Mississippi Flag Commission
The state of Mississippi is in the process of selecting a new flag after the governor signed a bill six weeks ago that finally jettisoned the Confederate flag emblem from the state banner. The removal will be Mississippi de last able to remove the emblem from its flag. It was a controversial issue in the state of Deep South, where conservative white voters transfer power if they want to and a decision that Republican Gov. Tate Reeves insisted it was intended to reconcile Mississippi and “continue.” But move on to what? As of Wednesday, we know at least one option that can be ruled out: the Great Mosquito flag.
The Mississippi State Flag Re-commissioning committee is in charge of the selection process, which received nearly 3,000 approvals in the first phase of the reorganization process. The panel compiled its list of potential candidates for 147 options, which it made public this week on its website. There were some difficult choices to be made to see who advanced to round two, and CNN reports that the commission had to cut a number of flags that included “guitars, beer cans, Largemouth bass, a Jesus meme and the Southeastern Conference logo. “
One unexpected applicant who appeared in round two was a real beauty who was a giant mosquito with 12 gallons of blood per hour (probably) sucking. The design is technically unrelated: the only two rules are that the redesigned flag cannot cover the Confederate emblem, and this is the South, it must have the phrase “In God, we trust.” The “mosquito flag” is certainly an original recording about the state’s past and went on the commission’s website for the public to venture into. But it did not have to be, and the flag was soon hoisted. “The mosquito flag advanced to Round Two due to a typo in a list of flag numbers submitted by one commissioner,” the commission said Tuesday in a statement. “That commissioner has requested that the flag be removed from the Gallery Ronde Twa, and the [Mississippi Department of Archives & History] staff has met. ”
Trying to avoid another Boaty McBoatface situation, the mosquito flag was added to the trash of history along with renderings of largemouth bass. The state (thankfully) does not hold an online vote on the flag, but the nine commissioners overseeing the process will present the five finalists online for a public comment period starting this week. The commissioners are free to ad-lib, according to the Associated Press, and “could accept any of the public proposals, combine elements of different designs or start from scratch and draw their own.” They will then place their final selection for the state voters in a statewide referendum on Nov. 3.
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