To: The Mississippi State House, The Mississippi State Senate, Governor Phil Bryant, The United States House of Representatives, The United States Senate, and President Donald Trump
Remove the Confederate battle emblem from Mississippi's state flag
Friend -- The news of the massacre at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston horrified me. But it didn't surprise me. I come from Mississippi, where the struggle for racial harmony has always been particularly tough, and violent. Just this year, ten people were convicted of assaulting African Americans in Jackson, in racially motivated attacks. They pelted people with bottles. They ran over a man with their truck. This was not 1965. This just happened.
But there is so much more to Mississippi than this raw racial wound. Growing up there, I was instilled with a deep sense of hope, faith, and love. I truly believe it's my strong Mississippi values that have made me a lifelong champion for peace and justice. What happened in South Carolina was an atrocity. But I know positive changes can come from it, and I know that my beautiful home state of Mississippi can lead by taking the Confederate symbol off its state flag.
To insist on keeping the Confederate battle symbol on Mississippi's flag at this point would be a statement of state-sanctioned hatred, and it would be unforgivable. Please join me in calling on Mississippi lawmakers to show the world how great this state can be, and remove it immediately.
"For too long we were blind to the pain the Confederate flag stirred in too many of our citizens." These moving words were spoken by President Obama at his eulogy for Senator Clementa Pinkney, one of the nine people murdered in South Carolina, and nowhere are they more apt than in Mississippi. Yes, the flag is a part of our history, but it's also a reminder of the violence and racial oppression that its bearers were fighting for. Can't we begin a new chapter in Mississippi history, and in all states in America?
Now is the time to join forces and face this issue, which has cast a shadow on our state for too long. Even Republican Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn agrees: Now is the time to leave the Confederate battle flag behind us -- before another innocent person is attacked in its name.
I am calling on my fellow Mississippians, and everyone who supports this change across the nation, to sign this petition to help bring about a new day for the great state of Mississippi.
Remove the Confederate battle emblem from Mississippi's state flag.
Thank you,
Duvalier Malone
But there is so much more to Mississippi than this raw racial wound. Growing up there, I was instilled with a deep sense of hope, faith, and love. I truly believe it's my strong Mississippi values that have made me a lifelong champion for peace and justice. What happened in South Carolina was an atrocity. But I know positive changes can come from it, and I know that my beautiful home state of Mississippi can lead by taking the Confederate symbol off its state flag.
To insist on keeping the Confederate battle symbol on Mississippi's flag at this point would be a statement of state-sanctioned hatred, and it would be unforgivable. Please join me in calling on Mississippi lawmakers to show the world how great this state can be, and remove it immediately.
"For too long we were blind to the pain the Confederate flag stirred in too many of our citizens." These moving words were spoken by President Obama at his eulogy for Senator Clementa Pinkney, one of the nine people murdered in South Carolina, and nowhere are they more apt than in Mississippi. Yes, the flag is a part of our history, but it's also a reminder of the violence and racial oppression that its bearers were fighting for. Can't we begin a new chapter in Mississippi history, and in all states in America?
Now is the time to join forces and face this issue, which has cast a shadow on our state for too long. Even Republican Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn agrees: Now is the time to leave the Confederate battle flag behind us -- before another innocent person is attacked in its name.
I am calling on my fellow Mississippians, and everyone who supports this change across the nation, to sign this petition to help bring about a new day for the great state of Mississippi.
Remove the Confederate battle emblem from Mississippi's state flag.
Thank you,
Duvalier Malone
Why is this important?
When I joined with other Mississippi leaders for the "Take It Down America" rally last year, I had high hopes for Mississippi. Perhaps I was blinded by idealism; but I honestly and truly believed that our state would do the right thing, if we brought attention to this issue.
I believed then, and I still believe now, that Mississippi is capable of great and wondrous things. I often speak on where we were just fifty years ago, and the progress that we have made in that relatively short time.
Mississippi is a great state, that I believe will one day come to the forefront nationally, leading our country forward on many issues. But we can't do that if we don't come out from under the specter of this Confederate flag issue.
Mississippi is the only state in America that officially flies the Confederate flag. Every other state has taken it down, and renounced it. They've accepted it for what it is.
The Confederate flag is a symbol of hate. It is the American equivalent of the Nazi swastika in Germany.
