Dear Editor,
We made history this week when on a split vote of 37-14, Sunday, June 28, 2020, we passed House Bill 1796 that mandates removal of Mississippi’s current state flag, formation of a commission to redesign the flag, remove the Confederate emblem and include the words “In God We Trust,” then placing the chosen design before voters to approve in November.
The House passed it on a 91-23 vote.
The commission will be composed of nine people, three of whom will be appointed by Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann, three by House Speaker Philip Gunn and three appointed by Governor Tate Reeves.
The commission will seek public input and adopt its policy on how the new design will be acquired. The commission will present to the governor and lawmakers their chosen design by mid-September.
On Saturday, June 27, 2020, we passed House Concurrent Resolution 79 that suspended the rules to allow for Sunday’s vote. It passed on a 36-14 split vote
The vote to change the state flag was probably the most important votes I’ve cast in all of my sixteen-and-a-half years in the Senate. I’m looking forward and not looking back as Mississippi has joined the rest of the United States.
I’m leaving the Confederate past in the past.
As one of my colleagues said in his speech on the floor of the Senate that he was proud to be a part of the United State of Mississippi, as am I.
Yesterday represented a new day in Mississippi. I’m glad to be a part of this historic day.”
Senator Robert Jackson,
(Dem., Dist. 11)
Marks, Mississippi
