By Brendan O’Brien
(Reuters) – Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves is expected on Tuesday to sign a bill into law that would replace the current state flag that includes a Confederate emblem, a gesture triggered by support across the U.S. to dismantle symbols of slavery and racism.
The removal of the flag, a long-simmering source of controversy in one of the breakaway Southern states that fought in the 1860’s American Civil War, follows the death of George Floyd, a Black man killed while in police custody in Minnesota.
His death has sparked nationwide protests against racial injustice and police brutality, and revived demands for the removal of statues of Confederate leaders, Christopher Columbus and others considered symbols of racism and colonial oppression.
The measure the Mississippi’s first-term Republican governor will sign will also create a commission to design a new state flag. Voters will have the opportunity to approve the design in November, according to a statement from Reeves’ office.
Reeves is scheduled to make remarks about the “momentous occasion about the importance of unity and moving forward together as a state,” the statement said.
The state flag, which prominently features the so-called Confederate battle flag, had flown above the state Capitol building in Jackson for 126 years. It was taken down this weekend after state lawmakers approved the bill, according to local media.
In the 19th century, Southern states, faced with the prospect of having to give up slavery, formed the Confederacy and broke away from the United States, leading to the 1861-1865 Civil War.
Symbols of the failed rebellion were erected throughout the South during the years of racial segregation and violence known as Jim Crow era, and despite years of progress and civil rights for Black Americans, many states resisted removing them.
(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