Many won't agree with that statement on its face; but let's examine this. It has been well-documented how the Confederate emblem gives rise to hate crimes against people of color. Two of the most well-known examples are Dylann Roof, the white man responsible for the horrible massacre at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, and the three killers who drug James Byrd, an African American man, behind their truck until his body was torn apart in Jasper, Texas.
What do these two horrible crimes have in common?
Dylann Roof posed with the Confederate flag alongside the Nazi code for "Heil Hitler." One of the murderers of James Byrd, John William King, was a member of the Ku Klux Klan and he had several tattoos, which included the Confederate flag, the Nazi swastika and the words "Aryan Pride."
The Confederate symbol is forever attached to bigotry, hatred and murder.
If you look at the Confederate flag and all you see is "heritage," then I'm afraid that you are looking through a terrible rose-colored lens that is blinding you to the reality of the horrible atrocities that have been committed under that flag.
When a person declares that they are proud of their Confederate heritage, this means that they are proud of the murder that has been committed under that symbol.
Last week, Mississippi Representative William Shirley proposed an amendment in the Mississippi legislature to withhold federal funds from the courageous universities that made history last year with their refusal to fly the state flag as long as it contains the Confederate emblem.
That amendment was a slap in the face to every family that has suffered under the Confederate flag; and I'm publicly asking Rep. Shirley for an apology. This was a horrible attempt to set us back.
I'm happy that this attempt wasn't successful, but we still have to make the decision to remove this symbol from our flag.
The Mississippi Confederate Flag
https://youtu.be/Qxw0JehE7_A
What will it take for Mississippi to join the rest of the country in denouncing this symbol of hate? Will our state have to experience a crime as terrible as what happened in South Carolina before we decide to finally move forward and let go of the racist vestiges of the past?
This is no longer a Mississippi fight. This is a battle for the soul of America.
"I come from Mississippi" Duvalier Malone Statement on the Confederate Flag
https://youtu.be/yAAfZdjY6ro
I believed then, and I still believe now, that Mississippi is capable of great and wondrous things. I often speak on where we were just fifty years ago, and the progress that we have made in that relatively short time.
Mississippi is a great state, that I believe will one day come to the forefront nationally, leading our country forward on many issues. But we can't do that if we don't come out from under the specter of this Confederate flag issue.
Mississippi is the only state in America that officially flies the Confederate flag. Every other state has taken it down, and renounced it. They've accepted it for what it is.
The Confederate flag is a symbol of hate. It is the American equivalent of the Nazi swastika in Germany.
Many won't agree with that statement on its face; but let's examine this. It has been well-documented how the Confederate emblem gives rise to hate crimes against people of color. Two of the most well-known examples are Dylann Roof, the white man responsible for the horrible massacre at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, and the three killers who drug James Byrd, an African American man, behind their truck until his body was torn apart in Jasper, Texas.
What do these two horrible crimes have in common?
Dylann Roof posed with the Confederate flag alongside the Nazi code for "Heil Hitler." One of the murderers of James Byrd, John William King, was a member of the Ku Klux Klan and he had several tattoos, which included the Confederate flag, the Nazi swastika and the words "Aryan Pride."
The Confederate symbol is forever attached to bigotry, hatred and murder.
If you look at the Confederate flag and all you see is "heritage," then I'm afraid that you are looking through a terrible rose-colored lens that is blinding you to the reality of the horrible atrocities that have been committed under that flag.
When a person declares that they are proud of their Confederate heritage, this means that they are proud of the murder that has been committed under that symbol.
Last week, Mississippi Representative William Shirley proposed an amendment in the Mississippi legislature to withhold federal funds from the courageous universities that made history last year with their refusal to fly the state flag as long as it contains the Confederate emblem.
That amendment was a slap in the face to every family that has suffered under the Confederate flag; and I'm publicly asking Rep. Shirley for an apology. This was a horrible attempt to set us back.
I'm happy that this attempt wasn't successful, but we still have to make the decision to remove this symbol from our flag.
The Mississippi Confederate Flag
https://youtu.be/Qxw0JehE7_A
What will it take for Mississippi to join the rest of the country in denouncing this symbol of hate? Will our state have to experience a crime as terrible as what happened in South Carolina before we decide to finally move forward and let go of the racist vestiges of the past?
This is no longer a Mississippi fight. This is a battle for the soul of America.
"I come from Mississippi" Duvalier Malone Statement on the Confederate Flag
https://youtu.be/yAAfZdjY6ro