Another sunny summer day was dawning Wednesday when a landscaping crew swiftly and silently began removing Confederate flags from a Civil War monument on the grounds of the Alabama Capitol, adding intensity to the storm surrounding the flag.

Later, as Gov. Robert Bentley walked out of the Capitol, reporters asked if he had ordered the removal of the banners, to which the governor replied that he had. Reporters also asked if the decision was connected to last week’s mass shooting that claimed nine lives in Charleston, South Carolina, and Bentley remarked, “Yes, this is partially about that.”

“This is the right thing to do,” Bentley told the reporters. “We are facing some major issues in this state regarding the budget and other matters that we need to deal with. This had the potential to become a major distraction as we go forward. I have taxes to raise, we have work to do. And it was my decision that the flag needed to come down.”

Other Alabama lawmakers echoed Bentley that the flags would have become a distracting issue in the weeks to come. Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard on Wednesday said he also asked the House clerk to remove the Confederate flag from the historic House Chamber at the Alabama Capitol. The Legislature no longer meets in that room, but Hubbard said the flag would be a distraction in an upcoming special session on the state budget.

Four Confederate flags — the first three official flags of the Confederacy and the square-shaped Confederate battle flag — flew at each corner of an 88-foot-tall Alabama Confederate Monument beside the Alabama Capitol.

Bentley issued the order late Tuesday after ensuring he had the authority to have the flags removed.

Reaction

Black legislators quickly praised Bentley’s decision to remove the flags on his own accord, without a protracted legal or political fight.

“I am proud that the governor took the flag down from the Capitol grounds. That flag is a symbol of white supremacy,” Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, said, adding if people want to display the symbol on their own that is their choice, but, “it sends the wrong message” to have it on the Capitol grounds.

“Any flag that flies on the state Capitol should be a flag that unites us rather than divides us,” Rep. Darrio Melton, D-Selma, said.

Later Wednesday afternoon, Bentley unveiled a partnership with tech-giant Google to build a $600 million data processing center in Jackson County. Tom Strain, lieutenant commander-in-chief of the national Sons of Confederate Veterans and member of Limestone County’s Thomas Hobbs Camp, said he sees a connection between the two events, calling the flag removal a “knee-jerk” reaction.

“I think that the governor was wrong to remove these flags,” Strain told The News Courier, adding the flags had been flying over the state capitol since the 1890s. “I think that it’s a shame that he did it. I don’t agree with it and I feel like many Alabamians aren’t very happy with it either.”

The Confederate flag used to fly over the Alabama Capitol, following a 1963 order from former Gov. George C. Wallace during a fight with the federal government over ending school segregation. It was removed in the early 1990s.

Bentley said he has not made a decision about what to do about a state specialty tag for the Sons of Confederate Veterans that has a likeness of the Confederate flag. Late last week the U.S. Supreme Court said the state of Texas was within its rights to forbid the issue of SCV specialty tags that depict the flag.

“In Alabama, this is part of our history and we need to honor that, but it’s offensive to some people … because unfortunately it’s like the swastika. Some people have adopted that as part of their maybe hate-filled groups and that’s a shame,” Bentley said in a reference to the Confederate battle flag.

Part of a larger debate

In Limestone County, no Confederate flags are flying over taxpayer-funded property, but that wasn’t the case early last month. Two small Confederate flags were placed at the base of Civil War monuments on the Limestone County Courthouse lawn. Members of the Thomas Hobbs Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans said they were responsible for placing the stick-flags in observance of Confederate memorial ceremonies in April, but forgot to remove them when May began.

As the flags remained, members of the Limestone County NAACP approached the county commission about removing them. Those that spoke said the flags represented a history of slavery and injustice and having it on the courthouse lawn almost implied the Limestone County Commission would condone that history. Chairman Mark Yarbrough had the flags removed shortly after the meeting.

This removal then drew the ire of a Gadsden-based pro-Confederate group The Alabama Flaggers. Leaders Freda and Justin Burton announced plans to bring their group plus 500 SCV-associated bikers to Athens to “flag” The Square and demand permanent replacements be placed at the base of the courthouse lawn monuments.

The date for the rally was originally set as July 17, a month after the group would hold a similar rally in Bullock County. As that rally drew closer, Alabama Flaggers began receiving heavy criticism from outsiders and became the victim of infighting among other Southern heritage groups, including the SCV. Last week, the Burtons announced the Limestone County rally was canceled.

Now that a new chapter of the flag controversy is being written in Montgomery, the Burtons and other Southern heritage groups were calling for an end to the infighting and to unite to save the flags.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.