In a powerful step that underscores the growing moves against a symbol considered by many to symbolise racism and discrimination, the University of Mississippi – commonly known as Ole Miss – lowered the flag on its Oxford campus.
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Associated Student Body Senator Allen Coon co-authored Resolution 15-13, the initial resolution calling the University to cease flying the flag because of its Confederate symbols.
Stocks said the Ole Miss community came to the realization that the Confederate battle flag does not represent the university’s core values. That was around the same time actor Morgan Freeman, author John Grisham, musician Jimmy Buffett and others signed a letter calling on the state to come up with a new flag. He tells CNN he was disappointed to see the flag taken down. “It also serves as a barrier around the entire state of Mississippi telling everyone else in this country that progress is not welcomed here”.
A Mississippi cheerleader runs along the end zone with an oversized Ole Miss flag following a score in the second half of an NCAA college football game in Oxford, Miss., Saturday, October 10, 2015.
Debate over Confederate symbols rekindled across the nation – but particularly in the South – in the wake of the mass shooting at a historic black church in Charleston, S.C., in June.
“As Interim Chancellor Stocks has said, our state needs a flag that speaks to who we are”.
“I think that it is an fantastic thing to happen to us today”, said Ole Miss NAACP Vice-President Tysianna Marino. The state’s capital, Jackson, hasn’t flown the Mississippi flag in over a decade.
Despite this, Confederate symbolism remains in state flags in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, and Florida. During the Civil Rights movement, Mississippi, including the University of Mississippi, was a major hotspot for activity. “I think it’s time we all move forward together”.
The University of Mississippi, long a home to controversy over Confederate iconography, removed the state flag from its campus on Monday. It lacks the Confederate battle emblem, and its most prominent feature is a magnolia tree.
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Mississippi Republican Governor Phil Bryant has rejected calls by a few state leaders to call a special legislative session to address the issue. Residents chose to keep the flag during a 2001 statewide vote and supporters of the emblem says it represents history and heritage. As an enforcement mechanism, a Mississippi citizen may petition the Mississippi Supreme Court for a writ of mandamus requiring the State, its political subdivisions, their agents, officers, or employees to comply with the amendment. And he said the publicly funded institution should respect the law of today.
