Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) is ordering the removal of the Confederate flag symbol from license plates in his state.
The governor on Tuesday said all currently issued license plates containing the Confederate flag should be replaced “as quickly as possible.”
“This Commonwealth does not support the display of the Confederate battle flag or the message it sends to the rest of the world,” McAuliffe said Tuesday morning at an event in Richmond, Va.
The move comes one day after South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) called on Palmetto State legislators to remove the Confederate flag from all government buildings.
The debate over the Confederate flag was sparked by last week’s shooting at a black church in Charleston, S.C. While other flags in the state were placed at half-staff in honor of the victims, a Confederate battle flag at a monument near the state house was not lowered because the action requires approval from the state legislature.
The suspect in the church shooting, Dylann Storm Roof, reportedly told police he hoped to start a race war with the attack, and had kept a license plate with the Confederate flag on his car.
“Although the battle flag is not flown here on Capitol Square, it has been the subject of considerable controversy, and it divides many of our people,” McAuliffe said.
“Even its display on state issued license tags is, in my view, unnecessarily divisive and hurtful to too many of our people,” he added.
The Supreme Court ruled last week that states can prohibit the Confederate flag from appearing on specialty license plates, because the plates are a form of government speech.
That ruling paved the way for McAuliffe to end the Confederate flag license plates in Virginia.
It is unclear whether the state will simply stop printing license plates with the flag designs, or go a step further and recall existing plates.
— This story was updated at 11:50 a.m.