Sales of the Confederate flag have soared since major retailers and flag makers announced this week they would not longer make or sell them.
The manufacture and sales ban of the flag came after lawmakers and civil rights groups called for the removal of the Confederate flag from the grounds of South Carolina State House, a week after the gunning down of nine black church members in Charleston.
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The Civil War-era flag is seen as an emblem of racism.
Dylann Roof, the 21-year-old white man charged with murder for the shooting last Wednesday, had posed with a Confederate flag in on-line photos he had posted with a racist manifesto. Usually at this time of year as people prepare for July 4th celebrations, the American flag is a big seller but the confederate flag controversy has made it the flag now in demand.
Dennis Criscuolo who has a flag store in Memphis said since the call for the banning of the flag, anything confederate related had been bought.
“The store is completely empty at this time. We have a waiting list that is literally pages and pages long for anything Confederate related,” he said.
Reggie Vanden of Valley Forge Flag, one of the country’s big flag manufacturers which have stopped making the flag said “It stands for slavery to a lot of people, to a lot of other people it’s civic pride. But the fact is, the two are very difficult to separate” .
Douglas McMillion the CEO of Walmart which along with Sears and Amazon have stopped selling the confederate flag said “We felt like this was the right thing to do”.
EBay has said the company is working towards blocking new listings for the Confederate Flag and notifying sellers to remove the flag sales from the website.
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