Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has signed an order restoring the name of a storied special operations forces base in North Carolina back to Fort Bragg.

A Mississippi town has taken down a Confederate monument that stood since 1910.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F.

A Virginia school board has voted to restore the names of Confederate military leaders to a high school and an elementary school four years after the names had been removed.

Crews removed a Confederate monument from a Jacksonville, Florida, park following years of public controversy.

A Confederate memorial's days at Arlington National Cemetery are numbered.

The landmark Washington National Cathedral has unveiled new stained-glass windows with a theme of racial justice.

Civil rights groups are criticizing a concert series with Black performers dubbed “Soul Fest” that is being held at a Georgia park with a giant carving of Confederate leaders.

The Supreme Court says it won’t review North Carolina’s decision to stop issuing specialty license plates with the Confederate flag.

A Delaware man who threatened a Black police officer with a pole attached to a Confederate battle flag as he stormed the U.S. Capitol has been sentenced to three years in prison.

A street that honored a leader of the Ku Klux Klan in New York has a new name after a yearslong campaign led by high school students.

An official says work to remove the final city-owned Confederate monument from Richmond, Virginia, should start this week.

A commission created by Congress is recommending changes at West Point when it comes to commemorating Robert E.

Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano posed in a Confederate uniform for a faculty photo at the Army War College, three years before he retired from the U.S. Army.

An independent commission says renaming nine U.S. Army posts that commemorate Confederate officers would cost $21 million.

A federal judge has convicted a Confederate flag-toting man and his son of charges that they stormed the U.S. Capitol together to obstruct Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s electoral victory.

A bill that would allow state employees to take the Juneteenth holiday or any other day instead of Confederate Memorial Day has unanimously passed the South Carolina Senate.

The enormous pedestal where the Robert E.

Conservation experts in Virginia’s capital have pulled books, money, ammunition, documents and other artifacts from a time capsule found in the remnants of a pedestal that once held a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam says crews wrapping up the removal of a giant pedestal that once held a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E.

A rust-colored 1875 almanac, a cloth envelope and a silver coin have been found in a time capsule hidden beneath a towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E.

Crews working to remove the pedestal where a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has announced that his administration will remove an enormous pedestal that until earlier this year held a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E.

A Tennessee appeals court has granted a new trial for a Black man who was convicted of aggravated assault by an all-white jury that deliberated in a room containing Confederate symbols.

Washington National Cathedral says an artist renowned for his works depicting African American life will design new stained-glass windows with racial justice themes to replace ones with Confederate imagery.

A towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E.

The Supreme Court of Virginia has ruled unanimously that the iconic statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E.

A decades-long fight has been resolved in Tennessee, over the bust of a Confederate general and early Ku Klux Klan leader that stood in a place of honor inside the state's Capitol.

A Confederate monument that helped spark a violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, has been hoisted off its stone pedestal and hauled away to storage.

If a court clears the way, the state of Virginia will not just remove a soaring statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E.

Officials in a Virginia city have voted unanimously to remove two statues of Confederate generals, including one that was the focus of a violent white nationalist rally in 2017.

The Supreme Court of Virginia has heard arguments on whether the state has the right to take down a 131-year-old statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E.

The Supreme Court of Virginia is set to hear arguments in legal challenges to Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam's plan to take down a 131-year-old statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E.

A Confederate monument that was stolen and became the object of an odd ransom scheme is back in an Alabama cemetery where it once stood.

Police in Alabama have issued an arrest warrant for a man in connection with the bizarre theft of a Confederate monument that was taken from an Alabama cemetery and found in Louisiana.

On Thursday, April 1, 2021, Virginia's highest court ruled that the city of Charlottesville can take down this and another statue of a Confederate general. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)RICHMOND, Va. – Virginia's highest court ruled Thursday that the city of Charlottesville can take down two statues of Confederate generals, including one of Robert E. Lee that became the focus of a violent white nationalist rally in 2017. AdThe Jackson statue was erected in Jackson Park in 1921 and the Lee statue was erected in Lee Park in 1924. The state Supreme Court also ruled that the circuit court erred in ordering the city to pay $365,000 in plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees and costs. University of Virginia law Richard Schragger, who specializes in the intersection of constitutional law and local government law, said he took the position early in the litigation that the law didn’t apply to the Charlottesville statues.

Republicans in the Arizona Legislature are reacting to last year's wave of damage to Confederate monuments by civil rights protesters here and across the nation by working to make it a felony to damage or destroy any public or private monument or statue. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)PHOENIX – Republicans in the Arizona Legislature are reacting to last year's wave of damage to Confederate monuments by civil rights protesters here and across the nation by working to make it a felony to damage or destroy any public or private monument or statue. Rep. John Kavanagh supported his proposal at a Senate committee hearing Thursday by saying public monuments are a statement by the community that demand more protection. The proposal adds defacing a monument or statue to existing law that makes it a aggravated felony offense to deface a cemetery headstone or church. Scores of Confederate statues, monuments or markers were removed from public land across the country after Floyd’s death.

