Philadelphia, like so many large U.S. cities, suffers from racial division in its schools, its housing and its job market. The last thing Philadelphians or Americans–of any color–need is the dreaded Confederate battle flag, awful symbol of a time when whites treated blacks as property. And outside Philadelphia, in our suburbs and rural Pennsylvania countryside, the Confederate flag is flown, not as a sign of some mythical heritage, but as a message: Blacks Beware. This is wrong. Amazon can make a powerful stand against hate if they refuse to help market and profit from goods that broadcast racist messages.

Last week Dylann Roof -- a white supremacists from South Carolina -- murdered nine African-Americans in a historic black church in Charleston. In his “manifesto,” the domestic terrorist credits Earl Holt for helping to radicalize him against black people. Earl Holt is the president of the Council of Conservative Citizens (CofCC), a group that is regarded by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a leading authority on hate crimes, and as a white supremacist extremist organization that opposes “race mixing” as a religious affront and that vilifies blacks as an inferior race. Just recently it was revealed by the Guardian Newspaper that Republican Congressman Steve King from Iowa received donations from Earl Holt. Steve King has said a number of horrible things about immigrants and minorities over the last decade, and these statements have attracted a number of violent extremists to his campaign. Steve King must denounce Earl Holt, refund all of the money he has received from white supremacists, and pledge to never take money from such hateful people again.

To see a murderer use the Confederate flag as his symbol of hatred and to know that same symbol flies on our State House grounds is unacceptable. I am tired of the bigotry and hatred associated with that flag. No matter what the flag might have meant, the entire country now associates it with the sort of bigotry that just cost our state nine innocent lives. It is time for our politicians to do the honorable thing, to show their concern through actions! Think what a message of love that would send to our country about SC.

Our country needs to confront institutional racism and White privilege NOW. "And we will remain a staunch ally in the movement for Black lives—working to tear down racism in all its ugly manifestations and build a nation free of violence and oppression based on the color of one’s skin." (Anna Galland, Executive Director, Move0n.org, Civic Action)

Any standing reminder of our nation's racists past history is a constant group builder! Many people pass the confederate soldiers in New Orleans and recite that "the south will rise again." It is a constant reminder to the minority children growing up in New Orleans that there are individuals who think less of them; and, that they can never be equal in the minds of those people and their supporters. It is a daily irritant knowing that we support the cleaning and maintenance of these pieces of hate, while our children and friends go to other countries and knock down statues of so called enemies for, I think, similar reasons --- or why do we knock down their statues if they are meaningless?

I demanding to remove the Confederate flag from our state grounds.

This petition is meant to move the South Carolina legislature to action immediately. They state that they will not be in session to address this for seven months. We need to remove the flying of the Confederate flag from being flown on government property in South Carolina NOW, not in seven months.

Silence means complicity in the shooting massacre at Emmanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Please take time to contact our local state legislators and demand that this symbol of white supremacy be removed from the South Carolina State House Grounds.

Symbols of hate and racism on state and federal properties (other than in a historic context, such as a museum) give legitimacy to that hate and racism, as seen in Charleston, SC, recently. Neither the states, nor the federal government should be festering that hate by the display of any of these symbols.

My family had been effected by this issue. They had prosecuted my husband last year for a crime he did not commit it was dismissed in court. Now they are re prosecuting him for the same exact case that was dismissed. However all records disappear of him been in court twice last year. Then they arrested me on something they said somebody said I did they say I hit someone with a rock. I was not even in the area at the time. They have no physical evidence such as pictures hospital records the rock nothing just a statement. They aressted me in front of my 3 year old son. While I was going to court to testify against the man who stabbed my husband. After doing research this is a common problem in Antelope Valley. They are been investigated by the ACLU the NAACP but its not enough because it's still happening to people everyday. They need to be STOPED. They need to be forced to conduct legal and full accurate investigations and prosecution. They need someone to look into all of their judges and district attorney convictions and look for errors. The police department need to be watched they plant evidence and cohearse witnesses to lie. A full investigation need to be done on the court and both police departments.

I'm outraged that government entities continue to display the confederate flag--an overt symbol of racism. Start with South Carolina! This must stop now and the only way to stop something in America is to hit those responsible in the pocket book.