Oktibbeha County supervisors did not tackle the contentious state flag issue Monday before state and county-wide elections, but District 5 Supervisor Joe Williams said he might bring it up for debate later this month.
Attempting to address the state flag’s future in Oktibbeha County — whether it would continue to fly above county-owned facilities — could have impacted today’s vote. Four of the five sitting supervisors — all but Williams — face re-election battles today.
Noting the growing list of cities, counties and universities choosing not to fly the state flag, Williams said, “I hope we do it once we come back (after the election, on Nov. 16’s recess meeting). It’s my opinion we should address it then.”
Williams first called for the flag’s removal in September after Starkville aldermen voted 4-3 to stop flying the banner in July.
Oktibbeha County NAACP President Chris Taylor previously approached the board about lowering the flag, but he asked supervisors to delay action until after the general election.
Williams previously said the flag, which depicts a Confederate symbol, separates residents instead of uniting them.
A majority of Oktibbeha County voters supported the flag redesign featured in 2001’s statewide referendum.
“Every time we see something happen involving racism, the person is waving our flag. It makes me uncomfortable, and it makes other residents of Mississippi uncomfortable as well,” he said in September. “We know the hardship people had to endure … as a result of being under the banner of the flag. We are not the Mississippi of old. We are the Mississippi of new.”
Williams reaffirmed his stance Monday without adding additional comments.
In the Golden Triangle, Columbus councilmen were the first to order down the flag in July. Starkville aldermen soon followed suit with a 4-3 vote that mostly followed racial lines.
Three of Oktibbeha County’s five supervisors — District 2’s Orlando Trainer, District 3’s Marvell Howard and Williams — are African-American. Three votes are needed to approve a board order.
Traction for changing or removing the state flag began building amongst Mississippi municipalities this summer after the June murders of African-American churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina.
Since then, many government entities — Columbus, Clarksdale, Grenada, Greenwood, Hattiesburg, Leflore County, Magnolia, Oxford, Starkville and others — have voted to stop flying the flag.
Similar orders have also come from the University of Mississippi and the University of Southern Mississippi.
In September, Mississippi State University’s student government group called for the adoption of a new state flag.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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