Mississippi lawmakers voted Sunday to retire the Confederate battle emblem from its state flag, following widespread increased pressure that came in part from the world of sports.
Mississippi’s House and Senate voted in succession Sunday afternoon to retire the flag, with broad bipartisan support. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves has said he will sign the bill, and the state flag would lose its official status as soon as he signs the measure.
Mississippi is the only state flag that continues to feature the banner of the Confederacy — a blue cross with 13 white stars. The state has faced pressure to change its flag during the past month amid international protests against racial injustice in the United States.
Earlier this month, NASCAR banned the Confederate flag at its races two days after Bubba Wallace, the lone Black driver in NASCAR’s three national series, called for the organization to remove it.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey threatened on June 18 to not host any future conference championship events in Mississippi until the state changes its flag. The SEC last ran a championship event in Mississippi in May 2016.
A day after the SEC’s warning, the NCAA expanded its Confederate flag policy on June 19 to prohibit all its championship events from being held in the states where the flag is flown.
“There is no place in college athletics or the world for symbols or acts of discrimination and oppression,” Michael V. Drake, chair of the NCAA board of governors and Ohio State president, said in a statement.
In 2015, the NCAA allowed South Carolina to host championships again after the state stopped flying the Confederate flag at its state Capitol, following the murder of nine members of the historically black Emanuel African Methodist Church in Charleston.
Last Thursday, Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin and Mississippi State coach Mike Leach were part of a contingent from the schools that addressed the state legislature lobbying for the Confederate emblem’s removal.
“We removed the flag from our campus five years ago, so we’ve made it clear that it doesn’t represent who we are at Ole Miss,” Kiffin told ESPN. “Today is another big step in doing our part to move the state forward and ensure a more welcoming environment for everyone. This is extremely important to me and to our players. Time to change!”
Former Ole Miss guard Blake Hinson said last week that the Confederate symbol played a role in his decision to transfer to Iowa State.
Republican House Speaker Philip Gunn, who is white, has pushed for five years to change the flag, saying that the Confederate symbol is offensive. The House passed the bill 91-23 Sunday afternoon, and the Senate passed it 37-14 later.
Once the governor signs off, a commission would design a new flag that cannot include the Confederate symbol and that must have the words “In God We Trust.” Voters will be asked to approve the new design in the Nov. 3 election. If they reject it, the commission will set a different design using the same guidelines, and that would be sent to voters later.
The Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups have waved the rebel flag for decades. Georgia put the battle emblem prominently on its state flag in 1956, during a backlash to the civil rights movement. That state removed the symbol from its banner in 2001.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.