Tell CEO's Indra Nooyi of PEPSICO, Randall L. Stephenson of AT&T, Richard Fairbank of CAPITAL ONE, Thomas J. Wilson of ALLSTATE, and Larry D. Young of DR. PEPPER to end corporate sponsorship of college football games played in Mississippi until Governor Phil Bryant acts to remove the Confederate/Battle Flag of Northern Virginia/Ku Klux Klan flag as the official state flag of Mississippi.
Why is this important?
Mississippi state Governor Phil Bryant has made it clear that he will not take down this symbol of American Apartheid. PEPSICO, AT&T, CAPITAL ONE, ALLSTATE, and DR. PEPPER and other companies yield great profit and promotion from their financial sponsorships of college football games played in Mississippi, their continued silence on this issue is a statement of complicity with the governor. These companies make great profit and promotion off the labor of young African American men--and yes it is labor event though they are "playing" football-- but it amounts to exploitation when the lives of these young men have no value when they are off the field. The flag's historical record dating back to Mississippi's secession from the union is one that quite literally says that African Americans are less than human. Governor Bryant's zeal to hold on to the flag even in the face of the Emmanuel 9 and countless recent acts of violence associated with that flag since, shows an allegiance to that legacy. It has to stop and the flag must be removed. These companies plain and simple make money off bigotry. We must act to end this.
