The Confederate emblem in the Mississippi’s official flag has to go, the state’s House Speaker Philip Gunn said Monday night.
“We must always remember our past, but that does not mean we must let it define us,” Gunn, a Clinton Republican, said in a statement. “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.”
This is the first time a Mississippi Republican elected official has publicly called for the removal of the emblem in the flag’s top left corner, which served as the battle flag flown by the Confederate army during the Civil War. Anti-Civil Rights groups later adopted the flag as well.
However, Republican Gov. Phil Bryant said Monday morning that he didn’t expect the state legislature to “supersede the will of the people on this measure.” In 2001, a ballot measure passed with 64 percent of the vote to make the flag with the Confederate emblem the state’s official flag.
Bryant could not be reached for comment Monday night on Gunn’s position, nor did Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves respond to questions.
The issue to remove the Confederate battle flag emblem in Mississippi was sparked in part by the debate whether to remove the Confederate flag from South Carolina’s capitol after last week’s Charleston church shooting in which the gunman allegedly said he was sparked by the desire to start a race war and was photographed with the Confederate flag.
A petition on moveon.org to remove the Confederate battle flag emblem has, as of Tuesday morning, received roughly 7,400 signatures.
“In the wake of the devastating hate crime perpetrated at Mother Emanuel AME in Charleston, it is time to remove all symbols of hate and from state and other government buildings. It is time for us to come together and move into the future in solidarity,” the petition background reads.
(h/t The Clarion-Ledger)
