Public displays of the Confederate battle flag, known as the Stars and Bars, has been banned at Marine bases around the globe, USA Today reported.
In response to a congressional hearing on the rise of extremism in the military, Marine Corps Commandant General David Berger ordered the removal of symbols of the Confederacy, including a ban on flying or displaying the Confederate flag.
Since 2015, symbols of the Confederacy have been gradually removed from many public spaces.
On the heels of a mass shooting in South Carolina in which the perpetrator, who had posed in pictures with Confederate flags and symbols of white supremacy and neo-Nazism, killed nine African-Americans, Walmart and Amazon started purging their stock of anything bearing the image of the Confederate flag.
Efforts to remove other symbols of the Confederacy increased in 2017 after a march by white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia left one woman dead.
Although the USMC ban took effect in February, two months later Gen. Berger issued a statement explaining his reasoning behind the ban.
In a letter addressed to his “fellow Marines,” Gen. Berger emphasized the need to build a unified fighting force and that the Confederate flag did not help with that.
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“I am focused solely on building a uniquely capable warfighting team whose members come from all walks of life and must learn to operate side-by-side,” he wrote. “This symbol has shown it has the power to inflame feelings of division. I cannot have that division inside our Corps.”
As Berger noted, many equate the Confederate flag with “Southern heritage.”
However, as he wrote, unit cohesion needs to come first.
“I am mindful that many people believe that flag to be a symbol of heritage or regional pride. But I am also mindful of the feelings of pain and rejection of those who inherited the cultural memory and present effects of the scourge of slavery in our country,” he wrote.
“We are a warfighting organization, an elite institution of warriors who depend on each other to win the tough battles. Anything that divides us, anything that threatens team cohesion must be addressed head-on.”
Berger added that it was not a decision he made lightly.
“Leaders must always act thoughtfully when enforcing these provisions because they directly impact a precious constitutional right — the right to free speech,” he wrote. He also noted that he wasn’t passing judgement on the flag’s meaning, but its effect on the troops under his command.
Despite the ban on symbols of the Confederacy, the Marine Corps will not be wiping out its legacy altogether.
At least 10 Army bases or installations bear the names of Confederate generals, and a spokesperson indicated that those names would not be changed, explaining that they had been given those names long ago “in the spirit of reconciliation.”
Read Gen. Berger’s whole statement here.
h/t: Business Insider , USA Today , Stars & Stripes
