18 June 2015

In the wake of the mass shooting in South Carolina, the image of the Confederate flag started trending online - driven by liberals who blame it for stoking racism in America.

As news broke of a mass shooting which killed nine in a church in Charleston in the state of South Carolina, a mostly predictable reaction developed online. But alongside trending phrases such as "Charleston shooting" and "Black lives matter", another term became a top US trend on Twitter: "Confederate".

It's a reference to the red and blue Confederate battle flag, which 150 years after the American Civil War is still flown outside South Carolina's state house. The flag has long been a contentious issue across the American south, where some see it as a symbol of slavery, racism and a failed breakaway nation, while others consider it an essential part of southern US heritage and an homage to freedom and military service. The debate sometimes - but not always - breaks down along racial lines. In a measure of just how divisive the flag is, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday on a case involving whether the flag could be banned from customised car number plates in Texas.

In a matter of hours after the attack, more than 30,000 tweets were sent including the word "confederate" - the vast majority referring to events in South Carolina. On Twitter some liberals and civil rights activists went so far as to link the flag and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, a Republican who supports the flying of the banner, to the attack at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

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Link: http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-33186078