Mistakes Are Meant For Learning, Not Repeating
POSTED ON OCTOBER 29, 2015
... Growing up in Mississippi, I took the rebel flag for granted. From the first grade at Bramlett Elementary to graduation from Ole Miss, rebel flags were ubiquitous around Oxford. This was because cheerleaders threw bundles of them into the stands at home games. It seemed to me that the flags were always there, but the fact is that the flags had been tossed into the stands only since September 1962 when Governor Ross Barnett used the game before James Meredith’s integration to rally segregationists.
Similarly, the current state flag is a recent design and is also very likely a product of a segregationist event. The current Mississippi state flag assumes the basic design of the second Confederate flag, the first official state flag of Mississippi was the Magnolia Flag. After the war, the Magnolia Flag became unofficial due to bureaucratic oversight, but it was still the flag used until 1894 when the current “battle flag” design was adopted.
Not coincidentally, Plessy v. Ferguson — which upheld segregation — became law at about the same time as the current flag with the Confederate symbol became official ...
I understand that for many white Mississippians the flag symbolizes heritage. But I would like you to consider this heritage fact from the US Census: 85 percent of black families in this country can trace their heritage to before the antebellum period. Black and white Mississippians fought and died for this country and the culture – we have all earned the right to be included in the symbol of our state ...
http://hottytoddy.com/2015/10/29/heaton-mistakes-are-meant-for-learning-not-repeating/