Deirdra Harris Glover
MC Contributor/Staff Writer
The Mississippi State flag is the last state flag to bear the “Stars and Bars” of the Battle Flag of the Confederacy and while some want this reminder of a state marred by racial prejudice removed, others are fighting to keep the flag as it is.
Recent events across the country have brought racial tension, and the state flag, to the political and ideological forefront.
To name just a few, according to the CNN.com article: Confederate flag debate: A state-by-state roundup:
• South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and others called for the flag to be taken down in the wake of a deadly shooting at a predominately black church in Charleston. Only July 8, 2015 after a 15-hour dramatic legislative debate, the state’s House of Representatives voted for the flag’s removal.
• Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley ordered that four Confederate flags be removed from a monument on the state’s capitol grounds last week — a move that came after a Democratic lawmaker filed a bill that would have done just that.
• Gov. Bill Haslam has said the Confederate flag should be removed from Tennessee’s Sons of Confederate Veterans specialty license plates. But proposals to end the specialty plates, at least, won’t be discussed until the state legislature meets again early next year.
Meanwhile in Mississippi, during the first three weeks of the legislative session, bills were filed regarding flag legislation.
Senator John Horhn (D-Jackson) has presented legislation to remove Confederate symbols from the state flag. Senator Derrick Simmons (D-Greenville) has introduced a bill that would revert the state flag back to the “Magnolia Flag” of 1861, commissioned by the Secessionist Convention.
In a joint statement with Senator David Parker (R-Olive Branch), Simmons said, “For too long we have engaged in endless debates between heritage and hate. We believe we should find a compromise that embraces history and healing. We look forward to working together in the legislature on a better way to represent Mississippi with our official flag.”
Several Mississippi cities have stopped flying the state flag and five public universities—Jackson State University, Alcorn State University, Mississippi Valley State University, University of Southern Mississippi and the University of Mississippi—have removed the state flag.
Some lawmakers feel universities have gone too far. At an Oct. 2015 Hattiesburg press conference, Gov. Phil Bryant said, “I don’t think they have any legal authority whatsoever to determine what the state flag is and where it flies, particularly over public buildings.”
In a later Associated Press interview, Bryant elaborated “I think that if you’ve got a publicly funded institution like that, they should be respectful of the people of the state,” Bryant said in the interview.
Rep. Dana Criswell (R-Olive Branch) intends to force a definitive answer. On Jan. 19, Criswell submitted a bill that would require public colleges and universities to “honor the will of the people” by flying the state flag.
“It is shameful for a university president to believe he has the right to override the decision of the people of this state and remove their flag from their university,” Criswell said via a Facebook post.
Flag supporters held a rally at the Capitol on Jan. 19, one day after the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday observance.
Rev. Ray Peacock, a pastor at Barrontown Baptist Church, told those assembled “We’re in a war, whether you know it or not. The legislature and our enemies have drawn the battle lines.”
If not battle lines, there are ideological lines. “It’s not just a flag… symbols mean a lot and the flags we choose to fly over our institutions mean something. I can’t pledge allegiance to (that flag),” said Bryan Eason from the coalition One Flag For All.
Justin McCreary, minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Jackson, agrees.
“The flag stands for the death of every man, woman, and child that died under slavery, and that goes beyond murder, it is genocide. How can we stand proudly as one Mississippi under a flag that symbolizes genocide and ever consider ourselves people of honor and grace? The simple answer is we can’t,” said McCreary.
U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) believes the current flag gives others a false impression about Mississippi and her people.
“After reflection and prayer, I now believe our state flag should be put in a museum and replaced by one that is more unifying to all Mississippians,” said Wicker in a June 2015 statement.
Voters will have the opportunity to settle this debate at the polls in November 2016. There are three proposed constitutional amendments proposed.
Initiatives 54 and 58 are constitutional amendments that would ensure that the current flag remains the official State Flag of Mississippi. Initiative 55 would alter the Mississippi constitution so that any state flag could not contain or reference the Confederate battle flag or the Confederacy.
The following MC301 Students contributed information used in this story written by Deirdra Glover: Ronza Anderson, Maya Parker, and My’Una Jones.
