Mississippi Today’s political reporters discuss the wild few hours leading up to the moment that lawmakers voted to remove the state flag, which featured the Confederate battle emblem.
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Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today
The Mississippi State Flag flies in downtown Jackson on Thursday, June 25, 2020.
Lawmakers voted on Sunday to remove the Mississippi state flag, the last in the nation featuring the Confederate battle emblem, more than 126 years after it was adopted.
The House and Senate passed a bill on Sunday that will immediately remove the state flag, and Gov. Tate Reeves said he would sign the bill into law. A nine-person commission will be appointed to develop a single new design by September, and Mississippi voters will approve or reject that design on the November 2020 ballot. In the meantime, Mississippi will have no official state flag.
The historic vote brought tears to the eyes of many lawmakers. Cheers echoed in the halls of the Mississippi State Capitol shortly after the final votes were cast, and many Mississippians who visited the building to witness the moment openly wept.
“We are better today than we were yesterday,” said Speaker of the House Philip Gunn, who authored the bill that passed on Sunday. “Today, the future has taken root in the present. Today, we and the rest of the nation can look on our state with new eyes, with pride and hope.
“We are not betraying our heritage,” Gunn continued. “We are fulfilling it.”
The flag, long a point of political contention in Mississippi, was seen by many as a symbol of hate. In 2001, Mississippi voters decided nearly 2-to-1 to keep the divisive emblem on the state flag, solidifying its place on the official state banner for nearly two decades. For years, supporters of changing the flag have not been able to garner the simple majority needed to change the controversial banner through the normal legislative process.
But the violent death of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis sparked nationwide protests that reached Mississippi and shined new light on the state flag. And in recent weeks, immense pressure mounted from religious, business, civic, university, sports and other leaders to remove the Confederate emblem from the flag.
A growing list of businesses, cities, counties and other groups either stopped flying the flag or asked leaders to change it. Religious leaders spoken out, saying changing the flag was a “moral issue.” The NCAA, SEC, and Conference USA this month took action to ban postseason play in Mississippi until the flag was changed.
“As an African American man born in 1958, I grew up as a child of the Civil Rights Movement,” said Rep. Robert Johnson, D-Natchez and House Democratic leader. “All the things I heard from those men at the podium – that none of us went up to speak about because we’ve been saying it for years – but all those things they talked about, we’ve been feeling for years.”
Johnson began crying and paused for a moment before continuing: “What it means to me is it isn’t just words. They began to understand and feel the same thing I’ve been feeling for 61 years of my life.”
Johnson said Mississippi needs help with many problems, such as poverty and poor health care, but the nation and world “have been reluctant” to work with Mississippi and that removing the flag with a Confederate emblem will help.
“Now that this is gone, they will begin to look and see who the real Mississippi is, and see that we are more than what that flag represents,” Johnson said.
The Senate debate on Sunday lasted about two hours, with several senators arguing that the issue should go to voters instead of being made by lawmakers. Several senators rebutted that argument before passing the bill.
“I think the Mississippi Senate and me personally, we want Mississippi to have a heart and a soul,” said Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann after the vote. “Today she had one.”
The House approved the bill by a vote of 92-23 on Sunday, with eight more House members voting to approve the final bill than they did on a procedural vote on Saturday. The Senate approved the bill by a vote of 37-14, with one more Senate member voting to approve than on Saturday.
“For 100 plus years, we have been living under this flag,” said Sen. David Jordan, D-Greenwood. “We watered this land with our tears and made it rich with our bones, so it’s only fair that we have a symbol that represents us and (does) not remind us of what has happened to us.”
The debate over the state flag captured the close attention of Mississippians for weeks. By the final vote in the Senate on Sunday, the news reverberated across the state. Many prominent Mississippians expressed their appreciation.
“Removal of the Confederate battle flag from our state flag is long overdue,” former Gov. William Winter said in a statement. “I congratulate the Mississippi Legislature on their decisive action today removing this divisive symbol. Along with many committed Mississippians, I have fought for decades to change the flag, most notably during the flag referendum 20 years ago.
“I’m delighted by this positive move,” Winter continued. “I’m especially grateful at age 97 to witness this step forward by the state I love.”
Now attention will turn to the next steps in the process of developing a new state flag. The new design “will not include the Confederate battle flag but shall include the words ‘In God We Trust’,” the bill passed on Sunday reads. Should voters reject that design in November, the commission would present a new option during the 2021 legislative session, according to the resolution.
