Politics

Confederate Flag Sales Soar After South Carolina Church Shooting

Published

10 years ago

July 8, 2015

Small Confederate flags are displayed on a shelf at Arkansas Flag and Banner in Little Rock, Ark., Tuesday, June 23, 2015. Major retailers including Amazon, Sears, eBay and Etsy and Wal-Mart Stores Inc., are halting sales of the Confederate flag and related merchandise. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)

By Amen Oyiboke
Special to the NNPA from the Los Angeles Sentinel

Rising conversations about the origin and history of the Confederate flag continues to be a topic on America’s list of issues for discussion.

Last week companies such as Walmart, Amazon, Sears/Kmart, eBay, Etsy and Google Shopping made statements by pulling merchandise displaying the confederate flag from their stores. The catalyst for the change came after a brutal shooting that left nine people dead at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

21-year-old Dylann Roof, the gunman of the shooting, proudly displayed the Confederate flag in his social media posts as a statement to support racial separation. After the shooting, debates about the Confederate flag’s meaning and stance began to resurface.

Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina and a group of locally elected officials announced on June 22 that they supported the removal of the Confederate flag from state capitol grounds. Other Southern states, like Alabama have followed through with removing the Confederate flag from state capitol grounds.

For decades Confederate merchandise has been sold quietly in stores with little opposition from businesses and consumers.

“We have decided to prohibit Confederate flags and many items containing this image because we believe it has become a contemporary symbol of divisiveness and racism,” eBay said in a statement last week.

The flag was a symbol of the slave-holding South during the Civil War. The flag that is currently produced isn’t the original Confederate flag, instead it is the battle flag used by Confederate Army General Robert E. Lee. The army held their own views of rebellion against the union to keep slavery in place for economic prosperity. Soon white supremacy groups began to use the flags as symbols for racial segregation and cleansing.

Although companies have announced their decisions to discontinue items of Confederate memorabilia, flag sales continue to soar. Confederate flags made the top of Amazon’s Patio, Lawn & Garden category last week and some item purchases peaked by more than 5,000 percent.

Customers who buy the products may have different reasons, for instance some customers have reportedly bought Confederate flags to burn them, while others believe they are preserving history, according to an article published by the New York Times. Consumers voiced their purchases as a way to celebrate history.

Although there are many groups who would like to brush off America’s 500 year-long history with slavery, when the subject of Confederacy and its prevalence in memorabilia as a symbol of grace to Southerners is brought up its called “preserving history”.

This rhetoric does nothing more than make it seem as though the conception of preservation is only beneficial when it comes to the lives of descents that were not directly impacted by this country’s turbulent history. Symbols of slavery are rarely shown or addressed in mainstream history books. These symbols are also often absent from present discussions of America’s roots. Supporters of the Confederate flag say it’s preserving history and represents heritage of the South. Heritage should not produce a strong feeling of offense by people who fell under the oppression.

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Activism

Teachers’ Union Thanks Supt. Johnson-Trammell for Service to Schools and Community

“I speak for our Oakland community and the families OEA serves in thanking Supt. Johnson-Trammell for her service. With public schools and immigrant families under attack nationally from Trump and with budget challenges affecting many California school districts, these are tough times demanding the best of what we all have to offer,” said OEA President Kampala Taiz-Rancifer in a statement released Thursday.

Published

4 hours ago

April 27, 2025

Oakland Post

OEA President Kampala Taiz-Rancifer. Courtesy photo.

The union calls for a community-involvement in search for new superintendent

By Post Staff

While pointing out that Supt. Kayla Johnson-Trammell has been planning to resign for a while, the Oakland Education Association (OEA) thanked her for years of service to the schools and called for community involvement in the search for a new superintendent.

“While we disagreed strongly on a number of issues,” said Taiz-Rancifer, “Dr. Johnson-Trammell is a daughter of Oakland and a product of our public schools. We thank her for her service and wish her the best moving forward.”

She said the schools’ community was aware that the superintendent had been planning to leave well before this week’s announcement.

