US state of Mississippi to remove Confederate emblem on flag
- It is the latest symbol of racism to come down amid outrage at the police killing of George Floyd
- Mississippi is the only American state to incorporate the Confederate standard on its official flag, after Georgia dropped it in 2001
Mississippi lawmakers on Sunday voted to change the state's flag, the last in the US to feature the battle emblem of the 1860s breakaway Confederacy.
The bill enjoyed bipartisan support as it cleared the state's House of Representatives and Senate votes with the blessing of Speaker of the House Philip Gunn and of Governor Tate Reeves, both Republicans.
“If they send me a bill this weekend, I will sign it,” Reeves had said before the voting took place.
The legislation will establish a commission to develop a new flag design without the Confederate emblem which must include the phrase “In God, We Trust”.
Mississippi state residents will vote on the new design this November. If the design is rejected, the commission will design a new flag to be voted on a year later.
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Anti-racism and police brutality protests sparked by death of George Floyd continue around the globe
Mississippi's current flag, adopted in 1894, features three large horizontal stripes of blue, white and red. Over those stripes, in the flag's upper left corner, is a square with the Confederate battle emblem: an X whose blue bars contain 13 white stars.