Gov. Tate Reeves, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and Speaker Philip Gunn will appoint three people each to the commission. The governor’s three appointees must be representatives from the Mississippi Economic Council, the Mississippi Arts Commission, and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Hosemann and Gunn face no specific commission appointment requirements.
The Mississippi Department of Archives and History will have up to 15 days after Reeves signs the bill into law to officially retire the current state flag.
“All eyes are on Mississippi, and today, we have made an historic decision,” said Sen. Angela Turner Ford, chairwoman of the Legislative Black Caucus. “… Today we mark a transition for Mississippi, a day where we can be proud to move forward to adopt a symbol that is inclusive, a symbol that all of us can rally behind … We’ve made a decision to move forward, and I hope Mississippians are proud of that decision.”
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A protester waves the current Mississippi state flag as he sits in front of the Capitol on Saturday. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
Editor’s note: This is a developing story and will be updated throughout the day Sunday.
The House and Senate will begin working on Sunday to remove the Mississippi state flag, which has flown since 1894 and is the last in the nation containing the Confederate battle emblem.
The House of Representatives voted 91-23 to remove the flag. It now moves to the Senate for consideration. Legislative leaders hope the bill will be passed in both chambers by the end of business on Sunday.
Gov. Tate Reeves, who has been careful not to take a hard position on changing the state flag, said he would sign any bill lawmakers send his way.
The bill, authored by House Speaker Philip Gunn, stipulates that the current flag would be immediately removed and a nine-person commission would be created to redesign the state flag. The commission would recommend a new design by Sept. 14, and voters would approve or reject that design on Nov. 3.
The design “would not include the Confederate battle flag but shall include the words ‘In God We Trust’.” Should voters reject that design, the commission would present a new option during the 2021 legislative session, according to the resolution.
Gov. Tate Reeves, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and Speaker Philip Gunn would appoint three people each to the commission. The governor’s three appointees must be a representative from the Mississippi Economic Council, the Mississippi Arts Commission, and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. There are no specific commission appointment requirements for the lieutenant governor or speaker.
The exact details of the bill are subject to change during the legislative process on Sunday. At any point, the bill could be amended to change the process of replacing the flag or even forcing a vote on whether to keep the current flag.
But based on Saturday’s vote on the rules suspension resolution, it appears House and Senate leaders have the votes to ensure the demise of the current flag that has been flying since 1894.
The vote on the controversial issue at this late date in the session is notable. Garnering a two-thirds vote to suspend rules for any reason is difficult, but particularly on the long-contentious state flag issue.
For years, supporters of changing the flag have not been able to garner the simple majority needed to change the controversial banner through the normal legislative process. But the violent death of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis sparked nationwide protests that reached Mississippi and shined new light on the state flag that many view as racist.
And in recent weeks, immense pressure mounted from religious, business, civic, university, sports and other leaders to remove the Confederate emblem from the flag. A growing list of businesses, cities, counties and other groups have either stopped flying the flag or asked leaders to change it. Religious leaders have spoken out, saying changing the flag is a “moral issue.” The NCAA, SEC, and Conference USA this month took action to ban post-season play in the state until the flag is changed.
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Rogelio V. Solis / Associated Press / Pool
Appointed U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., answers a question while Democrat Mike Espy, left, listens during their televised Mississippi U.S. Senate debate in Jackson, Miss., Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, Pool)
Mike Espy has been forced to take some detours from the roadmap he developed last fall to challenge United States Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.
When Espy mapped out his plans to challenge the Republican incumbent, no one had heard of COVID-19 and few people were talking about changing the Mississippi state flag to remove its controversial Confederate battle emblem from its design.
Now both of those issues could be major factors in November when the Democrat Espy and the Republican Hyde-Smith are on the ballot in a rematch from their 2018 special election that was held to replace longtime Sen. Thad Cochran who resigned for health reasons in April 2018 and who died in May 2019.
Bobby Harrison
In 2001, Hyde-Smith was a freshman member of the Mississippi Senate when she voted with the majority and with every white member of the chamber – both Democrats and Republicans – to put on the ballot a choice between the old flag (with the Confederate battle emblem) and a new design. In that election the old flag garnered 64 percent of the vote.
