Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves signed a bill Tuesday that will change the state flag by removing the emblem of the Confederate battle, first included 126 years ago.
Lawmakers accelerated the measure over the weekend, with both houses voting to suspend the rules on Saturday to allow debate and a vote. It was passed Sunday in a 91-23 House vote, which was quickly followed by a 37-14 Senate vote.
Reeves said just before signing the bill that he expected Mississippi residents to leave their divisions behind to unite for the greater good.
“This is not a political moment for me, but a solemn occasion to bring the Mississippi family to unite, reconcile and move on,” said Reeves.
The governor also said he understood the fear of many that the change could start a chain of events that could lead to the removal of the state’s complicated history. While Reeves said he is against the demolition of monuments, he said he did support a new flag.
“There is a difference between a monument and flags,” said Reeves. “A monument recognizes and honors our past. A flag is a symbol of our present, our people, and our future. For these reasons, we need a new symbol.”
The bill calls for a commission to lead the flag redesign that removes the Confederate symbol but maintains the slogan “In God We Trust”. A redesign approved by the commission would be placed on the November ballot.
If voters reject the new design, the commission would retry a new flag to be presented to the Legislature during the 2021 session.
The current flag, with blue, white, and red stripes with the Northern Virginia Army battle flag in the corner, was adopted in February 1894, according to the Mississippi Historical Society.
Other attempts to change the flag have fallen short over the years, including a 2001 public referendum in which 64 percent voted against a redesign.
Reeves said Tuesday that he still believed that residents “eventually” would have voted for a new flag, but that he did not believe the state could handle a contentious political battle amid a pandemic and other turbulent problems that emerged in 2020.
“Our economy is on the edge of a cliff,” said Reeves. “Many lives depend on us cooperating and taking care to protect each other. I concluded that our state has too much adversity to survive a bitter brother-to-brother fight.”
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Mississippi had come under increasing pressure, part of the NCAA and the Southeast Conference, which warned this month that college championship games could be banned in the state if the flag was not changed.
After Sunday’s legislative votes, NCAA Commissioner Mark Emmert said in a statement that it was time to change the flag, which “has served too long as a symbol of oppression, racism and injustice.”
Mississippi’s decision to change the flag after more than a century comes during a new trial of racial inequality in the United States. In the weeks since George Floyd’s death in May 25 in Minneapolis police custody, protesters across the country have demanded systemic changes in surveillance as they seek to remove symbols of oppression.
Among the structures that have been attacked are the statues of Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Virginia, President Andrew Jackson in Washington, DC, and Juan de Oñate, a conqueror, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
