‘Glad To See This Happen In My Lifetime’: Confederate Symbol To Be Removed From Mississippi’s Flag
Mississippi is the sole U.S. state to still feature the racially charged Confederate flag in its state flag. Lawmakers voted over the weekend to remove the controversial symbol and Gov. Tate Reeves (R) says he will sign the bill. And in another response to the growing national attention on racial issues in the U.S., Princeton University says it will remove Woodrow Wilson's name from its public policy school.
AP:
Mississippi Surrenders Confederate Symbol From State Flag
Mississippi will retire the last state flag in the U.S. with the Confederate battle emblem, more than a century after white supremacist legislators adopted the design a generation after the South lost the Civil War. A broad coalition of lawmakers — Black and white, Democrat and Republican — voted Sunday for change as the state faced increasing pressure amid nationwide protests against racial injustice. Wagster Pettus, 6/29)
The New York Times:
Mississippi Lawmakers Vote To Retire State Flag Rooted In The Confederacy
The flag, the only state banner left in the country with the overt Confederate symbol, served for many as an inescapable sign of Mississippi’s racial scars and of the consequences of that history in defining perceptions of the state. Still embraced by many white Mississippians as a proud display of Old South heritage, the flag increasingly has come to evoke segregation, racial violence and a war that had a central aim of preserving slavery. (Rojas, 6/28)
NPR:
Mississippi Lawmakers Vote To Remove Confederate Emblem From State Flag
The bill now goes to the governor, who has said he would sign the legislation but has not immediately set a date for the signing. He made the pledge on Saturday in a Facebook post. (Silva, 6/27)
The Washington Post:
Princeton Says It Will Remove Woodrow Wilson’s Name From Its Public Policy School
Princeton University’s board of trustees has voted to remove Woodrow Wilson’s name from its school of public and international affairs, saying the late president’s segregationist policies make him an “especially inappropriate namesake” for a public policy school. “When a university names a school of public policy for a political leader, it inevitably suggests that the honoree is a model for students who study at the school,” university president Christopher L. Eisgruber wrote in a letter to the Princeton community regarding Friday’s vote by the board of trustees. “This searing moment in American history has made clear that Wilson’s racism disqualifies him from that role. In a nation that continues to struggle with racism, this University and its school of public and international affairs must stand clearly and firmly for equality and justice.” (Aratani, 6/28)