The debate over whether the flag, which many view as divisive, should be replaced re-emerged in recent weeks as protests sprung up across the nation, including Mississippi, over issues of racial injustice.
Of the current debate to change the flag, Hyde-Smith recently released a statement saying, “I appreciate the views of all Mississippians, and hope to continue Mississippi’s forward momentum. Should the people of Mississippi and their elected leaders decide to begin the process of finding a more unifying banner that better represents all Mississippians and the progress we have made as a state, I would support that effort.”
Espy, who in 1986 became the first African American elected to the U.S. House from Mississippi since the Reconstruction Era and later became secretary of agriculture, has for years advocated for a new flag. He is hoping his campaign benefits in November from the current energy behind the effort to change the flag.
Last week Espy was asked to attend a news conference in the state Capitol held by a group of pastors endorsing a flag change.
“First of all what is going on right now with the movement to change the flag is really bigger than the election,” he said. “This moment is unmistakable. I think we as a state need to take advantage of this moment and change the flag.”
But as it relates to the election, he said, “I love what I am seeing. There is an energy for change. I want to be that change in Mississippi.”
Despite the energy that Espy hopes will coalesce behind his campaign, he faces a daunting challenge.
Like Espy, Hyde-Smith is a historic figure in Mississippi politics as the first woman elected to national office. And Republicans, facing difficult Senate elections in other states, will make the re-election of Hyde-Smith a priority as they strive to maintain their Senate majority. But will there be traditional Hyde-Smith supporters, who are strong proponents of the old flag, who stay away from the polls in November because she was not tough enough on the issue of keeping the flag?
Espy will need to ensure a heavy turnout among the state’s African American voters while making inroads with white voters that he was not able to make in 2018.
Espy had planned to spend much of the early part of 2020 traveling the state, meeting people and trying to build grassroots support among both Black and white Mississippians. The pandemic has forced Espy to a large extent to rely on internet meetings to try to build that support. He is having multiple internet town halls and last week was on an internet conference with 700 Mississippi pastors whom, he said, are supporting his campaign.
Hyde-Smith also has had to deal with the limitations placed on her campaign by the coronavirus but is doing so as the incumbent and the heavy favorite to maintain her seat.
“Yes, we are gearing up the campaign now that the state has reopened,” Hyde-Smith campaign spokesperson Justin Brasell recently said. “She has already held some telephone town halls and we will be opening campaign field offices in the near future.”
The coronavirus is not only impacting campaigning, but could affect voter turnout in November.
Despite the threat the coronavirus could pose, it appears the Legislature will not take the steps most other states have taken to enhance early voting, both in person and by mail, to help reduce the long lines at the precincts on election day.
In other words, the coronavirus could negatively impact turnout. In 2018, Hyde-Smith defeated Espy by almost 66,000 votes or 53.6 percent to 46.4 percent.
Whether the energy from the flag or the fear over the COVID-19 crisis could change the outcome remains to be seen.
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Contact tracing has been a somewhat controversial tool for fighting coronavirus in the US. American consumers wanted privacy to be preserved, so Apple and Google set about devising an API that could help track potential Covid-19 outbreaks while keeping users’ identities anonymous. But what many of us seemed to forget during conversations about contact tracing is that we’re already living under a digital microscope, with multiple companies following and recording our every move.
Indeed, just going about our daily routines can generate hundreds of data points, from where we went to how much time we spent there to what we bought, ate, or drank. Essentially, we’re freely giving away all kinds of data to companies that analyze, package, sell, and profit from it—not just every day, but every hour.
Former Democratic presidential candidate and entrepreneur Andrew Yang wants to change this, and he’s rolling out a framework to do so. Yang is most well-known for his support of a universal basic income of $1,000 a month for every American. UBI would be a central tenet of building what he calls a human-centered economy, which entails a form of capitalism that measures economic success by peoples’ well-being rather than by corporate profits or GDP.
Putting lower-earning citizens on a more equal basis from which to pursue opportunities is one piece of a human-centered economy—that’s where UBI comes in. Dismantling the systems that allow big companies to rake in billions while the average Joe lives paycheck to paycheck is another piece—and that’s where Yang’s newly-launched Data Dividend Project (DDP) comes in.
On its website, the DDP is described as “a movement dedicated to taking back control of our personal data.” There’s not a ton of information about how the project is going to accomplish this, but it seems like a big part of it is raising awareness and mobilizing people; as the site states more than once, individual consumers can’t do much to fight big companies or request payment for data, and the more people involved, the more leverage they’re likely to have. Yang’s ultimate goal is for Americans to be able to claim their data as a property right and get paid for it if they choose to share it.