Both within and outside the walls of the Capitol, banners and symbols of white supremacy and anti-government extremism were displayed as an insurrectionist mob swarmed the U.S. Capitol. “These displays of white supremacy are not new,” said Lecia Brooks, chief of staff of the Southern Poverty Law Center. While not all the anti-government groups were explicitly white supremacist, Tuchman said many support white supremacist beliefs. “This is their new ‘Lost Cause' and a continuation of the original ‘Lost Cause,'” she said. Brooks said she worries the rampage at the Capitol and proliferation of white supremacist symbols will encourage similar actions at state capitals.

Members of the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol Honor Guard prepare to raise the new Mississippi State flag at the Capitol in Jackson, Monday, Jan. 11, 2021. Tate Reeves signed a law that created the new state flag with magnolia at the center, six months after the state retired the last state flag in the U.S. that included the Confederate battle emblem. The law retiring the old flag also specified that the commission's proposed new flag would go on the Nov. 3 ballot for a yes-or-no vote. The Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups have waved the Confederate battle flag for decades. A few dozen people demonstrated on the south steps of the Mississippi Capitol in support of reviving the old flag.

Transformed by leaving the virtually all-white town where she grew up, Dunston has been leading the demonstrations since August. “Everybody’s getting tired,” Marshall County Commission Chairman James Hutcheson said in an interview. Organizing through social media and word of mouth, Dunston decided to take on the Confederate monument. Travis Jackson, a Black Lives Matter activist who lives near Montgomery, said coming to protest in little Albertville is motivating. Counterprotesters are common, including an area Black man who supports the Confederate monument and rebel flag.

(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)WASHINGTON – The Democratic-controlled House voted overwhelmingly Monday to override President Donald Trump’s veto of a defense policy bill, setting the stage for what would be the first veto override of his presidency. House members voted 322-87 to override the veto, well above the two-thirds needed to override. Trump rejected the defense bill last week, saying it failed to limit social media companies he claims were biased against him during his failed reelection campaign. The veto override was supported by 212 Democrats, 109 Republicans and an independent. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in a rare break with Trump, had urged passage of the defense bill despite Trump’s veto threat.

The Pentagon has endorsed a new slate of initiatives to expand diversity within the ranks and reduce prejudice, including in recruiting, retention and professional development across the force. After extensive wrangling and debate, Esper this summer issued a directive that banned the display of the Confederate flag, without mentioning the word “ban” or that specific flag. Confederate flags, monuments and military base names became a national flashpoint in the weeks after Floyd's death. Ten major Army installations are named for Confederate Army officers, mostly senior generals, including Robert E. Lee. Among the 10 is Fort Benning, the namesake of Confederate Army Gen. Henry L. Benning, who was a leader of Georgia’s secessionist movement and an advocate of preserving slavery.

Republicans are vowing they will not send the broader bill to Trump if it includes language requiring bases named after Confederate officers to be renamed. “It's Senate language that we want to agree to," said House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash. “So there shouldn't be controversy here." “Look, the defense bill is really important," Smith said, expressing hope that Republicans would relent. Both the House and Senate defense measures passed by veto-proof margins but GOP leaders want to avoid the chances of a veto coming to pass. The Associated Press erroneously reported that failure to pass the legislation could hold up a pay raise for the military.

The magnolia flower centered banner chosen Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2020 by the Mississippi State Flag Commission flies outside the Old State Capitol Museum in downtown Jackson, Miss. – Mississippi will fly a new state flag with a magnolia and the phrase “In God We Trust,” with voters approving the design Tuesday. It replaces a Confederate-themed flag state lawmakers retired months ago as part of the national reckoning over racial injustice. The final push for changing the Mississippi flag came from business, education, religious and sports groups — including, notably, the Mississippi Baptist Convention and the Southeastern Conference. Separately, supporters of the old Mississippi flag are starting an initiative that could revive the old flag by putting the Confederate-themed banner and some other designs up for a statewide vote.

FILE - In this Tuesday, June 30, 2020 file photo, Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration employees Willie Townsend, left, and Joe Brown, attach a Mississippi state flag to the harness before raising it over the Capitol grounds in Jackson, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)The Black Lives Matter movement isn’t named in any of the 120 statewide ballot measures up for a vote on Nov. 3. But this year's nationwide protests over police brutality and racial injustice are major factors in the campaigns in several states for measures with distinctive racial themes. In Mississippi and Rhode Island, Black supporters of the ballot measures hope this year’s nationwide spotlight on racial injustice will bring a different outcome than when similar proposals were on the ballot previously. In Utah, the slavery measure’s lead sponsor was Rep. Sandra Hollins, the only Black person now serving in the Legislature.

In a state where Confederate monuments have stood for more than a century and have recently become a flashpoint in the national debate over racial injustice, Virginians remain about evenly divided on whether the statues should stay or go, according to a new poll. The poll conducted this month by Hampton University and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 46% support removal of Confederate statues and 42% oppose removal. The poll conducted this month by Hampton University and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 46% support removal of Confederate statues and 42% oppose removal. The 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville that left a counterprotester dead had its origins in a city debate over whether to remove Confederate statues. On another topic, the poll found only about 1 in 4 Virginians support keeping schools in the state completely closed to in-person learning.

