NAACP requests removal of state flag from Harrison County property (MS)

BY REGINA ZILBERMINTS

The presidents of the Gulfport and Biloxi branches of the NAACP asked the Harrison County Board of Supervisors to remove the Mississippi state flag from all county property, saying the inclusion of the Confederate Battle Flag in the corner is inherently racist.

A representative for Initiative 58, the proposed constitutional amendment that would require the state to keep the current flag, cited the 2001 vote in favor of the current flag and asked the Board to keep it flying.

The Board took no immediate action.

"We make this request because it has been our firm opinion for years, based on historical data, personal observation and numerous discussions, that the inclusion on our state flag of what is commonly called the "Confederate Battle Flag" as its canton corner is racist and thereby offensive to African-Americans," James Crowell, the president of the Biloxi NAACP read from a letter sent to the board. "We will not belabor the basis of our opinion nor argue with the revisionists of history of the Civil War or Southern apologists. Instead, we call your attention to the attached copy of Mississippi's Declaration of Secession upon which our state's unfortunate and disastrous decision to leave the Union was based" ...

http://www.sunherald.com/news/local/counties/harrison-county/article57710908.html