By signing up, you give the DDP permission to act as an authorized agent to exercise your legal rights under the recently-enacted California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The act went into effect on January 1 of this year, and it gives consumers in California the right to know how their personal data is being collected and shared, the right to request that their data be deleted, and the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of their personal information. The act also prohibits businesses from selling the personal info of consumers under age 16 without explicit consent.
The law only covers California right now, but Maine and Nevada recently passed similar bills, and according to the DDP’s website, 10 other states are considering doing so. If you sign up and your state doesn’t yet have a relevant bill, you’ll be notified when (or if) one is passed in the future. Europe is a couple years ahead of the US; its General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect in May of 2018.
According to the DDP’s website, data brokering is a $200 billion industry. “We are completely outgunned by tech companies,” Yang told The Verge. “We’re just presented with these terms and conditions. No one ever reads them. You just click on them and hope for the best. And unfortunately, the best has not happened.”
Yang has a point. When was the last time you thoroughly read the terms and conditions—and understood all the legal gibberish therein—before signing up for a service or downloading an app?
Oh, never? Same here.
But Yang’s Data Dividend quest is likely to be an uphill battle. There’s some serious distance between having the right to know how your data is being collected and getting cash in your pocket from the companies collecting it.
A philosophy called dataism, first described in 2013, takes the opposite stance: dataists advocate for handing over as much information and power as possible to data-driven algorithms, thus allowing the free flow of data to unlock unprecedented innovation and progress.
In a pretty big way, we’re all benefiting from the way companies use our data; we get to use apps and services for “free” and the providers get our data in exchange. They then use that data to (among other things, of course) improve the product.
GPS apps, for example, are free to use, and they save us time and stress. We’ve accepted the fact that they may be tracking or recording our movements as part of the deal, and most of us would rather give up that data than pay for the app. Similarly, Facebook is a free, easy way to keep in touch with your friends, and those of us who use it have tacitly agreed to let the platform collect all kinds of information about us in exchange.
The catch, though, is that especially in Facebook’s case, most of us didn’t realize just how far this went until it was too late to do anything about it (other than deleting your account, but even that wouldn’t erase years’ worth of data already collected).
Last year’s Netflix movie The Great Hack detailed the dark side of data collection, centered around the 2016 Cambridge Analytica scandal. The movie describes how “psychometric profiles” exist for you, me, and all of our friends. The data collected from our use of digital services can be packaged in a way that gives companies insight into our habits, preferences, and even our personalities. With this information, they can do anything from show us an ad for a pair of shoes we’ll probably like to try to change our minds about which candidate to vote for in an election.
With so much of our data already out there, plus the fact that most of us will likely keep using the free apps we’ve enjoyed for years, could it be too late to try to fundamentally change the way this model works?
Maybe not. Think of it this way: we have a long, increasingly automated and digitized future ahead of us, and data is only going to become more important, valuable, and powerful with time. There’s a line (which some would say we’ve already crossed) beyond which the amount of data companies have access to and the way they can manipulate it for their benefit will become eerie and even dystopian.
So have at it, Mr. Yang. Though they say the best things in life are free, the reality is that most things come with a cost—monetary or otherwise.
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Good Monday morning everyone! Today will be hot with temperatures in the low-to-mid 90’s and heat index values in the triple digits! Most will stay dry, but isolated afternoon storms are possible. Tonight, will be mostly cloudy with a 30% chance of showers an thunderstorms, mainly after midnight with a low around 74…Stay cool, hydrated!
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The House and Senate are expected to act quickly this weekend to remove the Mississippi state flag, the last in the nation containing the Confederate battle emblem, after clearing the procedural path on Saturday.
The bill to remove the current flag and begin the process of adopting a new one will require only simple majorities in both chambers to pass. Procedural votes on Saturday required a more difficult two-thirds majority in both chambers to pass.
“I think it was a historic moment in our state and it was the right thing to do,” said House Speaker Philip Gunn, who in the summer of 2015 surprised his Republican House majority caucus when he announced his support for changing the flag.
“The bottom line is the image of our state hangs in the balance,” Gunn said. “We talk about the business impact, the economic impact. All those things are real, but the bottom line is this is just the right thing to do.”
