J.D.R. Hawkins

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Archive for the category “Mississippi”

08 Mar 2016

Mississippi Stands Firm

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A lawsuit has reignited debate over the presence of Confederate symbols in a Southern state, but in Mississippi, Southerners are mounting a legal defense of their Dixie flag.

A federal complaint filed last week says the Confederate cross on the Mississippi flag is hate speech that endangers African Americans, according to Carlos Moore, a black attorney from Grenada, Miss., who cited the killing last summer of black church-goers in South Carolina.

 

The government of Mississippi is preparing to defend their flag, however. Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R) said voters should decide whether their flag should be redesigned, not a “frivolous attempt to use the federal court system.” The state’s attorney general, Democrat Jim Hood, said his personal belief is that the flag hurts the state and it should change, but that will not prevent him from fulfilling his oath to defend his state’s laws.
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Although several Southern flags reference elements of the Confederate “Stars and Bars,” Mississippi is the last state to keep the secessionist symbol in its entirety. While some Mississippians say flag the reflects poorly on the state’s image, many see it as a symbol of loyalty to their often misunderstood, even maligned, state history.

“It is frustrating that the United States as a whole lumps us all as a bunch of ignorant racists who are uneducated and don’t have shoes and go around having stereotypes about everybody else,” Bess Averett, director of the Southern Cultural Heritage Foundation in Vicksburg, Miss., told The Christian Science Monitor in 2006. “Hey, we have cars and trains like everyone else, so we could leave if we wanted.”

 

In Mississippi, people are digging in their heels in support of both their “Rebel Flag” and self-determination.
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A previous state referendum – in 2001 – showed voters supported keeping the Confederate symbol by nearly a 2 to 1 margin, with a fairly equal voting split coming even from black neighborhoods.

 

Where Mr. Moore sees “state-sanctioned hate speech,” as he wrote in his lawsuit, Southerns see a symbol of their family’s heritage, said Jeremy Gouge, a 44-year-old roofer, who has family ties to the South.

 

“I know there’s things that happened. I can’t control what other people have done,” Mr. Gouge told the Associated Press. “What’s the next flag that someone is going to say, ‘We don’t like that flag, let’s take that one down?'”
(Courtesy of Dixie Heritage Newsletter, 3/3/16)
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21 Jan 2016
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Pro-Flag Rally a Success

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On Tuesday, a rally was held in defense of the Mississippi state flag. Under sunny skies, Mississippians came together in defense of keeping their flag. Several hundred people attended the peaceful rally, which was held on the steps of the State Capitol Building in Jackson. This is contrary to what local reporter, Ross Adams of 16 WAPT News reported. According to Adams, only a dozen people attended, but this was far from true. The video link at the end of this post will attest to that.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans, among other pro-flag groups, invited the public to participate by flying their Mississippi state flags as well as their U.S. flags. The rally was held from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., and the crowd was entertained by a band and numerous speakers.

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“(We) want the Legislature to know (that) there’s a large grassroots support, still, to this day, as there was 16 years ago to keep the current state flag as it is and not change it,” said Ross Aldridge, who is a member of the Dixie Alliance.

The event was prompted after several schools, including state funded University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) and some cities chose to remove the flags for political correctness’ sake.

“The flag from Mississippi represents nothing but evil and dark times of black people over years and years,” said John Christopher Knight, who thinks the flag should be changed.

Mr. Knight seems to be overlooking the fact that Confederate soldiers were fighting to defend their homeland, not slavery. At that time in history, very few were fighting to free slaves, north or south. During the 1960’s, hate groups chose to use the Confederate battle flag as their emblem, and some people still associate that flag with racism. However, the battle flag is just that: a battle flag. Hate groups have also used the U.S. flag as their emblem.

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Mississippi lawmakers might take up the issue in the current legislative session, but so far, there has been no announcement that they will do so. The decision to keep the flag was made several years ago, and to re-vote on something that has already been decided is redundant. Lawmakers should vote on more pressing issues like state crime, industry, and poverty, instead of wasting time rehashing what has already been voted on by the people.

http://wapt.tv/6189BXfff

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