The Mississippi State Flag Controversy Continues
Regardless of the recent pressure Mississippi has faced to change its state flag, the governor and other legislators stand firm in keeping the design of their current flag. It is the only flag to still have the original Confederate battle flag on it, although nearly every other Southern state’s flag resembles one of the five Confederate flags.
The controversy over the flag, as well as all things Confederate, began with a fervor in June 2015, when whack job Dylan Roof, a supposed “avowed Confederate sympathizer,” committed mass murder. Prior to the tragedy, he stupidly posed with a tiny Confederate flag, and the photo was posted on Facebook before he committed his heinous crime. For some reason, the Confederate flag was to blame, as was everything else associated with the Southern cause, including monuments that have stood for a century or more in their respective places.
Mississippi Judge Carlos Moore proclaims that he will not allow the Mississippi state flag in his chambers. And many state-supported educational institutions, including Ole Miss, have stopped flying the state flag for politically correct reasons. Judge Moore says the flag is a “treacherous emblem,” and “stands for murder, rapings and lynchings of his ancestors.” (How a piece of cloth can represent all that is beyond me. We’d better do away with the Union Jack, then, and every other country’s flag, for all the horrible atrocities they represent from the past.) It seems Judge Moore can’t blame the true culprits, so he is indirectly blaming the flag instead. And he is attempting to use his power to do away with the Mississippi state flag.
He is publicly supporting Ms. Lauren Stennis, granddaughter of pro-segregationist Senator John C. Stennis. Lauren has created a different state flag. I won’t post a photo of her creation, because I think it’s ugly and unrepresentative of the great state of Mississippi.
Professor Diedre Owens says, “the flag of Mississippi should not include any symbols that have been coupled by hate groups or terrorist organizations.” (Excuse me, but doesn’t that include the Stars and Stripes? Yeah, it does.) She even goes so far as to compare Mississippi’s flag to Naziism. This is wrong on so many levels. Attacking Southern heritage by destroying monuments and changing flags is much more closely related to Naziism. We need to stop twisting the truth and embrace it instead.
J.D.R. Hawkins 