What to do with the Confederate flag? That’s the question South Carolina is now facing following the racially motivated massacre at a historically black church.

Online photos of the man believed to be responsible for the fatal shootings show him holding the flag. There have been calls to remove it from in front of the state capitol, where it continues to fly.

Mississippi knows all too well the controversy that surrounds the Confederate flag. In 2001 a voter referendum took place to determine if the existing state flag, which includes the Confederate emblem, should be replaced with a new design that removed those elements. Voters opted to keep the current flag. That controversy is likely to visit the state again. Some state leaders, including House Speaker Philip Gunn, on Monday called for the removal of the Confederate elements from the flag.

Opponents of the Confederate flag say it’s a symbol of hatred and racism. Defenders of the flag say it’s not about racism, it’s simply a symbol of Southern heritage and pride.

The fact that the murder suspect was holding the flag should have no bearing on South Carolina’s decision to keep it or remove it.  Just because a deranged racist holds a particular flag doesn’t mean that flag represents racism.

But the Confederate flag represents racism to many, and that view has nothing to do with the photos showing the shooter holding it. That view is rooted in the South’s history of racism, and its affinity for a flag that once represented the Confederate states.

It’s not that the flag’s design contains overtly racist elements, but the flag has become a rallying point for those who espouse racist beliefs. That’s reason enough to take it down.

Everyone who flies the flag isn’t racist. Some fly it because of its historical significance or because they are proud of their Southern heritage.

But whatever the Confederate flag once meant or continues to mean to some today, it clearly represents something that no state or nation should stand for. It should come down.