There have been naysayers who have said it couldn’t be done, and some have used a common idiom to describe that “never,” but it has happened. I thought there couldn’t be a more appropriate picture than Marshall Ramsey’s cartoon in Mississippi Today with the take-off on the old auctioneer’s cry of “Going, Going, Gone.” I was wrong.
Mississippi has taken down its Confederate battle flag. You may wonder how this “never” event came to pass. Many things lined up at once. Current attention to injustice in our nation brought the issue to the forefront and cast an urgency on making a long overdue decision that many had postponed. Economic leaders pointed out that Mississippi regularly loses business because our public image leaves doubt whether all people will be treated justly. Sports played a major role when restrictions began arising against having playoff games in the state. We do love our sports here, and we do them well, often attaining the status that would bring championships here. Mississippi Today consistently reported these issues and the pressures that came from the “big people,” the movers and shakers in the state.
I contend that another factor may have loomed just as large. In recent days, the “little people” began to make their voices heard. For instance, our introverted son Mark, who rarely has anything to say on social media, joined other voices. I quote this excerpt from his post on Facebook:
But we're raising two boys in a state that still has the Confederate flag incorporated in the state flag. They have and will see it flying in front of the school each morning. Coming to school from the west as we do, they will also see a full Confederate flag flying by itself in front of a house near school. So will every other student, including those whose ancestors were enslaved in the Confederacy. And enslaved in the United States before the Confederacy existed. And we don't just see that flag here. We see it all the way to Washington DC when we drive up to see family.
Many people joined me in writing or calling their state representatives, senators, and other government officials. I believe these “little people’s” voices put the urgency over the top. It’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. For the moment, we are flagless waiting for a design team to come up with a new one. We will vote “yes” or “no” on in the fall. (“No” will send it back to the drawing board.) I may not get my first pick though I have seen a couple of possibilities I like.
Mississippi deserves its reputation as the hospitality state. We consider it ill-mannered not to chat with strangers as we wait in checkout lines. We wave at anybody driving down our rural road when we are out for a walk. We can be maddeningly polite at a four-way stop insisting that the other driver go first. It is my sincere hope that choosing a new flag is the beginning of adding to our reputation another item that says we include and value every single one of our citizens without any status qualifications.
As for a more appropriate cartoon than Marshall’s take on the auctioneer, he one-upped himself answering the idiom that the old state flag will go down when hell freezes over.
