Jimmy Carter: 'Very few people' see the Confederate flag as racist

Former President Jimmy Carter said Wednesday that "very few people" now see the Confederate flag as a racist symbol, but that it should still be "done away with" out of respect for those who do still see it negatively.

“There are very few people that still look upon the Confederate flag as a racist symbol, but for those who feel that way, the black people in our country, we should do away with the Confederate flag and its emblem as white superiority in every place that it exists," he said.

Carter made his comments in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, and they come amidst an ongoing debate both state- and nation-wide about the appropriate place of Confederate symbols in public life.

Tapper asked Carter if he were Georgia's governor now, would he move to change the state's Confederate license plates and the state flag, which is closely modeled on the original flag of the Confederacy. Later in the interview, Tapper asked if there were times during Carter's governorship in the '70s where he feels he hedged on the Confederate symbolism.

Carter, who is on a media tour promoting his newest book, didn't address either question completely, instead focusing on his own anti-racist stances as a politician and on the "courageous" work of former Gov. Roy Barnes.