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New Mississippi Flag: Over 3,000 Popular Suggestions

Washington. Elvis Presley or Kermit the frog will not be featured on the new flag of the US state of Mississippi. Beer cans, caramel cakes or crab meat are also out of the running as possible motifs. From 3,000 public submissions, a nine-member commission has now selected 147 proposals, which were posted on Monday on the website of the Office for Archives and History of the Southern State.

Many of the remaining motif ideas feature magnolias and stars. Others have wavy lines that could represent the Mississippi River or the Gulf of Mexico. The most bizarre idea is a motif with a huge mosquito surrounded by a circle of stars.

Five best ideas on Friday

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The nine committee members want to meet on Friday to screen what they consider to be the five best flag ideas. At the beginning of September they want to agree on just one motive, which will be put to the vote in the election on November 3rd.

The commission can choose one of the suggestions from the citizens, combine elements from different designs or start all over again and create a new motif. There are only two conditions: the Confederate symbol is taboo – and the motto “In God we trust” must appear somewhere.

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The US state recently abolished its banner and coat of arms of the former Confederate Army, which fought against the northern states in the Southern Civil War from 1861 to 1865 and, above all, opposed the abolition of slavery.

Controversial southern state symbol

Mississippi had had the previous flag with the Confederate symbol since 1894. At that time, it was set by proponents of the supposed superiority of whites – in a time of resistance to political influence, the blacks in the “Reconstruction” phase of reconstruction and state reorganization won the civil war.

In 2001, Mississippi citizens voted to keep the flag, but the southern symbol remained highly controversial in a state where the black population is 38 percent.

Settlement with the culture of remembrance

The high-profile killing of George Floyd, a black man who had been kneeling for minutes by a white official in Minneapolis in late May, brought new momentum to the debate. The case sparked protests against racism worldwide and promoted a reckoning with the culture of remembrance and the symbolism of the Confederates.

Within weeks, business, church and education leaders urged Mississippi MPs to ditch the flag and replace it with a more conciliatory motif.

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