Individuals Chosen to Design Mississippi Flag Without Rebel Symbol

The State Flag of Mississippi waves one last in the breeze over the City Hall of Tupelo Mississippi Monday, June 29, 2020, just moments before city officials lower the flag for the last time and present it to the city’s museum.(Thomas Wells/Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Via AP)

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – A mayor, a former state Supreme Court justice, and a community college president are among those chosen to design a new Mississippi flag.

The new banner will replace the original flag which state officials recently retired because of the inclusion of the Confederate battle emblem that’s widely condemned as racist.

A nine-member commission has a mid-September deadline to create a new design that doesn’t have the Confederate symbol but does have the phrase, “In God We Trust.” The design will go on the Nov. 3 ballot. The commission includes Oxford Mayor Robyn Tannehill, former Justice Reuben Anderson, and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College President Mary Graham.

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