ENROLLED ORIGINAL
A RESOLUTION
24-208
IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
July 13, 2021
To declare the sense of the Council that the Confederate battle flag is a symbol of hate and white
supremacy.
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this
resolution may be cited as the Sense of the Council to Declare the Confederate Battle Flag as a
Symbol of Hate and White Supremacy Resolution of 2021.
Sec. 2. The Council finds that:
(1) In 2020, the Council officially declared racism a public-health crisis in the
District of Columbia and that the District supports community efforts to amplify issues of
racism and engage actively and authentically with communities of color wherever they live.
(2) Africans were forcibly brought to this country, enslaved, and after their
emancipation from slavery, citizens of this country perpetuated anti-Black racism through
violence, mass incarceration, and anti-Black policies, including redlining, and used the social
construction of race to justify their enslavement as well as the removal of Indigenous peoples off
their land pushing them onto land considered less desirable.
(3) Since the end of the Civil War, the Confederate battle flag, and other imagery
of the Confederacy have been appropriated by groups as symbols of hate, terror, and intolerance,
and as supportive of the institution of slavery.
(4) After the Civil War ended, groups such as the Ku Klux Klan were formed to
promote white supremacy and racial hatred. The Ku Klux Klan, perhaps the most infamous, was
one of the first groups to continue using the Confederate battle flag after the war. The Ku Klux
Klan rallied others still vexed after the war to instill fear and spout hate against freed African
Americans.
(5) The Confederate battle flag was later resurrected in the 1950s to rally
resistance to the Civil Rights movement and support the Souths desire to maintain segregation
and further the policies of Jim Crow.
(6) To many groups, especially African Americans, the Confederate battle flag is
a symbol of hate, racism, exclusion, oppression, and violence. Its symbolism and history are
directly linked to the enslavement, torture, and murder of millions of African Americans.
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 ENROLLED ORIGINAL
(7) Neo-Nazis, Neo-Confederates, the Ku Klux Klan, and other hate groups use
the Confederate battle flag as a symbol of hate to elicit fear and promote hate and intolerance
toward people of color, especially African Americans.
(8) Today, as in the past, public display of the Confederate battle flag continues to
instill fear and intimidation and act as a direct threat of violence toward others.
(9) The Confederate battle flag has always been recognized as a deeply offensive
symbol of opposition to civil-rights legislation, integration, justice, education, and access to
equal opportunity
(10) White supremacy is a political, economic, and cultural system that
perpetuates racialized ideas of white superiority and entitlement across a broad array of
institutions and social settings, both conscious and unconscious.
(11) Racism in all its forms causes persistent discrimination and disparate
outcomes in many areas of life, including housing, education, health, employment, public safety,
and criminal justice.
(12) During recent protests and events to recognize the Black Lives Matter
movement, counter-protestors have brought Confederate battle flags to intimidate peaceful
protestors.
(13) Insurrectionists carried the Confederate battle flag as they stormed the U.S.
Capitol building on January 6th, 2021, threatening our democracy and the peaceful transfer of
power.
Sec. 3. It is the sense of the Council that the Confederate battle flag is a symbol of hate
and white supremacy and, except for instances of artistic expression and properly contextualized
educational materials, such as lesson plans, textbooks, or worksheets, that symbols of hate and
white supremacy, including Confederate battle flags, should not be displayed in public buildings.
Sec. 4. The Council shall transmit a copy of this resolution, upon its adoption, to the
Mayor.
Sec. 5. This resolution shall take effect immediately.
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