First-term Mississippi state Sen. Jeremy England didn’t campaign on removing the Stars and Bars from the state flag and didn’t expect to confront the divisive issue when the Legislature convened this summer in Jackson.
When the historic moment arrived, he had no doubt about taking a stand in favor of stripping the last vestige of the Confederacy from state banners in the U.S.
“Mississippi has the highest percentage of African American residents in the country, we are the most diverse state in the nation that way,” Mr. England, who is White, told The Washington Times. “Down here we don’t talk it; in Mississippi, you live race relations every day.”
Now he faces irate voters who charge that he “didn’t come clean” in his Senate race last year.
The legislative session had been delayed by COVID-19 shutdowns. When lawmakers finally gathered in June, they expected to deal with routine legislative matters. But the momentum was building for Mississippi to change its flag, with its left corner similar to the one that flew above Vicksburg when the Confederacy made its last futile stand to lay claim to the Mississippi River.
After all, when Republican Gov. Tate Reeves was asked about the flag when the session began on June 8, he took the political line that had stood in Mississippi throughout the 21st century.
“There is going to come a time, at some point I am sure, in which the people of Mississippi are going to want to change the flag,” Mr. Reeves said. “And my position is that when they want to do that, it should be the people who make that decision, not some backroom deal by a bunch of politicians in Jackson.”
The topic, Mr. England said, “was written in stone, rock solid, no one wanted to touch it.”
Twenty days later, in public votes on both the House and Senate floor, politicians including Mr. England voted to change the flag. Mr. Reeves had made it clear he would sign the bill.
The vote came after a dramatic speech from Mr. England in which he stared at his colleagues and declared this was no time for spineless men.
Personally, Mr. England, 37, had always favored a new flag, one that carried no reminders of a distant time when Mississippi politicians supported a government formed to protect slavery. He hadn’t campaigned on the issue, however, because he knows that not everyone in wide swaths of the state that include the southeastern corner he represents supports a change.
Indeed, on Mr. England’s Facebook page, on which he speaks with pride about the historic vote, some Mississippians have vowed political revenge.
“Well the people who elected you did not vote that way but we know how to vote come election time,” Normal Overstreet commented.
Joy Potts Redwine, who lives in Oxford, far from Mr. England’s district, was equally blunt.
“Y’all robbed Mississippi out of being heard and a chance to vote,” Ms. Redwine wrote. “We are the majority remember that. Come election time you will see what I call Mississippi Strong. You and everyone is a disgrace to the people of Mississippi.”
Mr. England acknowledged some political blowback from the vote but said he has not second-guessed it. His determination to change the flag hardened this year when he took his family to the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum that opened in Jackson in 2017, he said.
“There were some exhibits we did not want to take the children to because they are so graphic,” he said. “You see that this flag was literally shoved in the face of people just 60 years ago who were fighting for civil rights. That played a big part in me coming to the realization that the flag had been used literally as a weapon.”
Several state senators told The Washington Times they could not put their finger on exactly why support for changing the flag reached critical mass and did so quickly. George Floyd’s death while in custody of the Minneapolis police on Memorial Day was obviously one catalyst, but Mississippi had not seen the degree of demonstrations and rioting that swept over several states after Floyd’s killing.
The idea that a flag change should come only through a statewide referendum goes back to 2001, when the issue was on the ballot and it lost by more than 2-to-1. Now, the flag will be put to the voters statewide in November, when they will vote yes or no on a new flag chosen by a committee to be appointed this month. The new flag “shall not” have any Confederate battle emblems and must include the words “in God we trust.”
So ended the last Confederate symbol flying above a state capital in the U.S. While the current Georgia flag design is modeled on the Confederacy’s first national flag, some form of the infamous Stars and Bars was removed in 2003.
Some of the Republican leaders in the Mississippi Legislature, most notably House Speaker Philip Gunn, were clear opponents of the state’s flag. Many business leaders privately and publicly had urged lawmakers to rid the state of such a clear-cut link to a hateful past.
Mississippians have long complained that pressure to change the flag was being brought by “outside forces.” Several lawmakers told The Washington Times they know constituents whose direct ancestors fought in the Civil War, voters who view that ancestry through some hazy historical prism that includes honor and bravery but not slavery.
Mr. England argued that defensive reflex was for a flag approved decades after the Civil War and that the pressure was going to be there whether lawmakers acted or not.
The final vote hinged on a few state senators. The tension was palpable on the Senate floor. The Clarion-Ledger reported of “accusations of spinelessness and political trickery have poured gasoline on what was already a bonfire.”
On June 27, the legislature startled many when a two-thirds majority voted to move the flag change forward to debate, a signal that enough votes existed to push the new law through. But its fate wasn’t certain until June 28, when the bill came to a hard vote.
Mr. England said that in the runup to the vote, stories from Black colleagues gave him clarity on the issue. For example, in a small prayer group June 23 Democratic state Sen. Hillman Frazier told about how, growing up in segregated Mississippi schools, his “new” textbooks had been hand-me-downs from white schools.
But the flag still had defenders. Republican state Sen. Chris McDaniel was a leading supporter of the old flag and he played to Mississippians’ inherent distrust of “outsiders,” warning there was “a very slick and very well-funded campaign right now to change the House of senators and House members.”
Although Mr. England considers Mr. McDaniel a friend, he posted a video on Facebook saying, “These are the days you find out who has a backbone,” and when Mr. England rose to speak in support of a change, he and Mr. McDaniel stared directly at each other.
“I’m here, backbone in place, standing as strong as I can under this dome,” Mr. England declared in an electric moment that shot across state and social media.
Applause erupted from the gallery when he finished. One of his Black colleagues, Democratic state Sen. Juan Barnett fist-bumped Mr. England and Democratic state Sen. Sarita Simmons engulfed him in a bear hug.
“I’m sorry it took so long, Rita,” Mr. England told her.
Some GOP lawmakers are already concerned about their seats in November as a result of the vote, and one of them declined to comment for fear of being seen as “making a victory dance.”
“I can’t only worry about reelection here,” said Mr. England, who will next face voters in 2023. “This means a lot to our Black residents and on this one, I have to do what I believe is right.”
• James Varney can be reached at jvarney@washingtontimes.com.
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