Name: Mississippi lawmakers vote to change state flag: No Confederate emblem
Brand: clarionledger.com
SKU: clarionledger-com-27
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Mississippi lawmakers vote to change state flag: No Confederate emblem

preview

Mississippi Clarion LedgerView CommentsThe Mississippi flag with its Confederate battle emblem is expected to come down across the state in the coming days as lawmakers voted overwhelmingly Sunday to choose a new banner.&nbsp;removes the current flag and begins the process of picking another design. The bill now goes&nbsp;to&nbsp;Gov. Tate Reeves, who has pledged he will sign it.&nbsp;The House voted 91-23 and the Senate 37-14&nbsp;to approve the flag-change legislation. The historic vote followed days of heated debate and pressure from business and religious leaders, government officials, colleges and athletes to remove it. The NCAA and SEC said championship events would not be held in the state until the flag changed.&nbsp;Mississippi's is the only flag to include the Confederate battle emblem in its design.&nbsp;"Today we and the rest of the nation can look on our state with new eyes, with pride and hope," House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, said following his chamber's vote.&nbsp;“Whether you’re Black or white, rich or poor, Democrat or Republican, I ask you today to stand in the name of history," said Sen. Derrick Simmons, D-Greenville, ahead of the Senate's vote.&nbsp;"Let’s vote today for the Mississippi of tomorrow."After Reeves signs the bill, the flag must come down within 15 days at government buildings around the state. Shortly after, a nine-member commission will be appointed by Gunn, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and Reeves to choose a new design, which must include the words "In God We Trust," and cannot include the Confederate battle emblem.(Story continues after photo gallery.)A day earlier:Voters will then approve or reject that design in November. If they reject it, the commission would begin the process again. If they approve, the Legislature will ratify that design in the 2021 session, and a new official flag would fly next year.&nbsp;Legislators adopted Mississippi's state flag and its the Confederate image in 1894, nearly three decades after the end of the Civil War. Mississippians voted nearly two-to-one in 2001 to keep the current design.“I think the Mississippi Senate and me&nbsp;personally, we want Mississippi to have a heart and a soul, and today she had one," Hosemann told reporters after the vote.&nbsp;"It was just time. People&nbsp;several weeks ago&nbsp;started talking about this and the momentum built and the momentum built … it was bipartisan, and it was just time. It was just time."(Story continues after photo gallery.)Sunday's outcome to remove the flag was all but assured after lawmakers . A handful of additional representatives voted to change the flag Sunday&nbsp;compared to Saturday.One of them was Rep. Jerry Turner of Baldwyn, the Republican&nbsp;chairman of the committee where the flag legislation originated. He said he'd struggled with how to vote. He&nbsp;prayed and&nbsp;conferred with his wife in recent days. In the end, he decided&nbsp;that removing the flag could be compared to stepping onto a&nbsp;"train of unification."&nbsp;For or against?&nbsp;"That's what we all prayed for, that's what we all talked about," the white lawmaker told his colleagues before the vote. "Today, you can get your ticket for that train of unification. And that train is headed for a destiny called unity. I don't know about you today, but I want to be one of the first ones to get my ticket to be on that train."Gunn told reporters he knew some Mississippians thought they would never see the day the flag changed. Some, he said, had left the state over the flag. He&nbsp;hoped those people now consider "coming home to a better Mississippi."&nbsp;But the House leader also warned that Mississippians should not "look down on those who struggled with this decision." He said some have real concerns that&nbsp;they are turning on their beliefs, heritage or family history. While Gunn said&nbsp;there is a "movement in this country to trash everything America stands for," he stressed the&nbsp;Legislature's vote does not "play into that" movement."We did not remove the Confederate battle emblem because we hate the American proposition, we did it because we love what America stands for," Gunn said. He added lawmakers are not "betraying our heritage, we are fulfilling it."&nbsp;Rep. Trey Lamar of&nbsp;Senatobia was among the first prominent Republican lawmakers to push for&nbsp;flag change legislation in recent weeks. On Sunday, he watched closely as Gunn spoke to the media following the historic vote.&nbsp;&nbsp;"It was something I knew in my heart for a long time was the right thing to do, and would come eventually," Lamar told the Clarion Ledger.&nbsp;"But when outside groups, the SEC, the NCAA seriously start making decisions that are going to hurt our students, hurt our businesses that support those communities, that provided the opportunity for this discussion to rise to another level."It wasn't the reason to make the change," he added, "but it provided us with an opportunity to have this discussion on a very serious level."&nbsp;Sen. Angela Turner-Ford, who heads the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus, said future Mississippians will look back on Sunday as a day of progress. "Yesterday I was emotional. Now, I am relieved,” Turner-Ford said. "I’m happy, but I’m also sad for those who have engaged in this struggle, who had to live under this flag from 1894."Sen. David Jordan spoke in favor of the bill on the Senate floor. The Black Democrat&nbsp;recalled growing up during World War II in the Delta. His brother, a war veteran, was denied a sandwich at a restaurant where German prisoners of war were eating inside, Jordan said."I feel released,” Jordan said after the vote. "Like I’ve said, we’ve had 244 years of slavery, 100 years of the worst kind of discrimination, and 50 years of knock-off freedom. This does help our image. And images are important. Don’t let anybody tell you that images are not important.”Historic day in Mississippi:Sen. Chad McMahan, R-Guntown, said he&nbsp;talked with many of his constituents, and he believes they want a new flag. McMahan said he&nbsp;grew up in the 1980s&nbsp;with a somewhat innocuous understanding of the Confederate flag."When I look at that Confederate flag, I must confess that I think of 'The Dukes of Hazzard' and my first love, Daisy Duke," McMahan said from the Senate floor. He later learned more about the Confederate flag, which he referred to as the "Democrat battle flag." Recently, McMahan said he discussed the state flag with Hosemann over an afternoon snack of Oreos."I'm a Republican," McMahan said. "Personally, I'm not going to support a Democrat battle flag."Rep. Robert Johnson of Natchez&nbsp;said the vote and the discussion that led up to it helped bridge racial divides in the Legislature. The House Democratic leader, who is Black,&nbsp;said some of his white colleagues in recent days had begun "to understand&nbsp;and feel the same thing that I've been feeling for 61 years of my life."Now that the flag has finally been changed&nbsp;— several Black lawmakers have unsuccessfully filed legislation to change it for years&nbsp;—&nbsp;more focus can be placed&nbsp;on the state's high poverty rates and its poor health outcomes, Johnson said.&nbsp;"Now that this is done, people will begin to look and see&nbsp;the real Mississippi," he added.&nbsp;"They will begin to see we are more than what that flag represents. That we are people that&nbsp;care for each other, that are willing to work together, and that are willing to go forward together."&nbsp; Contact Giacomo "Jack" Bologna at 601-961-7282 or .&nbsp;Follow him on .View Comments

Mississippi Clarion LedgerView CommentsThe Mississippi flag with its Confederate battle emblem is expected to come down across the state in the coming days as lawmakers voted overwhelmingly Sunday to choose a new banner.&nbsp;removes the current flag and begins the process of picking another design. The bill now goes&nbsp;to&nbsp;Gov. Tate Reeves, who has pledged he will sign it.&nbsp;The House voted 91-23 and the Senate 37-14&nbsp;to approve the flag-change legislation. The historic vote followed days of heated debate and pressure from business and religious leaders, government officials,...

Mississippi lawmakers vote to change state flag: No Confederate emblem

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS