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ACKSON, Miss., April 17 — Faced with a choice between the Old South and the New, the voters of Mississippi today overwhelmingly selected a 107-year-old state flag that contains the Confederate battle cross in its upper corner, leaving their state the only one to display the divisive symbol on an official banner.
With two-thirds of the ballots counted at 10:30 tonight, the vote in the statewide referendum was 66 percent in favor of the current flag and 34 percent in favor of a new flag design with a circle of white stars replacing the cross. The old flag had been considered the state flag since 1894, but last year the State Supreme Court ruled that technically it had not been an official symbol since 1906.
In choosing the current design, voters rejected the argument of many political and business leaders that it was retarding the state's economic progress, limiting outside investment and tourism by projecting a retrograde, backwater image. Many black lawmakers and community leaders have worked for decades to rid the state of a Civil War relic they consider to be a coded emblem of support for racism.
Many voters, in fact, said they supported the current flag precisely because it was opposed by outside interests, fearing that surrendering to such demands would inevitably lead to erosion of what they consider to be the region's heritage.
"I like the old flag. It's silly to change something that's not broke," said Norma Patton, 58, of Flowood, Miss. "Changing it would just hurt race relations. I don't think anything helps that stirs it all up."
Supporters of the new flag said they did not think today's vote would be the last effort to change the flag, although many believed it could be many years before Mississippi joined the rest of the South in putting aside the emblems of its Civil War passions.
"It wasn't a real surprising vote," said Blake Wilson, president of the Mississippi Economic Council, the equivalent of the state chamber of commerce, which helped lead the effort for a new flag. "This is a long- term issue, and the people of Mississippi just need more time to get there."
Former Gov. William F. Winter, who led the commission that designed the new proposal, said that while he was disappointed in the result, he was encouraged by how many voters had supported what he called "a symbol of unity" for the state.
"I hope out of this effort will come an increased understanding of our continuing obligation to work for a Mississippi that has its face turned toward the future and not the past," Mr. Winter said tonight.
Passionate debates over the use of Confederate symbolism have roiled the governments of several Southern states in recent years, after black leaders assembled their growing political power and used the threat of boycotts and legislative stalemates to prod white legislators into action. Within the last year alone, the governments of South Carolina and Georgia have voted to reduce, but not fully eliminate, the official presence of the Confederate symbol, and both did so without consulting voters.
The use of a referendum, in fact, was proposed by battle-flag supporters in both of those states as a way to keep the symbol alive by taking advantage of every Southern state's white and generally conservative majority. But only in Mississippi did the Legislature choose to let the voters decide. At the time of that decision, in January, both sides acknowledged that the Legislature would have voted to keep the Confederate symbol, so supporters of change decided to take their chances at the ballot box.
The campaign that was waged in favor of the new flag, however, deliberately shied from the issues of racial history surrounding the Confederacy, and focused instead almost entirely on the economic argument.
"It's not right that our kids can't find good jobs close to home because companies won't locate in our state, but it's a fact," said one flier mailed by a pro-business political action committee. "They have the wrong idea about Mississippi. A state flag that includes the Confederate flag just adds to those false opinions."
But polls repeatedly showed that voters did not accept the argument that the state's economic future was tied to its banner. Nearly 60 percent of those surveyed in a poll conducted for The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson in February said that keeping the current flag would have no economic impact. The main reasons cited by supporters of that flag were its place in Mississippi history and pride in their Southern heritage.
That sense of pride, however, differed sharply by race, as it has for so many years in so many Southern states. Nearly three-fourths of white residents said they supported the current flag in the poll, while two- thirds of black voters said they preferred the new design, primarily because the current one conveyed to them images of slavery and Ku Klux Klan violence.
Blacks represent only about a third of the state's electorate, and their support alone would not be enough to select a new flag. And despite the rallying efforts of the state's N.A.A.C.P. branch along with many black preachers and political leaders, there were persistent indications throughout the campaign that many black voters did not feel particularly energized about changing the flag and would not turn out in great numbers to the polls. Many black voters told pollsters and reporters that a new flag was hardly a guarantee of a new station in life.
Hezekiah Watkins, 53, the owner of a small grocery store in Jackson, said he was discouraged that many young voters, black and white, seemed to lack interest in the issue.
"I'm from the old school," Mr. Watkins said. "I was a freedom rider. The other side would hold the rebel flag. It was always a sign of segregation and hatred."
But many of the same groups that defended the Confederate symbol in other states also worked hard to keep the flag in Mississippi, arguing that the flag honored the memory of those who died for the South in the Civil War.
And older residents, in particular, expressed a sense that a symbol they honored while growing up should not be wrested away.
"I just think the flag we've got now served its purpose well for the last 100 years," said Shelby Patterson, 64, who is retired and lives in Jackson. "I don't see any reason to change it. The flag they want — it's got no sentimental value to nobody."
"It wasn't a real surprising vote," said Blake Wilson, president of the Mississippi Economic Council, the equivalent of the state chamber of commerce, which helped lead the effort for a new flag. "This is a long-term issue, and the people of Mississippi just need more time to get there."
How politically correct! He really means, "needs more time to get indoctrinated." Thank God no one is fooled.
Hail to thee ole MISS !!!!
From South Carolina
Congraulations to the Great State of Mississippi from the People's Republic of New Jersey for staving off the demon of Politically Correctness and crushing the monster that is Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson and their ilk. Keep it UP, guys!
The people of Mississipi deserve heartfelt congratulations for telling liberals to leave their state and their flag alone. As they've learned, if they gave into liberals on this one, the liberals would just go after some other aspect of the Southern Heritage that offended them. And they'd never hear the end of it. This vote ought to tell him to lay off and shut up. They won't desist of course but liberals know they've got a long fight ahead of them and the flag is just a symbol of what they really hate about the South - it rejects them and the culture they represent. Mississipians know that underneath all the talk of how adopting the new flag would bring acceptance for the state, the truth is liberals view them as rednecks and white Southern trash. That's the real reason they can't stand the sight of the Stars And Bars in the corner of the Mississipi state flag, not the phony lie that it stood for slavery & racism. Now I'd love to see the liberals and the NAACLP tar the good people of Mississipi as foul-mouthed, pot bellied, beer lovin', pork rind chompin' under neath the southern charm KKK racists... and keep wondering why they keep losing the South in presidential election after presidential election to come for the rest of this century.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
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