Columbus is calling for state legislators to remove the Confederate emblem on the flag of Mississippi, following a 5-1 vote from the city council Tuesday evening to pass a resolution in support.
The flag, which Mississippi began using in 1894 — almost 30 years after the Civil War ended — has long been controversial for its Confederate emblem. Efforts to replace the flag have failed in the state Legislature for years.
However, changing the flag is now gaining bipartisan support from lawmakers as protests against racism are taking place in all 50 states. Republican House Speaker Phillip Gunn is championing the effort as lawmakers began drafting a resolution to remove the emblem.
While most city council members agreed the resolution is the right step forward, Ward 6 Councilman Bill Gavin, who cast his lone dissenting vote on the resolution, said Tuesday evening he feels the law is obsolete.
The city removed the state flag from all city properties in 2015, The Dispatch reported. Gavin said because of that, he is unsure what change the resolution would bring about in the city.
“I think (the state flag) needs to be changed, but to me that is the state’s responsibility,” Gavin said. “We stopped flying the state flag, and I supported it. To me, (the resolution) is just a political statement and we can call our representatives to do this. I’d rather call them personally than as a city group.”
The city’s resolution comes in contrast with the county supervisors’ discussion Monday morning surrounding Confederate monuments and the state flag. The board of supervisors voted 3-2 against relocating the monument at the courthouse to Friendship Cemetery, which is within city limits.
Board of Supervisors President Harry Sanders and District 3 Supervisor John Holliman, both of whom voted along with District 2’s Trip Hairston against the relocation, were also lukewarm to take down state flags around the county or support changing the state flag. Both have said they would not vote to support the change.
Holliman told The Dispatch the emblem came from the biblical times and should not be removed.
“It came from the Bible,” he said. “Personally, I wouldn’t vote for that.”
Sanders said he will not support the citizens’ efforts to change the flag because “there are more important issues out there involving the county, the state of Mississippi, than what our flag is.”
CPD adopts new policies
In other business, the city unanimously approved changes to the city’s police department use of force policies.
The language specifically forbids the use of choke holds, a tactic white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin used in May on black man George Floyd for almost nine minutes and killed him, prompting nationwide protests against police brutality. A use of force continuum, which lays out a procedure police officers have to follow when responding to an incident, is also included in the changes to CPD’s policies.
Officers should first identify themselves with uniforms, badges and use verbal direction. They can then use empty-hand control, intermediate weapons, less lethal force (such as pepper sprays and tasers) and eventually lethal force, which Shelton previously told The Dispatch should be a last resort.
The department also added a Duty to Intervene policy, which requires officers who witness excessive force to intervene regardless of their ranks, Shelton said Tuesday evening.
To mend the relationship between the community and the police department, Jermaine Shanklin, who helped organize several protests after the dismissal of the Ricky Ball case, proposed to form a youth advisory board that would serve as a liaison between the council, the department and the community. The proposal won the council’s unanimous approval.
Within the next two weeks, Shanklin said, each council member will pick two candidates from their individual ward to serve on the board. The board will meet to discuss community needs and complaints and bring it to the city’s attention, he said.
Yue Stella Yu was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.