Fate of Mississippi flag still in limbo

JACKSON, Miss. (WCBI)- Will it stay up? Or will it come down? The fate of the state flag continues to be a key issue for lawmakers and everyone around the state.

Thursday, the head coaches and athletic directors from all of Mississippi’s colleges and universities made a trip to the capital urging state leaders to remove the flag.

The state flag has flown high over the state of Mississippi for more than 100 years. Now some say its time to take it down.

But before a decision can be made to remove the flag, legislators first have to suspend the rules.

In order to suspend the rules, there must be a two-thirds vote in both the house and senate.

When you break it down, that’s 81 votes that’ll need to come out of the house, and 34 that’ll need to come out of the senate.

Right now both the house and senate are short a few votes, which at this time is preventing any action from being taken.

The confederate emblem is what’s causing the controversy surrounding the flag.

Religious groups, economic developers, and state universities are all lobbying for state leaders to remove the flag.

State lawmakers, we spoke with all agree the state flag needs to come down.

However, they have mixed views on who should be in charge of making the decision to have it changed.

“I am most definitely leaning on the side of lawmakers making this important vote. I think it’s something that we are charged to do, I’m looking forward to casting my vote for it,” said Dist. 41 Representative Kabir Karriem.

“I want the people to make the decision, and if it has to conflict with the NCAA, or the SEC, or with some of the leaders of the state, then I’ll just have to stand there,” said Dist. 19 Rep. Randy Boyd.

“I would like to see us suspend the rules and vote to change the flag, get this behind Mississippi and get us as one, unity,” said Sen. Chuck Younger.

“There’s two mantras. One is moving forward, and one is preserving Heritage. There are a couple of debates as well, one is a moral issue of why we should take down the flag, and the other one is an economic issue. Whichever one works is fine with me, but we do know there are a few more votes out there, people need to be convinced that the flag does need to come down,” said Dist. 38 Rep. Cheikh Taylor.

Just last week, the NCAA and SEC said Mississippi would no longer be able to host any championship games or events it removes its state flag.

Governor Tate reeves issued a statement saying if lawmakers are able to get the two-thirds vote to suspend the rules to have the flag removed, he would not veto the bill.

Legislators will gather again Friday morning. At this time it’s uncertain if they’ll discuss the removal of the state flag.

Lawmakers we spoke with believe Saturday is the day they’ll have all the votes in, and they believe Saturday is when a decision could be made on whether the flag comes down.