Yahoo News Momentum Builds To Banish Confederate Flag
One of Mississippi's top Republicans has called for the Confederate emblem to be removed from the state flag.
House Speaker Philip Gunn labelled the symbol "a point of offense", a day after South Carolina leaders spoke out against the rebel banner.
Activists plan days of protests against the rebel banner, which was embraced by the alleged gunman who killed nine black church-goers last week.
South Carolina lawmakers are expected to meet later on Tuesday to consider a plan to remove the flag from state grounds.
Legislators in both chambers at the state capital in Columbia would need a two-thirds vote to advance the motion.
On Monday, the state's most senior Republicans, Governor Nikki Haley and Senators Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott, called for the flag to be taken down.
Governor Haley, who had for years deflected questions about the flag, called it a "deeply offensive symbol of a brutally repressive past".
Her predecessor incurred the wrath of white conservatives when he dared to advocate the flag's removal, and lost re-election.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans, a heritage group, vowed to vigorously fight the latest move to take down the standard.
Spokesman Leland Summers said: "Do not associate the cowardly actions of a racist to our Confederate Banner."
Sales of a Confederate flag on Amazon.com were up more than 2,300%.
EBay meanwhile said it would ban sale of the flags on its site because it has become a symbol of "divisiveness and racism".
On Tuesday, Virginia's Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe moved to have the banner banished from state car registration plates.
Activists in Georgia have launched a petition to introduce a similar measure in that state.
In Tennessee, both Democrats and Republicans are calling for the removal of a bust of Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Ku Klux Klan leader, from outside the Senate chambers.
Sears Holding Corp and Arkansas-based Walmart have said they will remove any items from its store shelves and website that feature the Confederate flag.
More than 2,000 Texans have signed a petition to remove a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis from the University of Texas campus.
The white suspect in last Wednesday's shooting in Charleston had posed for photos with the banner, which was originally flown by the pro-slavery South during the 1861-65 American Civil War.
US President Barack Obama will deliver a eulogy on Friday at a funeral for one of the shooting victims.
He will be joined by First Lady Michelle Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden at the ceremony for Rev Clementa Pinckney.