PORTSMOUTH, Va. The police chief in Portsmouth, Virginia, is on paid leave nearly three weeks after her department charged a state senator and several others from the city's Black community with conspiring to a damage a Confederate monument. City spokeswoman Dana Woodson confirmed in an email on Friday that Chief Angela Greene is on leave and that an assistant police chief will assume her duties in the meantime. Allies of State Sen. Louise Lucas in Richmond have called the felony charges against her legally weak and political. The case is based on words that police say Lucas spoke in the hours before protesters ripped heads off Confederate statues and pulled one down, critically injuring a demonstrator. Greene became Portsmouth's police chief in 2019 after chief Tonya Chapman resigned.

But Democratic Rep. Don Beyer, whose district is home to Arlington House, said it's time that Lee's name be stripped. Beyer's plans for legislation comes as descendants of a family enslaved at Arlington House have been lobbying for a name change. Surrounding the mansion is Arlington National Cemetery, which draws nearly 4 million visitors a year. Craig Syphax of Arlington is one of the descendants of Arlington House slaves who requested Beyer take action. He said learning his family history in his adult years helped give him a new outlook on life.

RICHMOND, Va. A judge heard arguments Tuesday but did not immediately rule on whether to dismiss a lawsuit challenging Virginia Gov. Ralph Northams plans to remove an enormous statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee along Richmonds famed Monument Avenue. An injunction currently prevents Northams administration from moving forward with plans to take down the bronze equestrian statue of Lee. Now cloaked in graffiti, the Lee statue and other nearby monuments have become a rallying point during ongoing social justice protests and occasional clashes with police. Critics of the statues say they distastefully glorify people who fought to preserve slavery in the South.

John Guess Jr., CEO Emeritus of the Houston Museum of African American Culture, talks about the bronze statue "The Spirit of The Confederacy" on display at the museum, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020, in Houston. The statue, which has been in storage following its removal, arrived at the Houston Museum of African American Culture on Monday. Guess said he believes the museum is the first African American institution in the country to house a Confederate monument. Museum officials say people will be able to see the statue up close from the courtyard at a later date. The statue sits facing a collection of eye sculptures by Bert Long Jr., a Black Houston artist.

Magnolias, stars, a Gulf Coast lighthouse, a teddy bear, and even Kermit the Frog appear on some of the over 1,800 proposals submitted by the general public for a new Mississippi flag and posted Monday, Aug. 3, 2020, on the Mississippi Department of Archives and History web site. The state recently retired the last state banner with the Confederate battle emblem that's widely condemned as racist and a nine-member commission will design a replacement that cannot include the Confederate symbol and must have the phrase, "In God We Trust." (Mississippi Department of Archives and History, via AP)

The group has the duty to design a new Mississippi flag without the Confederate battle emblem and the banner must include the phrase, "In God We Trust." The new Mississippi state flag will not include beer cans, crawfish, a caramel cake, Elvis or Kermit the Frog. All eight of Mississippis public universities and a growing number of cities and counties stopped flying the state flag in recent years. Within weeks, leaders from business, religion and education were lobbying Mississippi legislators to ditch the flag and replace it with a more inclusive design. The NCAA said that because of the Confederate symbol on the flag, Mississippi could not host events determined by teams performances, which would affect sports such as baseball, womens basketball and softball.

Forty-nine GOP senators voted for the defense bill that includes the base-renaming, while just four Republicans voted against it. The aide steered a reporter to a statement McConnell made on the Senate floor praising the defense bill and its strong bipartisan support. There are 10 Army posts named for Confederate military leaders, including Fort Hood in Texas, Fort Benning in Georgia, Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Forts Robert E. Lee and A.P. The House bill would require the base names to be changed within a year, while the Senate would give the military three years to rename them. The Senates top Democrat, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, has dared Trump to veto the defense bill over Confederate base names.

WASHINGTON The White House is threatening to veto a massive defense policy bill over a provision that would rename military bases such as Fort Bragg that are named after Confederate officers. The House approved the bill, 295-125, sending it to the Senate, where lawmakers are considering a similar measure. If the bill were presented to President Donald Trump in its current form, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto it, the White House said. The Senate's top Democrat, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, dared Trump to veto the defense bill over Confederate base naming. It also requires designation of an assistant secretary of defense for industrial base policy, charged with supervising Pentagon policies to develop and maintain the nation's defense industrial base.

(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)Democratic lawmakers and others urged official removal of Confederate monuments at the center of a politically fraught national debate, saying Tuesday that slow action was leading protesters to try to topple statues of defenders of slavery themselves. A descendant of Confederate military commander Robert E. Lee was among those joining Black historians at a hearing of the House subcommittee on national parks, forests and public lands to urge passage of legislation addressing Confederate statues at national parks and other federal sites. One of the bills would remove a statue of Lee erected this century at the battlefield of Antietam, the site of the deadliest day of fighting in the Civil War. Robert W. Lee IV, a descendant of the Souths military leader in the Civil War, cited his forebears testimony before Congress after the Civil War as evidence of the Confederate leader's unfitness for commemorative monuments. Trump increasingly has come out in defense of the Confederate statues and other historical tributes to the Civil Wars defeated side.

