Color Of Change Removes Confederate Symbols

Following the mass shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, a Color of Change supporter launched a campaign to remove the confederate flag from the South Carolina State House. This successful fight generated international attention, and Color of Change wanted to harness the energy from the that campaign into a broader movement to retire Confederate symbols. Sadly, there were still thousands of communities and institutions nationwide that flew the flag or were named after Confederate leaders, and it was impossible to get a list of all of them.

They created an open-ended Effort where members could identify a target in their town — like Robert E. Lee High School — and create a templated petition asking that the name be changed. When members arrived at the Effort hub page, they could search on their area and find an existing campaign to support or start one of their own.

In this way, Color of Change was able to give members direction and identify local campaigns, which would never have been possible with a top-down approach.