Symbols of hate and division have no place in our government. It's time to stand up for what's right and remove the Confederate flag from all Georgia license plates. The Confederate flag is not a symbol of Southern pride. The flag is, instead, a symbol of rebellion and racism. Following the brutal killing of nine black people in a South Carolina church by a racist terrorist, it's time to put that symbol of rebellion and racism behind us and move toward healing. Remove the flag from Georgia's license plates.

Racism is still alive and well in America. Maybe not always in large outward expressions but constantly in small micro-aggressions and subtle forms of bias and prejudice. Confederate flags flying in the United States of America are just another way to do so and remind African Americans of the brutality we've experienced in this country. This should not be happening in 2015!

In light of the recent attack in South Carolina it's time to call for an end to the celebration of these holidays. We must begin to acknowledge the festering wound of racism left by our past. A start to that process is to stop celebrating the Confederacy, a racist, hateful, treasonous regime that caused immense suffering in the state of Alabama. If the state would like to continue giving their employees as many paid days off there are countless individuals from Alabama history to celebrate.

If Georgia is to be true to its intention to be a hub for economic prosperity and an icon for future development, it must cut with its adulation for some of the darkest days in this state's history. From this state men died, and within its borders lives were destroyed, but the casualties cannot be our veil of ignorance, but instead be our reason to find clarity. Confederate Heritage and History Month and Confederate Memorial Day are grossly incompatible with any mission in which Georgia seeks to present itself as a diverse, understanding, inclusive, and respectful environment.

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.