Confederate flag sales increase in Valley stores amid national debate

While retail giants including Walmart, Amazon and eBay banned the sale of Confederate flags following the mass murder of black churchgoers in South Carolina, stores in the central San Joaquin Valley are selling out of such merchandise.

Military supply store owners around the Valley said they are either sold out or nearly out of Confederate flags, decals, patches and other products. The trend was initially reported by CBS47. Store owners said they will continue to carry the flag and are not worried about resupply.

Last week, a white gunman killed nine African Americans during a Bible study session at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina. Authorities have called it a racist attack. A website registered to the suspect, Dylan Storm Roof, was later discovered with 60 photos and a nearly 2,500-word white supremacist manifesto.

Some of the photos depict Roof posing with a Confederate flag, reigniting an old debate about its use and meaning. Opponents call it a symbol of hate, while supporters say it is a nod to the country’s history. A week after the deadly shooting, what started as calls to remove the flag from the South Carolina capitol spread into a nationwide movement.

On Tuesday, the South Carolina House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to debate removing the Confederate flag from Statehouse grounds. In Alabama, four flags were taken down from the capitol grounds Wednesday. Efforts to remove symbols of the Confederacy are underway in other states including Mississippi, Tennessee and Virginia.

Locally, Dennis Sirkin, owner of Drill Sergeants Military Supply and Biker Gear in Visalia said he had eight or so flags on the shelf two days ago. Those are sold and Sirkin just ordered another 24 flags.

He said the reason for the increase in sales is simple.

“It’s a natural reaction: Americans don’t like to be told they can’t.”

Sirkin, a U.S. Army veteran, said the Confederate flag has wrongly become a symbol of race issues and taking it away won’t solve anything.

“This is the United States and we have freedom of speech, freedom of expression,” he said. “I cannot account for the stupidity of others, but as a soldier I fought for their right to have that opinion.”

The 10 Confederate states, which united after Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, adopted three flags after seceding from the Union over slavery. The Confederate flag widely recognized today was actually the battle flag of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s army.

After the war, the flag became a mark of Southern pride and a remembrance of Confederate soldiers who died in battle. Later, the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups adopted it as a stamp of violence and racism.

Local history shows a strong connection to the slavery conflict. Many civic leaders in early Fresno and Madera counties were Civil War veterans, including Dr. Thomas Meux, a Confederate whose Victorian home is now a museum. Local historian Paul Vandor wrote in 1919, “military authorities kept a watchful eye on the region in the San Joaquin Valley which was believed to be a stronghold of Southern sympathizers.”

Levi Davies of Tops Military Supply in Clovis said the store had 20 or so flags last week and has since sold out. He said people are getting worried the flags will stop being sold and are stocking up. A representative of the Visalia Tops store said they had 15 flags on Tuesday and now have five.

Jim Long of G. I. Jim’s Military Surplus and Supply in Prather said he usually sells up to 10 Confederate flags every three months. He received 10 inquiries in the past week.

Long said he plans to continue selling the flags. Though major national flag manufacturers including Valley Forge Flag will no longer produce the Confederate flag, Long said he isn’t worried about supply because the flags he buys are made in China.

“There’s nothing wrong with the flag,” he said. “It’s part of our history. It has nothing to do with slavery or racism.”

Conversely, JePahl White, an organizer with Faith in Community, sees the the Confederate flag as a symbol of hatred, bigotry and white terrorism against black people.

“For those flag sales to be increasing in Fresno after nine people were murdered for simply being black is just telling of where we are as a city,” he said. “It’s a very sad time in Fresno for race relations.”

White said slavery wasn’t as long ago as some people think. His great grandmother’s brothers and father were slaves. Getting past the pain of slavery requires complete understanding and discussion, he said, and flying the Confederate flag doesn’t help.

“I’m actually embarrassed for Fresno,” White said. “Faith in Community has worked diligently over last two years to create an environment to have serious and heartfelt dialogue about race. To see something like this shows our efforts are in vain.”

This story was originally published June 25, 2015 at 6:04 PM with the headline "Confederate flag sales increase in Valley stores amid national debate."