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)WASHINGTON After weeks of wrangling, the Pentagon on Friday will ban displays of the Confederate flag on military installations, in a carefully worded policy that doesn't mention the word ban or that specific flag. Confederate flags, monuments and military base names have become a national flashpoint in the weeks since the death of George Floyd. Trump has flatly rejected any notion of changing base names, and has defended the flying of the Confederate flag, saying its a freedom of speech issue. The Marine Corps has already banned the Confederate flag. Gen. David Berger, the commandant of the Marine Corps, directed his commanders in early June to remove public displays of the Confederate battle flag.

A Black Lives Matter billboard is seen next to a Confederate flag in Pittsboro, N.C., Thursday, July 16, 2020. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)A Black Lives Matter sign now fills a billboard next to a big Confederate flag that greets people coming into a small town outside Raleigh, thrilling some community organizers and angering the property owner. Friends called and asked if they could put a Confederate flag on my property," White said. He says they did it because the county commissioners had removed the Confederate statue.White has leased the billboard to Lamar Advertising, which sent representatives to notify him before putting up the Black Lives Matter sign on it. They wanted to know how I would react to it, and I told them I would not want a Black Lives Matter sign on that billboard, he said.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper discussed the new plan with senior leaders this week, triggering some bewilderment over the lack of an appetite for a straight-forward ban on divisive symbols. The Marine Corp has already banned the Confederate flag saying it can inflame division and weaken unit cohesion. The Confederate flag is not among them - thus barring its display without singling it out in a ban.Acceptable flags would include the U.S. and state banners and the widely displayed POW/MIA flag. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy told reporters on Thursday that he is still working on a policy that would remove all divisive symbols from Army installations. Trump has flatly rejected any notion of changing base names, and has defended the flying of the Confederate flag, saying its a freedom of speech issue.

BRISTOL, Tenn. Fans are trickling into Bristol Motor Speedway for Wednesday nights All-Star race in NASCARs largest event with spectators since the coronavirus pandemic shut sports down in March. They were greeted by a plane flying over the Tennessee track that was pulling a banner of the Confederate flag, which NASCAR has banned from its races. Crowd estimates for that event have been around 10,000 spectators, but the NASCAR race would likely be the largest sporting event in the United States since March. President Donald Trump has criticized NASCAR for banning the Confederate flag, blaming the decision for the sport's low ratings, although TV ratings for NASCAR have been up since racing resumed. The one flying over Bristol Motor Speedway listed only the group's website address.

WASHINGTON Defense Secretary Mark Esper took steps Wednesday to expand diversity within the military and reduce prejudice, but he skirted several major decisions, including whether to ban the Confederate flag at defense installations. President Donald Trump has flatly rejected any notion of changing base names, and has defended the flying of the Confederate flag, saying its a freedom of speech issue. The Marine Corps and U.S. commands in Korea and Japan have already banned display of the Confederate flag, saying it can inflame division and weaken unit cohesion. For example, he ordered the military to no longer include photos of service members when they are being considered by a promotion board. He also ordered a review of hairstyle and grooming policies, which all the military services have done multiple times in recent years.

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump bristled Tuesday at a reporter's question about police killing African Americans and defended the right to display the Confederate flag as he continued to play into racial divisions in a pair of interviews. In one interview, Trump seemed taken aback when asked why African Americans are still dying at the hands of police. So are white people," Trump told CBS's Catherine Herridge. In the interview, Trump also defended the use of the Confederate flag, despite saying in 2015 that he believed the flag belongs in a museum. My attitude is freedom of speech," Trump responded.

FILE - In this Feb. 23, 2019 file photo a Confederate soldier monument stands at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss. A Confederate monument thats been a divisive symbol at the University of Mississippi was being removed Tuesday from a prominent spot on the Oxford campus. Its not going to create a shrine to the Confederacy, University of Mississippi Chancellor Glenn Boyce told The Associated Press on June 24 at the state Capitol. Since 2016, the university has installed plaques to provide historical context about the Confederate monument and about slaves who built some campus buildings before the Civil War. A plaque installed at the base of the Confederate statue says such monuments were built across the South decades after the Civil War, at a time that aging Confederate veterans were dying.

RICHMOND, Va. Work crews were back at work Thursday removing Confederate monuments from Virginia's capital city, a process that began last week after Mayor Levar Stoney ordered all city-owned Confederate statues cleared away amid weeks of protests over police brutality and racism. Crews returned to the site of a monument honoring Confederate naval commander and scientist Matthew Fontaine Maury. The Maury statue was unveiled in 1929 the last of five Confederate statues erected on Richmonds Monument Avenue. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that a Confederate heritage group wants to display the statues on private property. Richmonds largest statue left standing is on state land the massive monument to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

Activists and towns in the U.S. are left wondering what to do with empty spaces that once honored historic figures tied to racism as statues and monuments fell in June 2020. They also are debating how to remember civil rights figures and events in areas where they have been forgotten. Some advocates say monuments to the late U.S. Rep. Barbara Jordan or Mexican American civil rights leader Dolores Huerta should replace the fallen statues. Rob W. Lee, a senior pastor of Unifour Church in Newton, North Carolina, and a descendant of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, who now speaks out against Confederate monuments. Lee said he sees the toppling of Confederate statues with Black Lives Matter graffiti as a move to reclaim Black lives from white supremacy.