A couple hours after the historic 85-35 House vote to suspend the rules in the House on Saturday, the Senate followed suit, passing the resolution 36-14. Leaders say the Legislature will begin the next step on Sunday.
“You’ll see us come back tomorrow and we’ll start the process of adopting the actual bill itself,” said Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann. “We have many steps to take yet. But the first step in that journey was taken today.”
The resolution states a commission would be created to redesign the state flag. The commission would recommend a new design by Sept. 14, and voters would approve or reject that design on Nov. 3.
The design “would not include the Confederate battle flag but shall include the words ‘In God We Trust’,” the resolution stated. Should voters reject that design, the commission would present a new option during the 2021 legislative session, according to the resolution.
Now that the path has been cleared to consider a bill, the exact details of it are subject to change during the legislative process. At any point, the bill could be amended to change the process of replacing the flag or even forcing a vote on whether to keep the current flag.
But based on Saturday’s vote on the rules suspension resolution, it appears House and Senate leaders have the votes to ensure the demise of the current flag that has been flying since 1894.
The House passed the resolution on Saturday that would suspend the chamber’s rules so that lawmakers can consider the bill to remove and change the flag. Immediately afterwards, it went to the floor for a vote and passed 85-35. All Democrats and both independents voted for the change, and 38 Republicans voted for the proposal compared to the 35 no votes in the caucus.
“The eyes of the state, the nation and indeed the world are on us and what we do today,” said House Speaker Pro Tem Jason White, R-West, who presented the resolution to the floor. “Whether we like it or not the Confederate emblem on our state flag is viewed by many as a symbol of hate. There is no getting around that fact.”
Before the resolution went to a vote on the House floor, the discussion was not contentious — members listened attentively and some even recorded on their phones. Dozens of Mississippians who had tried but failed to sit in the House gallery to watch the historic vote sat in the Capitol hallways watching live streams on their phones. When the final House vote occurred, cheers and applause echoed throughout the building.
Rep. Ed Blackmon, D-Canton, spoke about how he was on the flag commission for the 2001 referendum, and how that turned out “not as an exploration of ideas, but an expression of hurt and hatred and divisiveness and racial discord.”
“Some of you when you come in here don’t notice that flag up in the corner,” Blackmon said. “There’s some of us who notice it every time we walk in here and it is not a good feeling … It ought to be something that fills us with a sense of pride, so we know it’s about us, not just some of us.”
The Senate passed the same resolution a couple hours later through its Rules committee and later on the Senate floor.
All 16 Senate Democrats voted for the resolution to change the banner. Of the 36 Senate Republicans, 20 voted for the resolution while 14 voted no and two did not vote.
Sen. Briggs Hopson, R-Vicksburg, who explained the resolution on the floor one day after his father’s funeral, said the state was at a crossroads and that he understood how many believed the flag represented the state’s heritage.
But, he said, “I believe for the future of this state the best thing we can do is change this flag.”
In days leading up to the vote, state Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Ellisville, assured reporters and his thousands of social media followers that he’d secured enough Senate votes to kill the resolution. McDaniel spoke for several minutes against the resolution from the Senate floor, shortly before most of those senators he thought he’d won over voted to pass it.
“People here will paint me as a terrible human being,” McDaniel said. “The only thing I’m asking for is the right of the people to decide this issue for themselves. I don’t see how that makes me a racist.”
Sen. David Jordan, D-Greenwood, a veteran of the Civil Rights movement who’s served in the Legislature for nearly three decades, was emotional as he approached a group of fellow lawmakers at the well of the Senate after Saturday’s vote.
“I never thought I would see this,” Jordan said. “It’s different than it was in 2001.”
Sen. Barbara Blackmon, D-Canton, and Sen. Hillman Frazier, D-Jackson, spoke in favor of the resolution from the floor. Blackmon likened Saturday’s vote to historic moments great and terrible, including President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.
“I never thought I would see this flag come down in my lifetime,” Blackmon said.
The vote on the controversial issue at this late date in the session is notable. Garnering a two-thirds vote to suspend rules for any reason is difficult, but particularly on the long-contentious state flag issue.
For years, supporters of changing the flag have not been able to garner the simple majority needed to change the controversial banner through the normal legislative process. But the violent death of George Floyd, an African American man, in Minneapolis sparked nationwide protests that reached Mississippi and shined new light on the state flag that many view as racist.
