JACKSON: Mississippi is on the verge of changing its state flag to erase a Confederate battle emblem that’s broadly condemned as racist.

The flag’s supporters resisted efforts to change it for decades, but rapid developments in recent weeks have changed dynamics on this issue in the tradition-bound state.

As protests against racial injustice recently spread across the US, including Mississippi, leaders from business, religion, education and sports have spoken forcefully against the state flag. They have urged legislators to ditch the 126-year-old banner for one that better reflects the diversity of a state with a 38pc Black population.

A commission would design a new flag that cannot include the Confederate symbol and that must have the words In God We Trust.

The state House and Senate met on Saturday and took a big step: By two-thirds margins, they suspended legislative deadlines so a flag bill could be filed. Spectators cheered as each chamber voted, and legislators seeking the change embraced each other.

There are economic issues. There are issues involving football or whatever, Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said. But this vote came from the heart. That makes it so much more important.

Democratic Sen. David Jordan, who is African American, has pushed for decades to change the flag. He smiled broadly after Saturday’s vote and said, This is such a metamorphosis.” Mississippi has the last state flag with the Confederate battle emblem a red field topped by a blue X with 13 white stars. The flag has been divisive for generations. All of the state’s public universities have stopped flying it, as have a growing number of cities and counties.

White supremacists in the Mississippi Legislature set the state flag design in 1894 during backlash to the political power that African Americans gained after the Civil War.

In 2000, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled that the flag lacked official status. State laws were updated in 1906, and portions dealing with the flag were not carried forward. Legislators set a flag election in 2001, and voters kept the rebel-themed design.

Former Ole Miss basketball player Blake Hinson told his hometown Daytona Beach (Florida) News-Journal that the Mississippi flag played a part in his decision to transfer to Iowa State.

It was time to go and leave Ole Miss, Hinson said. Im proud not to represent that flag anymore and to not be associated with anything representing the Confederacy.

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said Saturday for the first time that he would sign a bill to change the flag if the Republican-controlled Legislature sends him one.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2020