EDS NOTE: OBSCENITY - The statue of Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart is covered in graffiti on Monument Avenue, Monday, July 6, 2020, in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)RICHMOND, Va. Work crews have begun taking down an enormous monument to Confederate Gen. J.E.B. The Stuart monument is one of several targeted by protesters in Richmond since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25 prompted nationwide demonstrations. The Stuart statue has been the last major statue left, other than a massive statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee that's located on state land.

Exploiting racial tensions, Trump wrongly accused Bubba Wallace of perpetrating a hoax after one of his crew members discovered a rope shaped like a noose in a garage stall they had been assigned to. He has worn a shirt saying I Cant Breathe," raced with a Black Lives Matter paint scheme in Virginia and successfully lobbied for NASCAR's Confederate flag ban. For more than 70 years, the flag was a common and complicated sight at NASCAR races. The series first tried to ban the Confederate flag five years ago but did nothing to enforce the order. While Trump claimed NASCAR's ratings are down, they are actually up.

(AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)RICHMOND, Va. Just a little over a month ago, the area around Richmond's iconic statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was as quiet and sedate as the statue itself. Clashes between police and protesters gathered near the statue have become a regular occurrence. The statue is located on Richmonds Monument Avenue, a boulevard of stately homes that also features several other Confederate monuments targeted for removal. At the Lee statue, a new vibe has emerged alongside the raucous atmosphere of protests, one that is more reminiscent of the hippie love and peace festivals of the 1960s. A group of civilian volunteers armed with handguns and rifles has been patrolling the area near the statue to keep protesters safe.

File-This June 25, 2020, file photo shows a Mississippi state flag flying outside the Capitol in Jackson, Miss. Tate Reeves has said he will sign the bill, and the state flag would lose its official status as soon as he signs the measure. Mississippi officials are holding a ceremony Wednesday afternoon to relegate the former state flag to history, a day after Republican Gov. Mississippi faced increasing pressure in recent weeks to change its 126-year-old flag since protests against racial injustice have focused attention on Confederate symbols. The Museum of Mississippi History, near the Capitol, will establish an exhibit about the retired flag.

Tate Reeves will sign a bill Tuesday evening to retire the last state flag in the U.S. that includes the Confederate battle emblem. As soon as the Republican governor signs the bill, the flag will lose its official status. Mississippi has come under increasing pressure to change its flag since protests against racial injustice have focused attention on Confederate symbols. The state flag has been a source of division for generations. Mississippi voters chose to keep the flag in a 2001 statewide election, with supporters saying they see it as a symbol of heritage.

Mississippi is retiring the last state flag in the U.S. that includes the Confederate battle emblem. Mississippi's was the last state flag to include the design. Make no mistake: The Confederate flag isn't anywhere close to being gone from the South. But even Castello is surprised by how demonstrations over police brutality became a wave that seems to be washing over generations of adoration for the Confederate battle flag by some. To some, the Confederate battle flag with its red background, blue X and white stars is a down-home symbol of Southern heritage and pride.

"I love this flag," states David Flynt of Hattiesburg, while standing outside the state Capitol with other current Mississippi flag supporters in Jackson, Miss., Sunday, June 28, 2020. Lawmakers in both chambers are expected to debate state flag change legislation today. An increasing number of cities and all Mississippis public universities have taken down the state flag in recent years. Many people who wanted to keep the emblem on the Mississippi flag said they see it as a symbol of heritage. William Winter, who is now 97, served on then-President Bill Clintons national advisory board on race in the 1990s and was chairman of the Mississippi flag commission in 2000.

Larry Eubanks of Star waves the current Mississippi state flag as he sits before the front of the Capitol, Saturday, June 27, 2020, in Jackson, Miss. While a supporter of the current flag, Eubanks says he would hope lawmakers would allow a proposed flag change to be decided by the registered voters. Mississippi is on the verge of changing its state flag to erase a Confederate battle emblem that's broadly condemned as racist. Mississippi has the last state flag with the Confederate battle emblem a red field topped by a blue X with 13 white stars. White supremacists in the Mississippi Legislature set the state flag design in 1894 during backlash to the political power that African Americans gained after the Civil War.

A Mississippi state flag flies outside the Capitol in Jackson, Miss., Thursday, June 25, 2020. Athletic coaches and their staffs from the state's public universities held a joint news conference and called for a change in the Mississippi state flag. Dan Hartness of Ellisville, Mississippi, walked outside the Capitol carrying a pole that had both the American flag and the current Mississippi flag. He said the current state flag pays tribute to those who fought in the Civil War. Mississippi has the last state flag that includes the Confederate battle emblem a red field topped by a blue X with 13 white stars.

