Mon 29 June 2020:
Mississippi voted to change the state flag, which includes a Confederate battle emblem that has been widely condemned as racist.
Mississippi became the last state in the US with a flag displaying the confederate image – a red field topped by a blue “X” with 13 white stars – after Georgia voted to remove the symbol from its flag in 2003.
The bill to remove the symbol passed both the lower and upper houses at the weekend with legislators backing a panel to design a new flag.
Cheers rang out in the state capitol after the Senate vote. Some spectators wept. Legislators embraced each other, many hugging colleagues who were on the opposing side of an issue that has long divided the tradition-bound state.
Mississippi’s governor said he would sign the bill into law if it cleared the legislature.
“Today, the future has taken root in the present. Today, we and the rest of the nation can look at our state with new eyes, with pride and hope.”
Slavery symbol
The Confederate battle emblem was used by southern troops during the 1861-1865 American Civil War and for many remains a symbol of the country’s legacy of slavery.
White supremacists in the Mississippi Legislature decided on the state flag design in 1894 in a backlash to the political power that African Americans gained after the Civil War.
The state flag has been divisive for generations; none of the state’s public universities displays it, while a growing number of cities and counties have also stopped flying the state flag.
Supporters, however, have resisted efforts to change the design for decades, saying it is a significant part of southern US history and culture. In 2001, state residents overwhelmingly voted to keep the current design.
Leaders from business, religion, education and sport have spoken forcefully against the state flag, urging legislators to ditch the 126-year-old banner for one that better reflects the diversity of a state with a 38 percent Black population.
What happens now?
Republican Governor Tate Reeves said for the first time on Saturday for that he would sign a bill to change the flag if the Republican-controlled Legislature sends him one.
“The argument over the 1894 flag has become as divisive as the flag itself and it’s time to end it. If they send me a bill this weekend, I will sign it,” he said.
Once passed, the commission will design a new flag that cannot include the Confederate symbol and that must have the words “In God We Trust”, according to the bill.
The new design will be put on the ballot during elections on November 3. Only one design choice will be offered. If a majority of voters accept the new design, it will become the state flag. If a majority reject it, the commission will design a new flag using the same guidelines.
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