Then there was one: Mississippi is last state to fly the Confederate flag

BILOXI –When South Carolina removed the Confederate flag from the state Capitol in a historic ceremony Friday morning, the nation’s eyes turned to Mississippi, the last state to fly the emblem on public buildings.

As the national NAACP convention was set to convene Saturday in Philadelphia, NAACP leaders from Mississippi were fielding comments about Mississippi being the lone holdout on the Confederate flag, which is incorporated in the state flag.

“It’s embarrassing to me to have to talk about it,” said James Crowell, president of the Biloxi Branch. “I’ve lived in Mississippi all my life.”

He hopes the Legislature will adopt a new state flag and relegate the Confederate battle flag to museums. Gov. Phil Bryant and Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, who hold sway over state legislation, oppose its removal without a statewide vote.

“They’re more concerned about being re-elected than they are about what needs to happen,” Crowell said. “Do like South Carolina did. Go ahead and let the Legislature vote on it, come up with a new flag and let’s move on to other issues we need to tackle, like education and Medicaid expansion.”

Supporters of the current flag seem to have the upper hand in Jackson. House Speaker Phil Gunn believes the flag needs to be changed, but Bryant and Reeves don’t and either of them could easily kill any bill that threatens the flag.

In a prepared statement Friday, state NAACP president Derrick Johnson commended South Carolina for taking down the Confederate flag and urged Mississippi to do the same.

For many black Mississippians, the Confederate flag symbolizes dark days in the state and nation’s history.

“It represents hatred,” Crowell said. “It represents slavery. It represents everything negative about the South.”

Marc Allen, public affairs officer for Sons of Confederate Veterans, Mississippi Division, said the state flag adopted in 1894 is a flag of reconciliation.

“We don’t see any reason why it should change whatsoever,” he said. He said the flag is “revered” in Southern culture, which is the reason hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and Aryan Brotherhood try to co-opt the flag.

“Those groups have misused the flag in an attempt to legitimize their existence,” he said. “There’s nothing unholy about the Confederate Battle Flag.”

But two individuals who are descendants of Confederate president Jefferson Davis believe the Confederate flag should be removed from public spaces. Davis descendant and South Carolina Rep. Jenny Horne tearfully argued for its removal before the vote. Gulfport resident Bertram Hayes, who previously managed the last home of Jefferson Davis, a Biloxi tourist attraction known as Beauvoir, has said the flag creates division and should be changed.

Beauvoir’s current general manager, Greg Stewart, said admissions are up, which he sees as support for the flag and the state’s history.

He said he sees removing the flag from the South Carolina capitol as an empty gesture toward blacks.

“They’ll never give them what they deserve, what they’re entitled to, which is respect,” Stewart said, “They got nothing. It was just a flag. Nothing has changed and nothing will. But they’ll throw a flag at your feet.”

He believes any attempts to replace Mississippi’s will come to nothing, as they did 14 years ago, when voters defeated a referendum to adopt a new flag without the Confederate emblem by a 65 percent margin.

This story was originally published July 11, 2015 at 3:53 PM with the headline "Then there was one: Mississippi is last state to fly the Confederate flag."