Times