WASHINGTON The Army will take a few limited steps to counter racial divisiveness among its force, but is delaying a number of more contentious decisions, including recommendations on banning Confederate symbols and changing the names of bases. Trump two weeks ago said his administration will not even consider changing the name of any of the 10 Army bases that are names for Confederate Army officers. The Senate's top Republican, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has said he would be OK with renaming bases. McCarthy and Esper both had indicated this month that they were open to discussions about renaming bases, but are now relying on Congress. The Navy, which had begun steps to direct the removal of Confederate symbols, has not finalized or put in place the plan.

Isiac Jackson calls for a change in the Mississippi state flag, Thursday, June 25, 2020, during a news conference at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss. The current flag has in the canton portion of the banner the design of the Civil War-era Confederate battle flag, that has been the center of a long-simmering debate about its removal or replacement. Well, the Klan used the Stars and Stripes more than it used the battle flag. The announcement came a day after the Southeastern Conference made a similar declaration aimed at the Mississippi state flag. Speaking to Mississippi legislators facing a decision about the flag, Buckley said: Youve been given the right crisis needed to do this.

In this April 25, 2020 photograph, a small Mississippi state flag is held by a participant during a drive-by "re-open Mississippi" protest past the Governor's Mansion, in the background, in Jackson, Miss. This current flag has in the canton portion of the banner the design of the Civil War-era Confederate battle flag, that has been the center of a long-simmering debate about its removal or replacement. Mississippi has the only state flag that includes the Confederate battle emblem a red field topped by a blue X with 13 white stars. In my mind, our flag should bear the Seal of the Great State of Mississippi and state In God We Trust, Hosemann said. Walmart announced Tuesday that it would stop displaying the Mississippi flag because of the Confederate emblem.

There is a growing movement to replace the current state flag that has in the canton portion of the flag the design of the Civil War-era Confederate battle flag. The Confederate-themed Mississippi flag drew opposition Tuesday from two big forces in the culturally conservative state: Southern Baptists and Walmart. Walmart said it will stop displaying the Mississippi flag while the state debates whether to change the design. Ronnie Musgrove, a Democrat, appointed a 17-member commission to study flag design in 2000 and to make recommendations to the Legislature. All of Mississippi's public universities stopped flying the state flag years ago because of the Confederate symbol.

Sundays work follows the removal of two other Confederate statues on the state Capitol grounds in Raleigh on Saturday. Cooper ordered the statues removed after protesters toppled two other Confederate statues Friday night, stringing one up by the neck and hanging it from a light pole. Cooper has advocated the statues removal for years. In another case in California, symbols of the Black Lives Matter movement have been targeted in recent weeks with vandalism. The Ventura County Sheriffs Office said late Saturday that a tarp painted with the letters BLM has been repeatedly damaged in Thousand Oaks.

The Confederate flags were harder to find, too except for a plane circling above the track with the message Defund NASCAR trailing behind the flag. Only 5,000 fans were allowed in because of the coronavirus pandemic, with up to 44 RVs and the Confederate flags that once flew openly around the infield and stands are now banned. NASCAR hasn't disclosed how it will handle fans flying flags. A pickup truck with Confederate flags flying from the back tooled around Speedway Boulevard. He applauded NASCAR's decision to ban the Confederate flags.

The San Francisco protesters targeted Grant, who led the Union Army during the Civil War, and Key because they had once owned slaves. San Francisco Police spokesman Officer Adam Lobsinger said Saturday officers responded to the park but didn't intervene. The Washington, D.C. protesters took down the 11-foot (3.4-meter) statue of Albert Pike, the only statue of a Confederate general. But after the officers cleared the area, protesters mounted the obelisk and were able to take down the statues. ___Associated Press writers Lisa Baum in Seattle and Ashraf Khalil and Ashley Thomas in Washington, D.C., contributed to this story.

President Donald Trump quickly tweeted about the toppling, calling out D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and writing: The DC police are not doing their job as they watched a statue be ripped down and burn. After the statue fell, most protesters returned peacefully to Lafayette Park near the White House. The Pike statue has been a source of controversy over the years. The former Confederate general was also a longtime influential leader of the Freemasons, who revere Pike and who paid for the statue. Ever since 1992, members of the DC Council have been calling on the federal govt to remove the statue of Confederate Albert Pike (a federal memorial on federal land).

Workers remove a Confederate monument with a crane Thursday, June 18, 2020, in Decatur, Ga. The 30-foot obelisk in Decatur Square, erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1908, was ordered by a judge to be removed and placed into storage indefinitely. The stone obelisk was lifted from its base with straps amid jeers and chants of “Just drop it!” from onlookers in Decatur, Georgia, who were kept a safe distance by sheriff’s deputies. DeKalb County Judge Clarence Seeliger agreed, and ordered the 30-foot (9-meter) obelisk in Decatur Square to be removed by midnight June 26 and placed in storage indefinitely. DeKalb County spent several years trying to rid itself of the Lost Cause monument erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1908.

(Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)The NCAA is expanding its policy banning states with prominent Confederate symbols from hosting its championship events. The current ban, in place since 2001, prevents states from hosting what the NCAA calls predetermined championship sites, such as mens basketball tournament games. Mississippi is the only state currently affected by the policy. The expanded policy means that even when sites of NCAA events are determined by performance, as they are in sports such as baseball, womens basketball and lacrosse, Mississippi schools will not be permitted to host.

