- The Washington Times - Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, speaking in South Carolina Monday, said he removed the Confederate flag from the Florida Capitol grounds as governor because it was “the right thing to do” and that the flag has become a “racist” symbol in the country’s recent history.

“I took them off the premises and put them where I think they should be, which is in the museum of Florida history, where our heritage can be respected,” he said during a stop at a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant, NBC News reported. “But the symbols that have divided the South, in many ways, the symbols that were used in most recent modern history, not perhaps at the beginning of the time — but the symbols were racist.”

Mr. Bush, who also had a private meeting with pastors in the state on Monday, was traveling there for the first time since the recent shooting deaths of nine blacks at a historic black church in Charleston.

“And if you’re trying to lean forward, rather than live in the past, you want to eliminate the barriers that create disagreements,” he said. “And so I did. We eliminated all of the controversy, opening up of wounds — I think it was the right thing to do.”

• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.

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