Politics - News Analysis

One Year After Changing the State Flag to Rid the Stars & Bars, MS Governor Signs Confederate Heritage Month

The Confederacy lasted four years. Barack Obama’s presidency lasted eight.

When a state like Mississippi (or any of the others just like it) celebrates “the confederacy,” what they’re really celebrating is two to three hundred years of white rule, doing things the “right” way. Down here “the right way” means keeping everyone in their place, including the poor whites, who don’t mind being poor and white so long as they’re treated better than middle-class Black people.

It surprises people from the north to learn that the stars and bars, indeed many of the confederacy symbols were largely forgotten (save some statues) for almost one hundred years. It was only when the Civil Rights movement began that the “confederate” thing come roaring back.

Admittedly, there was no need for signs of white supremacy prior to the civil rights movement. It was a thing, unquestioned. Just a fact.

But one year ago, after the loss of George Floyd, race relations reached a tipping point in Mississippi and the long-discussed change to the state flag was made. The new flag is stunningly beautiful, navy blue with a white magnolia in the middle with a little gold. Finally, the state had a flag to represent everyone.

But the state still reserves one month for just “some.” From the Mississippi Free Press, the invaluable liberal paper in the state:

Despite asking Gov. Tate Reeves’ office since late March if he planned to again declare April as Confederate Heritage Month with no response, this publication just found what appears to be this year’s proclamation. The new document, which Reeves apparently signed on April 7, 2021, appears on the Sons of Confederate Veterans’ Camp 265 Rankin Rough & Ready’s Facebook page. Reeves is from Rankin County.

The proclamation does not yet appear on the secretary of state’s official proclamations page at press time. The last one mentioning Reeves there is dated March 29, 2021.

We cannot decide which is more offensive. The fact that Reeves did it or the fact that he hid doing it. It is probably equal. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, this was Reeves from last year when the flag was changed:

But in those remarks, Reeves also defended those who hold onto signs and symbolism of the Confederacy. “It is fashionable in some quarters to say our ancestors were all evil. I reject that notion. I also reject the elitist worldview that these United States are anything but the greatest nation in the history of mankind,” Reeves said. “I reject the mobs tearing down statues of our history—north and south, Union and Confederate, founding fathers and veterans. I reject the chaos and lawlessness, and I am proud it has not happened in our state.”

Within months, Reeves also pushed for controversial “patriotic education” legislation, but it did not survive the session after historians spoke out collectively against it. 

Sad to ruin the month of April, which is probably the most beautiful month of the year in the deep south, little wind, temps in the 70s and 80s, flowers blooming everywhere, especially the magnolias – which now adorn the state flag. But we must still make room for a month dedicated to something much darker, no matter what is “said.” It has to be April. October, with Halloween, would be more fitting.

We cannot confirm the date of this picture:

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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @JasonMiciak

meet the author

Jason Miciak is a political writer, features writer, author, and attorney. He is originally from Canada but grew up in the Pacific Northwest. He now enjoys life as a single dad raising a ridiculously-loved young girl on the beaches of the Gulf Coast. He is very much the dreamy mystic, a day without learning is a day not lived. He is passionate about his flower pots and studies philosophical science, religion, and non-mathematical principles of theoretical physics. Dogs, pizza, and love are proof that God exists. "Above all else, love one another."

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