Where You Can Find Confederate Flag Flying in Mississippi

The Confederate Flag is easy to find in Mississippi. Just look at the official state flag that flies over all government buildings.

Mississippi’s is the lone state flag that contains the Confederate battle stars and bars as part of its design, since Georgia adopted a new state seal in 2003.

Cries that Confederate Flag is a symbol of hatred and segregation heated up in the aftermath of the June 17 massacre of nine churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina. Photos of the shooter surfaced with him proudly holding the stars and bars, in addition to other racially charged symbols, The Post and Courier reported.

Vote Now: Should the Confederate Flag Be Removed From All Government Buildings?

The flag was flown by the Confederate army during the Civil War, but later adopted by segregationists to protest the Civil Rights movement. A successful campaign was waged to remove the Confederate flag from the South Carolina State House grounds, and signed into law by Gov. Nikki Haley.

The action in South Carolina prompted Philip Gunn, the Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives, to publicly call for the removal of the Confederate battle flag from Mississippi's insignia, The Associated Press reported.

"We must always remember our past, but that does not mean we must let it define us," Gunn said in a June statement, according to The Clarion-Ledger. "As a Christian, I believe our state's flag has become a point of offense that needs to be removed. We need to begin having conversations about changing Mississippi's flag."

A MoveOn.org petition appeared around that time supporting that proposal.

"In the wake of the devastating hate crime perpetrated at Mother Emanuel AME in Charleston, it is time to remove all symbols of hate from state and other government buildings. It is time for us to come together and move into the future in solidarity," the petition reads.

As of July 30, the petition had received more than 66,000 of the required 75,000.

Urgent: Should Government Buildings Be Forced to Remove the Confederate Flag?

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant said the people had spoken in 2001, when they voted to keep the battle flag as part of the current design.

"I don't think that we need to go about trying to supersede the will of the people." Bryant told NPR.

Related Stories:

• Design of the Confederate Flag
• 6 Facts About the Confederate Flag