Feelings are mixed among local residents with connections to the issue after Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced steps to remove a Confederate emblem from the Sons of Confederate Veterans specialty plates.

Federal court decisions at the time required the Department of Motor Vehicles to allow the emblem in the design, according to McAuliffe’s office, but a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a Texas case last week opens the door for states to prevent the emblem on their license plates.

The flag and other recognitions of the Confederacy have come under fire in recent days after a photo surfaced of Dylann Roof, the alleged perpetrator of nine apparently racially motivated murders in a Charleston, S.C., church on June 17, posing with a Confederate flag and a gun.

Virginia’s special license plates for the Sons of Confederate Veterans feature the group’s official logo, the red, white and blue Confederate battle flag surrounded by the words “Sons of Confederate Veterans 1896.”

A representative of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said Confederate symbols are offensive and do not belong on license plates.

“I think it would be a very good move if the state did vote to take that sign off the license plate,” said Costellar Ledbetter, the president of the Nansemond-Suffolk branch of the NAACP. “We shouldn’t have to be dealing with that now. There’s too much sickness in this country, and it’s caused by racism.”

But local members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans condemned Roof’s actions and said he does not represent the organization, which is made up of male descendants of Confederate soldiers.

“We don’t condone anything that’s negative like that,” said Suffolk resident Mike Pullen, lieutenant commander of the Army of Northern Virginia and past commander of the Virginia Division. “He was foolish. He’s the devil.”

Suffolk’s Lee Hart was one of the first in Virginia to receive his license plates bearing the group’s logo. He traveled to Richmond several times to help lobby for the legislation allowing them.

“It’s a terrible, terrible tragedy from a monster,” he said of the Charleston shooting. “It’s not behavior that’s acceptable by anybody.”

But at the same time, Hart said, the Confederate flag should be protected.

“It’s very disheartening that they’re targeting that symbol,” Hart said, noting that various hate groups have also espoused the American flag, Christian flag and others. “It’s our registered trademark. If they’re going to do away with that, they ought to do away with all the specialty plates.”

Hart said the Confederate flag symbolizes the heritage his ancestors fought for. Nearly 1,500 men and boys from Suffolk and Nansemond County joined the Confederate army.

“We never intend for it to be offensive to anyone, but it is history, and we stand by it as we have always stood by it,” he said. “We feel it has always been misused. We try to carry it with honor and use it to memorialize, just as the Bible says, ‘Honor they father and thy mother.’ We’re saddened and really sick that a handful of people, politicians or what have you, want to target this every time something happens.”

SCV member John Sharrett, who also has the plates on his vehicles, said getting rid of public displays of the flag won’t make racial tensions go away.

“If they think taking it down is going to end the problem they’ve got, they’re sadly wrong,” he said. “I think it’s a matter of our family history and taking pride in our ancestors.”

Ledbetter, the NAACP president, said racism is still an ongoing problem in the United States and acknowledged that removing the Confederate flag and emblems from public display won’t fix it.

“In many places it looks like everything is OK, but when you start pulling the covers back, everything is not as it appears,” she said. “God made us all, and I don’t think He’s very pleased with things that are going on.”

McAuliffe said he has asked the attorney general’s office to take steps to reverse the prior court ruling that requires the Confederate flag to be on state license plates. He’s also directed Secretary of Transportation Aubrey Layne “to develop a plan for replacing the currently issued plates as quickly as possible.”

McAuliffe’s decision was praised by other Democratic leaders.

“It’s past time to move beyond this divisive symbol, which for so many represents oppression and injustice,” Attorney General Mark Herring said.

Sen. Tim Kaine said, “I support Governor McAuliffe’s call to remove the Confederate battle flag from state-issued Virginia license plates. This is the right call for the commonwealth.”

Also this week, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley called for the removal of the Confederate flag from the state capital grounds in Columbia.

Major U.S. retailers such as Walmart, Amazon, eBay and Sears also this week announced bans on the sale of Confederate flag merchandise.