Statues that have stood for years -- and in some cases, decades -- have been top of mind all across the country as protests take place following the deaths of George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks.

(AP Photo/Steve Helber)RICHMOND, Va. A judge on Thursday indefinitely extended an injunction preventing the Virginia governor from removing a historic statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from Richmonds famed Monument Avenue. The 12-ton (11 metric-ton), 21-foot-tall (6.4-meter-tall) statue has stood in a prominent spot along Monument Avenue since 1890. The Lee statue in Richmond has become a rallying point for demonstrators during more than two weeks of protests. The Lee statue is one of five Confederate monuments along Monument Avenue, a National Historic Landmark district. The Lee statue is on state property.

He also left behind pictures of himself holding the gun used in the killings, posing at historic Civil War and African American sites and holding the Confederate flag. Outraged political leaders came together and overwhelmingly voted to take down a Confederate flag that flew near a monument to Confederate soldiers on the Statehouse lawn. The law protects all historical monuments and names of buildings, requiring a two-thirds vote from the state General Assembly to make any changes. The president of the University of South Carolina wants lawmakers to let the school remove the name of J. Marion Sims from a women's dorm. The time has come to take down the monuments that honor the evil that was done in the name of Charleston, in the name of South Carolina," Rivers said Tuesday at the foot of Calhoun's statue.

RICHMOND, Va. Demonstrators in Richmond tore down another Confederate statue in the city Tuesday night, news outlets reported. The paint-splattered statue was seen face down on the ground as the rain continued overnight in Virginias capital city, according to a video from the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Statues of Confederate president Jefferson Davis and Confederate Gen. Williams Carter Wickham as well as a Christopher Columbus were toppled by demonstrators in recent weeks. Protesters in Richmond started their march Tuesday night advocating for the removal of all Confederate statues, establishing a civilian review board over police actions and defunding the police, among other things, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. Before its toppling, the Howitzers Monument showed a Confederate artilleryman standing in front of a gun.

The six plaintiffs had initially filed a state lawsuit in Richmond Circuit Court on Monday, but Attorney General Mark Herring moved it to federal court. In response, the plaintiffs dropped the lawsuit altogether on Thursday and filed a new, similar suit again in the state court, said Attorney Patrick McSweeney. Northam announced earlier this month that the statue would be taken down and moved to storage while his administration seeks public input on its future. Herring, a Democrat like Northam, has pledged to defend Northams plans, calling the Lee statue a divisive relic.The statue is one of five memorials to the Confederacy along Monument Avenue, and the only one on state property. A hearing is scheduled Thursday in Richmond Circuit Court in a separate state lawsuit over the Lee statue removal plans.

(AP Photo/Chris Seward, File)WASHINGTON Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell said Thursday hes OK with renaming military bases such as Ft. Bragg that are named after Confederate Army officers, declining to side with President Donald Trump and other Republicans opposed to the move. Trump has blasted the calls to rename the military bases. A GOP-controlled Senate panel voted last week to require bases such as Ft. Bragg and Ft. Similarly, top House Republican Kevin McCarthy of California said last week after repeated prodding that he doesn't oppose the idea. If it's appropriate to take another look at these names I'm OK with that, McConnell said.

Young activists like Brown are energizing the debate about removing the Confederate battle emblem from the Mississippi state flag. The mere mention of removing the Confederate emblem from the Mississippi flag stirs anger in its defenders, who tell people to leave the state if they dont like it. Mississippi has used the Confederate emblem in its flag since 1894, when white supremacists in state government adopted it after Reconstruction. Brown, who was born several months after the 2001 Mississippi flag election, said she has little patience for the governors position. All eight of Mississippis public universities stopped flying the state flag years ago because of the Confederate symbol.

Workers prepare to remove the Jefferson Davis statue from the Kentucky state Capitol in Frankfort, Ky., on Saturday, June 13, 2020. A Kentucky commission voted to take down a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis from the state Capitol. (Ryan C. Hermens/Lexington Herald-Leader via AP)FRANKFORT, Ky. Having led the push to take down a statue of Jefferson Davis from the Kentucky Capitol, the state's governor had a ceremonial role Saturday in its removal from the place it stood for decades. The panels vote came two days after another Davis statue was toppled by protesters in Virginia. The commission called for the statue to be moved to the Jefferson Davis Historic Site, where Davis was born.

Well try to do that the right way, NASCAR executive vice president Steve ODonnell told SiriusXM on Thursday. It was really cool to see what Bubba was able to do, 2018 NASCAR champion Joey Logano said. And now comes the publicity surrounding the flag ban. As far as the optics, NASCAR didnt have a choice, NASCAR historian Dan Pierce said. But the cynical person in me, especially when youre dealing with NASCAR, is, did they get the OK from their sponsors ahead of time or from NASCAR?

