Mississippi Debuts State Flag Without Confederate Emblem over Capitol

Mississippi flew its revamped state flag over its capitol for the first time Monday, six months after retiring the previous one featuring the Confederate emblem.

“The new flag shows a white magnolia on a blue, gold and red background with white stars,” the Hill reported, adding that below the flower is printed “In God We Trust.”

“The single gold star at the top represents Native Americans and is composed of diamond shapes significant to Choctaw culture,” the outlet said.

Gov. Tate Reeves (R) signed the flag into law on Monday after both the state Senate and House approved the bill last week.

“Last year, lawmakers voted to retire the flag that bore the Confederate emblem. Voters then approved the new flag with a Magnolia and the phrase ‘In God We Trust’ back in November during the General Election,” KNOE reported.

In a statement, MSGOP Chairman Frank Bordeaux praised the move, saying, “What a remarkable thing to see Mississippi officially raise a flag that guides us forward”:

Many have worked their entire lives to see this moment through to its fruition, working within Mississippi to change Mississippi. I am grateful to have played a role in this process through service on the flag commission and believe we have adopted a symbol that Mississippians are proud to call their own. May it fly with honor and may those of us under it be proud of what we have achieved together.

In a tweet Monday afternoon, Reeves shared aerial video footage of the flag, writing, “Today I signed the bill to ratify a new banner for our state. It is done with the hope that we can work together and serve one another. We need to come together in this country”:

Today I signed the bill to ratify a new banner for our state. It is done with the hope that we can work together and serve one another. We need to come together in this country. pic.twitter.com/2dyESfR2Xo

— Tate Reeves (@tatereeves) January 11, 2021

In July, the Satanic Temple said it planned to sue Mississippi if the flag included a reference to God but not Satan, Breitbart News reported:

In a letter to Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, Marc J. Randazza, attorney for the Satanic Temple, wrote the plan for the new state flag to replace the image of the Confederate flag with the phrase, “In God We Trust,” would be the equivalent of “removing one divisive symbol of exclusion only to replace it with a divisive phrase of exclusion.”

The letter claimed that such a plan “does not eliminate exclusion, but rather moves it from one group to a collection of others.”