Mississippi flag minus rebel X on license plate

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Mississippi residents who want a state flag without the Confederate battle emblem now can display one on their license plate.

Gov. Phil Bryant signed a specialty license plates bill Tuesday. One features a proposed state flag designed by Jackson artist Laurin Stennis.

Legislators have not changed the actual flag that’s the last in the U.S. with the Confederate emblem, although some have pushed for the “Stennis flag.”

Stennis says it represents unity. It has red vertical bars on each side and a white center with large blue star encircled by 19 smaller ones, representing Mississippi as the 20th state.

She is the granddaughter of the late U.S. John C. Stennis, who served 41 years before retiring in 1989 and was a segregationist much of his career. He died in 1995.

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