Walmart to No Longer Display Mississippi State Flag in Stores

It’s kind of sad when Walmart is quicker to stop doing something that’s blatantly messed up before the actual government. The company has a tradition of flying the local state flag in front of its stores. That tradition will be suspended in the state of Mississippi.

CNN reports that the retailer will stop flying the Mississippi state flag in front of its stores due to it prominently featuring the Confederate battle flag. Nationwide, calls have only intensified for Confederate monuments to be taken down and for the Confederate flag to no longer be displayed. In Mississippi, there has been a bipartisan effort by legislators to change the state flag.

“We know the design of the Mississippi state flag is being discussed by various stakeholders. While the issue continues to be discussed, we’ve made the decision to remove the Mississippi state flag from display in its current form from our stores,” Walmart said in a statement released to CNN Business. The company also added that this decision falls in line with the policy it implemented in 2015 to no longer sell merchandise featuring the Confederate flag. The company has also committed to no longer selling the Mississippi state flag in its current state.

This is not the first time the Mississippi state flag has been banned in the state. Both the University of Mississippi and Mississippi State University no longer fly the flag. The city of Gulfport said last week that it would no longer fly the state flag due to the Confederate imagery.

This move comes following similar steps by NASCAR to ban the Confederate flag at its events. The United States Marines as well as the Navy have also banned the flag from their bases.