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NYS bans Confederate flag, neo-Nazi and white supremacist symbols

Local white supremacy sympatizer Karl Hand (center, in blue shirt) is confronted by protesters at a 2016 "White Lives Matter" rally in Buffalo. Police eventually had to separate the two movements.
Michael Mroziak / WBFO News
Local white supremacy sympatizer Karl Hand (center, in blue shirt) is confronted by protesters at a 2016 "White Lives Matter" rally in Buffalo. Police eventually had to separate the two movements.

New York State has banned the sale and display of the "Battle Flag of the Confederacy," as well as "white supremacist" and "neo-Nazi" symbols.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed a bill designed to eliminate what are defined as "symbols of hate." Any "tangible property" that includes these symbols is also banned, "unless the image appears in a book, digital medium, museum or serves an educational or historical purpose."

The law takes effect immediately and was nearly unanimously approved in the state legislature. It was sponsored by Bronx/Westchester Democrat Alessandra Biaggi in the Senate and Brooklyn Democrat Rodneyse Bichotte in the Assembly.

Some others are calling the ban an "unconstitutional"  violation of free speech.

Copyright 2020 WBFO

Marian Hetherly