Where You Can Find Confederate Flag Flying in Oregon

As efforts to remove the Confederate flag from public display accelerated nationwide in June, Oregon lawmakers examined their display of another state’s flag.

The Confederate Battle flag is part of the state flag of Mississippi, which is included in a “Walk of Flags” display near Oregon’s state Capitol building in Salem. Some Beaver State lawmakers hope to remove that image from their Statehouse grounds.

Public outcry over the Confederate flag swelled after a racist gunman killed nine people — including a state Senator — at Charleston, South Carolina’s historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church on June 17.

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The killings prompted some Oregon lawmakers to call for the Mississippi flag to be removed from the Capitol grounds, The Statesman Journal reported.

"The current Mississippi state flag represents a period of intolerance and hate," Oregon Rep. Tobias Read told the Statesman Journal. "I like having all of our states and nations represented on the Capitol grounds, but think it's our responsibility to select a different symbol — one that reflects Oregon's values."

The Mississippi flag is among flags of all 50 states and several Indian nations displayed on the grounds just west of the Capitol. Some Oregon legislators suggested replacing the Mississippi flag with a previous version of that state’s flag, which featured a magnolia tree and served as the Mississippi state flag from 1861 to 1894, The Statesman Journal said. Mississippi, which became a state in 1817, fought on the side of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Oregon fought on the side of the Union after becoming a state in 1859.

Members of the Oregon House of Representatives on June 26 introduced bipartisan legislation that would have ordered the Mississippi flag removed from the Walk of Flags. The bill stalled, and 38 lawmakers signed a letter urging state officials to remove the flag without legislation, The Oregonian reported.

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