The U.S. Marine Corps on Friday issued detailed directives about removing and banning public displays of the Confederate battle flag at Marine installations — an order that extended to such items as mugs, posters and bumper stickers.
"Current events are a stark reminder that it is not enough for us to remove symbols that cause division — rather, we also must strive to eliminate division itself," the commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. David Berger, said in a statement Wednesday.
As protests across the United States have erupted over police brutality, pressure has grown on officials to remove monuments and flags seen as symbols of racism.
Dozens of statues were removed after a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017, and protesters demonstrating over the death of George Floyd, a black man who died May 25 in police custody in Minneapolis, are targeting some that remain.
In several states, anger has given way to damaging or defacing more than a dozen symbols of the Confederacy.
The Marine Corps said in a statement on Twitter that the Confederate battle flag had "all too often been co-opted by violent extremists and racist groups whose divisive beliefs have no place in our Corps."
"This presents a threat to our core values, unit cohesion, security, and good order and discipline," the statement said. "This must be addressed."
The move came after an announcement in April by Berger that the ban would be put in effect. At the time, however, it was not clear how it would be applied and whether it would extend to clothing and cars owned by Marines, for instance.
