Mississippi passes bill to remove confederate symbol from state flag

Mississippi has become the last state to vote on changing its flag which includes the confederate battle symbol that is condemned as ‘racist’. The state politicians have passed the resolution to replace the flag that has a confederate image of a red field with blue ‘X’ and 13 white stars. The bill has been passed both in the lower and upper houses on June 28 and Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves had already said that if the bill reaches his office, it will be signed after several days of the state being deadlocked on the issue of 1984 flag. He also noted that the flag has become “divisive” and therefore “it’s time to end it”.

The state legislators are also backing the nine-member commission responsible for coming up with a new flag for the US state. The author of the bill and Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn has told a local news outlet that the state is ‘better today than yesterday’. He also noted that by approval of the bill in both houses, ‘the future has taken root in the present. Mississippi Guv had also said that he is not under the ‘illusion’ that the change of flag is the end of what must be done to combat the racial injustice in the country. Reeves even noted that the job before the government is to bring the state together which “will be harder than recovering from tornadoes or coronavirus”.

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The confederate symbol

During the American Civil War (1861-1865), the Confederate symbol was used by the southern army and therefore it still remains the emblem of the legacy of slavery in the history of the United States. Back in 2000, the state’s Supreme Court had ruled that the flag lacked official status. While the state laws were modified in 1906 but the parts considered with the Mississippi state flag were left out. The legislators had voted for the change of flag in 2001 but the voters decided to keep the rebel-themed design until now. 

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Image: AP