Mississippi is shaping up to be the next battleground over the legacy of Confederate symbolism in the South.
The story began a few states over: The killing of nine black worshippers at Emanual AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina sparked that state’s officials to reconsider the longstanding display of the Confederate battle flag at the Capitol grounds.
First came public pressure, then a statement from Gov. Nikki Haley (R), and finally a vote to put the flag’s removal up for debate in a special summer session of the state legislature.
South Carolina’s reckoning with the darker side of Southern history soon spread beyond its borders: On Wednesday, Alabama’s governor ordered the removal of the flag from its own Capitol grounds.
Now, Mississippi faces a debate over the design its official state flag, which bears the insignia of the Confederate battle flag. Mississippians voted to leave the flag that way in a 2001 referendum, by a margin of 2-to-1.
The front page of the Clarion-Ledger newspaper in Jackson, Mississippi on Wednesday set the tone, displaying the state bird, a mockingbird, covered in the flag’s design under the headline “Divided They Stand.”
This week, the showdown over the flag gained steam: On Monday, state House Speaker Philip Gunn (R) came out against the Confederate insignia and called for his state to change it.
“We must always remember our past, but that does not mean we must let it define us,” Gunn said. “As a Christian, I believe our state’s flag has become a point of offense that needs to be removed. We need to begin having conversations about changing Mississippi’s flag.”
By Wednesday, both of the state’s US senators had joined him.
“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,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R) said in a statement.
“The recent debate on the symbolism of our flag, which belongs to all of us, presents the people of our state an opportunity to consider a new banner that represents Mississippi,” Sen. Thad Cochran (R) said a few hours later.
Following Gunn’s lead, other lawmakers such as U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D), state Rep. Brad Mayo, (R) and state Sen. David Blount (D) climbed on board, applauding the House speaker’s initial rallying cry.
Particularly adamant was state Sen. Kenny Wayne Jones (D), the chair of the Black Caucus, who told the Clarion-Ledger he would lead a bi-partisan effort to change the flag.
“We’re looking at it very seriously,” Jones said. “We believe the state is more progressive (than it was in 2001). We don’t want to step on the historical aspect of it, but it’s so offensive to so many people. That flag as a representation of the state has no right to be here.”
Both Attorney General Jim Hood (D) — “What would Jesus do?” — and Secretary of State Delbert (R) Hosemann have come out in favor of the idea.
Hood told the Clarion-Ledger that “if the flag does not represent our citizens today, then we, as a body, should select one that does.”
Echoing arguments from the business-friendly Mississippi Economic Council, Hosemann came at it from an economic angle: “I believe that our children and grandchildren shouldn’t be shortchanged economically from a flag that hampers our growth as a state and limits our ability to attract new business and industry.”
Meanwhile, a MoveOn.org petition to change the flag that started on Saturday hit over 50,000 signatures by Wednesday.
Despite this apparent momentum, there are roadblocks to a new banner for the the state, not the least of which are the governor and lieutenant governor.
“A vast majority of Mississippians voted to keep the state’s flag, and I don’t believe the Mississippi Legislature will act to supersede the will of the people on this issue,” Gov. Phil Bryant (R) said in a statement on Wednesday.
Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves (R) told the Clarion-Ledger that he agreed with Bryant and stood by the 2001 vote.
A taste of the opposition’s attitude could be found on the Facebook page of state Sen. Melanie Sojourner (R) who lashed out at former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Saturday for his tweet urging South Carolina to take down its Confederate flag on the Capitol grounds.
“Mitt Romney’s call to action regarding the flying of one of this nation’s historical flags is an example of what is wrong with society today,” Sojouner wrote. “The flag was no more the ‘source’ of horrible acts against mankind than a gun is the ‘source’ of someone’s death.”
“Simply placing blame on something that some see as a symbol only perpetuates the problem,” the state senator wrote.