And in recent weeks, immense pressure mounted from religious, business, civic, university, sports and other leaders to remove the Confederate emblem from the flag. A growing list of businesses, cities, counties and other groups have either stopped flying the flag or asked leaders to change it. Religious leaders have spoken out, saying changing the flag is a “moral issue.” The NCAA, SEC, and Conference USA this month took action to ban post-season play in the state until the flag is changed.
Pointing to the state flag in the ornate House chamber, Rep. Blackmon guessed many white members did not even notice it when they walked into the chamber.
“But there are some of us who notice it every time we walk in here,” Rep. Blackmon said. “It is not a good feeling.”
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Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today
The Mississippi state flag flies in Florence, Miss., on Thursday, June 25, 2020.
The House of Representatives on Saturday began the legislative process to remove the Mississippi state flag, which features the Confederate battle emblem.
Later in the afternoon, the Senate Rules committee passed the resolution. It awaits approval before the entire Senate chamber. A Senate vote is expected Saturday afternoon.
House vote on HCR 79
The House passed the resolution that would suspend the chamber’s rules so that lawmakers can consider a bill that would remove and change the flag. Immediately afterwards, it went to the floor for a vote and passed 85-35. All Democrats and both independents voted for the change, and 38 Republicans voted for the proposal compared to the 35 no votes in the caucus.
“The eyes of the state, the nation and indeed the world are on us and what we do today,” said House Speaker Pro Tem Jason White, R-West, who presented the resolution to the floor. “Whether we like it or not the Confederate emblem on our state flag is viewed by many as a symbol of hate. There is no getting around that fact.”
The resolution states a commission would be created to redesign the state flag. The commission would recommend a new design by Sept. 14 and voters would vote on it a special election on Nov. 3.
“I think it was a historic moment in our state and it was the right thing to do,” said House Speaker Philip Gunn, who in the summer of 2015 surprised his Republican House majority caucus when he announced his support for changing the flag.
“The bottom line is the image of our state hangs in the balance,” Gunn said. “We talk about the business impact, the economic impact. All those things are real, but the bottom line is this is just the right thing to do.”
The design “would not include the Confederate battle flag but shall include the words “In God We Trust.”” Should voters reject that design, the commission would present a new option during the 2021 legislative session, according to the resolution.
“We cannot carry the banner for freedom in one hand and the banner of hate in another,” White said. “It does not work that way.”
Later in the afternoon, the Senate Rules committee passed the resolution. It will now head to the Senate floor, where it requires a two-thirds approval (35 of 52 Senate members) to pass.
In the House, only one lawmaker — Rep. Jeffrey Guice, R-Ocean Springs — attempted to add an amendment to the resolution to take the issue to the ballot for a statewide referendum rather than the Legislature taking action to remove the flag.
“If people don’t get a chance to vote on this we will see (citizen-sponsored) referendum after referendum,” Guice said.
The amendment failed on a loud voice vote.
Gil Ford Photography
Rep. Ed Blackmon, D-Canton
Before the resolution went to a vote the discussion was not contentious — members listened attentively and some even recorded on their phones. Rep. Ed Blackmon, D-Canton, spoke about how he was on the flag commission for the 2001 referendum, and how that turned out, “not as an exploration of ideas, but an expression of hurt and hatred and divisiveness and racial discord.”
“Some of you when you come in here don’t notice that flag up in the corner,” Blackmon said. “There’s some of us who notice it every time we walk in here and it is not a good feeling … It ought to be something that fills us with a sense of pride, so we know it’s about us, not just some of us.”
Prior to the vote, sources close to House leadership said if the rules suspension passes, they will file and pass a bill that would immediately remove the state flag.
The resolution required a two-thirds majority (82 out of 122 members) of the House. It was passed with immediate release, meaning it could move to the Senate committee and then the Senate chamber, where it also requires a two-thirds majority in the Senate (35 out of 52 members).
If both the House and Senate approve the suspension resolution, lawmakers can take up an actual bill that would remove or replace the state flag. Those considerations would require just a simple majority in both chambers to pass (62 of 122 House members, 27 of 52 Senate members).
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Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today
The Mississippi state flag flies in downtown Jackson on Thursday, June 25, 2020.
Gov. Tate Reeves, who has been opposed to the Legislature changing the flag without a popular vote in a referendum, declared on social media on Saturday morning: “If they send me a bill this weekend, I will sign it.”
