Changing What I Cannot Accept: My Story of Understanding Mississippi Racism
Growing up, I had heard about Mississippi. I saw the Confederate battle emblem displayed above and inside the government buildings on arrival.
Growing up, I had heard about Mississippi. I saw the Confederate battle emblem displayed above and inside the government buildings on arrival.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed “a law to turn a page in Mississippi today,” as he put his signature on legislation that will retire the state’s Confederate-themed flag. With legislative officials and African American leaders surrounding him, the Republican governor said that recent events have changed his mind about what the State of Mississippi should do about the long-controversial symbol.
In a historic vote today, large majorities in both houses of the Mississippi Legislature voted to move forward on an effort to retire and replace the Confederate-themed Mississippi State Flag.
Filmmaker Philip Scarborough was raised amid “lost cause” mythology. Now he writes: “To be blunt, there is absolutely, positively nothing about the Confederacy worth memorializing or celebrating. Zero.”
Mississippi House Rep. Karl Oliver, who drew national headlines in 2017 for saying New Orleans lawmakers “should be lynched” for removing that city’s Confederate monuments, today announced that he supports changing Mississippi’s State Flag.
Though 19-year-old Jerome Patrick appeared dead set on his support for the Mississippi state flag in November 2000, his views changed within hours of his speech, the now 38-year-old stay-at-home dad told the Mississippi Free Press in a Skype call on June 12.
“They have pulled a fast one here,” the source told the Mississippi Free Press. “They pretended to surrender the position of the monument when they are, in fact, putting it in a (more prominent) place.”
While we are the future of this great state, you are the present. As lawmakers, you have the unique responsibility to decide how Mississippi meets this moment. This time, let’s get it right.”
Moving the monument should be a clear stand against racism, not another embarrassing attempt to placate those who wish to maintain the university’s connection to Confederate symbols
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