Renewed controversy over Mississippi’s flag has put pressure on state lawmakers to take a stand on calls to scrub Confederate battle emblem from the state banner.
Long an issue on the back burner, the debate over the flag has burst into the open since House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, said it was “a point of offense that needs to be removed” on Monday.
The Commonwealth reached out to Greenwood-area lawmakers running for re-election for their stances on the issue.
Sen. David Jordan, D-Greenwood, said he was “impressed” with Gunn’s comments and hoped that lawmakers would vote to dump the current flag when the Legislature reconvenes in January.
“It gives me a lot of hope for changing it when the speaker of the House has enough courage to come out and say that,” said Jordan, who backed the 2001 effort to redraw the flag. “It is a positive step in the direction of getting it done.”
Debate about the use of former Confederate symbols in the South has been rekindled in the wake of a deadly and apparently racially motivated church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, last week.
Fellow Sen. Lydia Chassaniol, R-Winona, was more circumspect on the issue. In a 290-word statement in response to Gunn’s comments, Chassaniol did not directly address the issue.
Instead, Chassaniol wrote that the focus on the Confederate battle flag — which forms part of the Mississippi state flag and has been under fire in other Southern states as well — was “a symbol rather than the substance of this matter.”
Chassaniol wrote that “every flag that flies near our state capitol has a long and bloody history.”
“Will removing a flag solve the problems of violence, ignorance, racial discord or poverty in our state and country?” Chassaniol wrote. “If I thought the answer were yes, I’d say take them all down.”
Chassaniol did not respond to follow-up questions about her stance.
Rep. Willie Perkins, D-Greenwood, could not be reached Tuesday or this morning. Rep. Kevin Horan, D-Grenada, was not immediately available for comment.
• Contact Bryn Stole at 581-7235 or bstole@gwcommonwealth.com.