Reeves made the comment as lawmakers arrived at the Capitol Saturday morning, when lawmakers have been planning to begin the legislative process to address the flag on Saturday.
“The argument over the 1894 flag has become as divisive as the flag itself and it’s time to end it,” Reeves said. He said uniting the state after the flag debate will be difficult and vowed to “work night and day to do it.”
“It will be harder than recovering from tornadoes, harder than historic floods, harder than agency corruption, or prison riots are the coming hurricane season — even harder than battling the coronavirus,” Reeves said in his statement.
The legislative process to change the flag, which could begin at any point at leaders’ discretion, is expected to begin on Saturday in the House. Before lawmakers can change the flag, they must first pass a rules suspension resolution.
The resolution requires a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate (82 out of 122 House members, 35 out of 52 Senate members) to pass.
If both the House and Senate approve the suspension resolution, they can take up the actual bill that would remove or replace the state flag. Those considerations would require just a simple majority in both chambers to pass (62 of 122 House members, 27 of 52 Senate members).
The House Rules committee met Saturday morning with the expectation from many that members would take up legislation to suspend the rules. But that did not happen Saturday morning.
“I don’t have the green light,” Turner told reporters after the meeting adjourned. When asked whether his committee would take up the issue on Saturday, Turner said: “I don’t know.”
As of Saturday morning, there is still no consensus between House and Senate leadership over how, exactly, they will press forward with a bill to remove the flag. Many, including former Gov. Phil Bryant and U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, have expressed support for a flag displaying the state seal, which includes the phrase “In God We Trust.” The influential Mississippi Economic Council, the state’s chamber of commerce, appeared to back that design with its release of a poll this week.
Legislative leaders have also discussed removing the current flag this session and forming a commission to develop multiple replacement designs to be placed on a ballot for a vote.
Several Republican lawmakers who had been on the fence or against the Legislature changing the flag had “road to Damascus” moments in the days and hours leading up to Saturday’s voting.
Sen. Joel Carter, R-Gulfport, on social media said: “I’ve personally struggled with the words to say about the State Flag. The reason is because I’ve seen over the last couple of days, the internal struggles legislators face with this landmark vote. I’ve also had conversations with Mississippians on both sides of the argument.
“I was elected to be a leader, not a follower … It’s past time to retire the current state flag … Let’s find a way to make this happen and move forward together.”
Rep. Jody Steverson, R-Ripley, posted: “After serious thought and consideration, I have made the decision to vote in favor of retiring the state flag. Our State faces serious economic impact if we continue flying our current flag, a flag that doesn’t unite all the people of Mississippi but divides us.
“Several options have been discussed by the leaders of our State, but the implications of not removing the current flag could not wait until a referendum could be placed on the ballot.”
Sen. Jeremy England, R-Vancleave, posted: “Thank you for your continued prayers and if you disagree with me, I hope you can at least respect me in my decisions. It’s time we change our flag in Mississippi.”
Rep. Karl Oliver, R-Winona, in a 2017 social media post said that those who support the removal of Confederate monuments should be “lynched.” In recent weeks, he declined to comment on the flag issue.
But on Thursday, Oliver issued a statement that said: “I am choosing to attempt to unite our state and ask each of you to join me in supporting a flag that creates unity — now is the time.” Oliver’s statement said the flag issue is growing “more divisive by the day” and “History will record the position I chose.”
But other lawmakers have remained steadfast in opposition to the Legislature changing the flag without a popular vote in referendum.
“The people deserve a vote,” Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Ellisville, who is helping lead opposition to the vote in the Senate said. “People matter more than politicians.”
In the House on Saturday, opponents to the Legislature changing the flag were gearing up to offer numerous amendments to any flag change bill, with the strategy that forcing vote after vote on the issue might make some lawmakers lukewarm on change peel away.
Protesters both for and against changing the flag were outside and in the Capitol on Saturday morning as lawmakers arrived.
A growing list of businesses, cities, counties and other groups have either stopped flying the flag or asked leaders to change it. Religious leaders have spoken out, saying changing the flag is a “moral issue.” The NCAA, SEC, and Conference USA this month took action to ban post-season play in the state until the flag is changed.
The post Gov. Tate Reeves: If Legislature passes bill to change state flag, ‘I will sign it’ appeared first on Mississippi Today.
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