FILE - In this Jan. 4, 2020, file photo a sign for at Fort Bragg, N.C., is shown. (AP Photo/Chris Seward, File)WASHINGTON The U.S. military is rethinking its traditional connection to Confederate Army symbols, mindful of their divisiveness at a time the nation is wrestling with questions of race after the death of George Floyd in police hands. The Army and Air Force have not yet followed Berger's lead, but a defense official said Tuesday that the issue of banning Confederate Army symbols is now under discussion at the highest levels of the Pentagon. Ten major Army installations are named for Confederate Army officers, mostly senior generals, including Robert E. Lee. Few voices in the military are openly defending the link to Confederate symbols, but some of the bases named for Confederate officers are legendary in their own right.

FILE - In this Sept. 5, 2015, file photo, a Confederate flag flies in the infield before a NASCAR Xfinity auto race at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, S.C. Bubba Wallace, the only African-American driver in the top tier of NASCAR, calls for a ban on the Confederate flag in the sport that is deeply rooted in the South. (AP Photo/Terry Renna, File)NASCAR has banned the Confederate flag from its races and properties. NASCAR says Wednesday the Confederate flag runs contrary to our commitment to providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for all fans, our competitors and our industry.Bubba Wallace, NASCAR's lone black driver, called this week for the banishment of the Confederate flag and said there was no place for them in the sport. Former chairman Brian France in 2015 tried to ban the flying of Confederate flags at race tracks, a proposal too broad to enforce and one that angered NASCARs core Southern-based fan base. Wallace was set to drive a Chevrolet with a #BlackLivesMatter paint scheme.

FILE - In this Jan. 4, 2020, file photo a sign for at Fort Bragg, N.C., is shown. (AP Photo/Chris Seward, File)WASHINGTON The U.S. military is rethinking its traditional connection to Confederate Army symbols, mindful of their divisiveness at a time the nation is wrestling with questions of race after the death of George Floyd in police hands. The Army and Air Force have not yet followed Berger's lead, but a defense official said Tuesday that the issue of banning Confederate Army symbols is now under discussion at the highest levels of the Pentagon. Ten major Army installations are named for Confederate Army officers, mostly senior generals, including Robert E. Lee. Few voices in the military are openly defending the link to Confederate symbols, but some of the bases named for Confederate officers are legendary in their own right.

(AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)The familiar scene of Confederate flags waved by fans at NASCAR tracks could soon be a relic of racings good ol boy roots. No one should feel uncomfortable when they come to a NASCAR race. So it starts with Confederate flags. They have no place for them.NASCAR has been more open in recent times to the to eradication of the Confederate flag, though it stopped short Tuesday of making any final decision on its fate. NASCAR in 2015 asked fans to refrain from displaying the Confederate Flag at our facilities and NASCAR events.Not everyone obliged and fans staunchly defended their Confederate flags and raised them from their RVs.

EDS NOTE: OBSCENITY - An inspection crew from the Virginia Department of General Services inspect the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee on Monument Avenue Monday June. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)RICHMOND, Va. RICHMOND, Va.Workers for the state of Virginia inspected Richmond's huge statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee on Monday before its planned removal. Virginia's Department of General Services said in a statement that it plans to remove the statue of the Confederate general on a date to be determined, as soon as possible. In Richmond, the Lee statue is on state property. Police officers blocked off streets leading up to the traffic circle that surrounds the Lee statue around 7 a.m. Monday.

A rope had been tied around the Confederate statue, which has stood since 1891, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported, adding that someone urinated on the statue after it was pulled down. Confederate monuments are a major flashpoint in Virginia and elsewhere in the South. Those statues sit on city land, unlike the Lee statue, which is on state property. Thats when a new law goes into effect, which was signed earlier this year by Northam, that undoes an existing state law protecting Confederate monuments and instead lets local governments decide their fate. Wickhams statue stood in Monroe Park, about a mile away from the Lee statue and surrounded by the Virginia Commonwealth University campus.

In this photo taken with a drone, a large group of protesters gather around the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee on Monument Avenue near downtown Tuesday, June 2, 2020, in Richmond, Va. Ralph Northam is expected to announce plans Thursday for the removal of an iconic statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from Richmond's prominent Monument Avenue, a senior administration official told The Associated Press. Floyd's death has sparked outrage over issues of racism and police brutality and prompted a new wave of Confederate memorial removals. The Lee statue is one of five Confederate monuments along Monument Avenue in Richmond, the former capital of the Confederacy. It has been the target of vandalism during protests in recent days over Floyd's death.

Robert Walker poses for a photograph on the remains of a Confederate memorial that was removed overnight in Birmingham, Ala., on Tuesday, June 2, 2020. In Birmingham, where Rudolph lives, the graffiti-covered, pocked base of a massive Confederate monument was all that remained Tuesday after crews dismantled the towering obelisk and trucked it away in pieces overnight. And outside Tampa, Florida, a Sons of Confederate Veterans chapter lowered a huge Confederate battle flag that has long been flown in view of two interstate highways. Work to remove the monument began Monday, which was Alabama's holiday honoring Confederate President Jefferson Davis, who was sworn in Montgomery. There, on the same day, someone knocked over a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee outside a mostly black high school named for him.