Jeb Bush, a 2016 GOP contender, called the Confederate flag “racist” Monday during his first campaign stop in South Carolina since a deadly shooting at a historic black church nearly two weeks ago.

Bush recalled his own efforts “to do something politically incorrect” and remove a flag with the Confederate symbol from outside the Florida state house when he was governor there.

“The symbols were racist,” Bush said during a stop at a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in South Carolina, according to reports.

“If you’re trying to lean forward rather than live in the past, you want to eliminate the barriers that create disagreements,” he added.

Bush canceled his campaign events in the early voting state in the immediate aftermath of the June 17 shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., that left nine people dead.

Source: Jeb Bush calls Confederate flag ‘racist’ | TheHill