Confederate Memorial Day is still celebrated by two southern states — Mississippi and Alabama — while Georgia has renamed the day "State Holiday" but still observes it on the same day, 152 years after the end of the Civil War.
This year, the holiday is celebrated on Monday, April 24, although April 26 is the official date of observance.
Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant declared April Confederate Heritage Month in the state in 2016 even though many protested any celebration of the Confederacy.
“History deserves study and reflection, no matter how unpleasant or complicated parts of it may be,” said a spokesman for the governor, CNN reported. In this year’s similar proclamation about Confederate Memorial Day, he said he wanted to “honor those who served in the confederacy.”
Mississippi Rising Coalition plans to protest the holiday.
“I’m troubled that in a state made up of 40 percent people of color, our leadership continues to openly sanction the use of taxpayer funds to endorse a neo-Confederate agenda,” organization President Leah Campbell said in a Facebook post about the protest. “We can be proud Southerners and honor our heritage and the sacrifices made by our ancestors without use of taxpayer funds to promote a racially unjust agenda.”
Mississippi’s 1861 secession declaration identified “slaveholding” as a main reason for the decision to secede, saying that the decision was “thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery.”
Twitter seemed to draw attention to the fact that the Confederacy lost in the Civil War.
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