“The superintendent has spoken publicly throughout the year about her planned departure. In August 2024, the previous school board approved a renewed contract raising her compensation to over $600,000 per year and allowing her to step back from daily responsibilities beginning in the 2025-2026 school year,” said Taiz-Rancifer.

She said the teachers’ union has been raising concerns about the need for stability and financial transparency in the district. “For three of the last four years, the district projected major deficits, only to end with millions in reserve.” This year, she said, the district added $90 million to central office overhead expenses.

“Just last month, a majority of school board directors took action to cap expensive consultant costs and develop alternative budget proposals that align spending with community priorities to keep funding in classrooms,” she said.

Taiz-Rancifer said the union stands behind the leadership of Board President Jennifer Brouhard and Boardmembers Valarie Bachelor, Rachel Latta, and VanCedric Williams.

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Alameda County

OUSD Supt. Chief Kyla Johnson-Trammell to Step Down on July 1

The district’s progress under Johnson-Trammell’s leadership “provides a strong foundation for the transition and work ahead,” according to the joint statement. “The plan has always prioritized a smooth and thoughtful transition. A formal search for a permanent superintendent was (originally) scheduled to begin in fall 2025,” but now the board is “initiating this process focusing on transparency and deep community involvement.”

Published

4 hours ago

April 27, 2025

Oakland Post

Kyla Johnson-Trammell. File photo.

By Post Staff

The Oakland Unified School District announced this week that Supt. Kyla Johnson-Trammell will leave her position on July 1 after serving for eight years.

In closed session on Wednesday evening, the school board approved a voluntary separation agreement by a 4-3 vote, said Board President Jennifer Brouhard.

The board will begin searching immediately for an interim superintendent who will start on July 1. Johnson-Trammell will continue as superintendent emeritus from July 1 to Jan. 15, 2026, to help with the transition, according to a joint statement released by Johnson-Trammell and the Board.

In a personal statement to the community, Johnson-Trammell said:

“As I prepare to step away from my role as your superintendent on June 30, I do so with immense pride in what we’ve accomplished together. The last eight years have brought some of the most challenging — and most defining — moments in our district’s history. Through it all, Oakland has shown what’s possible when we stay grounded in our mission and vision and work in partnership for our students.”

The joint statement from Johnson-Trammell and the Board modifies her existing contract. According to the joint statement: “in August 2024, the OUSD Board of Education approved a three-year transitional contract for Superintendent Johnson-Trammell, with the next school year (2025-2026) allowing for a shift in responsibilities to support the transition to a permanent superintendent at the start of the 2026-2027 school year.”

Praising Johnson-Trammell’s accomplishments, the joint statement said, “(She) has done an extraordinary job over the past eight years, a historic tenure marked by stability, strong fiscal oversight, and improvements in student achievement.”

According to the statement, her achievements include:

increased graduation rates
improved literacy
increased student attendance rates,
“exemplary” COVID pandemic leadership,
“historic” pay raises to educators,
Improvement in OUSD’s facilities bond program,
ensuring strong fiscal systems and budgeting

As Johnson-Trammell’s years of service are coming to an end, there remain significant unresolved challenges facing the district, including a $95 million budget deficit and the threat of school closings and employee layoffs, as well as contract negotiations with the Oakland Education Association (OEA), the teachers’ union.

Another ongoing controversy has been the superintendent’s extremely high salary, which was negotiated less than a year ago under the leadership of Boardmember Mike Hutchinson and former Boardmember Sam Davis.

Johnson-Trammell is one of the highest-paid superintendents in California and the country, earning a total compensation package of $637,036.42 a year.

The contract had granted her a pay raise and a final three-year contract extension through the 2027 school year.

Under that contract, she would only continue as superintendent during the current school year, and then for two additional years she would work on research projects and prepare the district for a new superintendent, at the same rate of pay she now earns, plus raises.

During those two years, a temporary superintendent would be hired to handle the responsibilities of running the school district.