Associated Press
Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush wants voters to know he’s on the side of those calling for the Confederate flag to come down from public places.
He’s noting his decision to remove it from the Florida Capitol grounds in 2001 when he was governor.
The flag has become a flashpoint since a white gunman killed nine black churchgoers in Charleston, S.C.
Bush spoke Monday at a plant near Columbia, S.C. He said the Confederate battle flag has been a “racist symbol” in “recent, modern times,” though “not perhaps at the beginning.”
He backs South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley‘s proposal to lower the flag from in front of her state’s Capitol.
Bush says he brought up the flag earlier with black pastors and they were “appreciative” of his stance.
Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
