Mississippi lawmakers take steps to remove the Confederate battle emblem from state flag

JACKSON, Miss. -- Spectators at the Mississippi Capitol broke into applause Saturday as lawmakers took the first steps toward erasing the Confederate battle emblem from the state flag, a symbol that has come under intensifying criticism in recent weeks amid nationwide protests against racial injustice.

"The eyes of the state, the nation and indeed the world are on this House," the second-ranking office in the Mississippi House, Jason White, told his colleagues.

The House voted by more than the required two-thirds majority to suspend legislative deadlines and file a bill to change the flag. The Senate was expected to vote on the suspension later Saturday. That would allow debate on a bill as soon as Sunday.

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said Saturday for the first time that he would sign a bill to change the flag if the Republican-controlled Legislature sends him one. He had previously said that he would not veto one - a more passive stance.

"The legislature has been deadlocked for days as it considers a new state flag," Reeves said on social media. "The argument over the 1894 flag has become as divisive as the flag itself and it's time to end it. If they send me a bill this weekend, I will sign it."

A bill will only need a simple majority to pass the House and Senate. It will say that the current flag will be removed from state law. A commission would design a new flag that cannot include the Confederate battle emblem but must include the phrase "In God We Trust." The new design would be put on the ballot Nov. 3. If a majority voting that day accept the new design, it would become the state flag. If a majority reject it, the commission would design a new flag using the same guidelines.

"I know there are many good people who ... believe that this flag is a symbol of our Southern pride and heritage," said White, the Republican speaker pro tempore of the House. "But for most people throughout our nation and the world, they see that flag and think that it stands for hatred and oppression."

Republican Rep. Chris Brown of Nettleton appeared at a 2016 rally outside the state Capitol for people who want to keep the Confederate emblem on the flag. He said Saturday that the current flag and a proposed new design should both go on the ballot.

"I don't think we can move forward together if we say, 'you can have any flag you want except ... this one,'" Brown said. "If we put the current flag on the ballot with another good design, the people of Mississippi will change it. I believe that. Let's not steal their joy. They want to show the world that they're moving on.

Mississippi has the last state flag that includes the Confederate battle emblem - a red field topped by a blue X with 13 white stars.

The battle emblem has been in the upper-left corner of the Mississippi flag since 1894. White supremacists in the Legislature put it there during backlash to the political power that African Americans gained after the Civil War.

The Mississippi Supreme Court ruled in 2000 that the flag lacked official status. State laws were updated in 1906, and portions dealing with the flag were not carried forward. Legislators set a flag election in 2001, and voters kept the rebel-themed design.

Democratic state Rep. Ed Blackmon of Canton told the House on Saturday that threats were made against him and others who served on a flag design commission in 2000. Blackmon, who is African American, said Mississippi needs a design without the Confederate design so his children and grandchildren can stand at attention when they see it.

"We'll all be proud to say, 'That's my flag, too,'" Blackmon said.

The current flag has remained divisive in a state with a 38% Black population. All of the state's public universities and several cities and counties have stopped flying it because of the Confederate symbol.

Influential business, religious, education and sports groups are calling on Mississippi to drop the Confederate symbol. Flag supporters say the banner should be left alone or put on the statewide ballot for voters to decide its fate.

People for and against the current flag filled the Capitol on Saturday.

Karen Holt of Edwards, Mississippi, was with several people asking lawmakers to adopt a new banner with a magnolia, which is both the state tree and the state flower. She said it would represent "joy of being a citizen of the United States," unlike the current flag.

"We don't want anything flying over them, lofty, exalting itself, that grabs onto a deadly past," Holt said.

Dan Hartness of Ellisville, Mississippi, walked outside the Capitol carrying a pole that with the American flag and the current Mississippi flag. He said the state flag pays tribute to those who fought in the Civil War.

"Being a veteran, that's important to me - that you remember these guys that fought in battle, whether they're on the right side or the wrong side," Hartness said.