City Council discusses Mississippi state flag

Tonight the Biloxi City Council hosted another packed house as the state flag continues to be the center of discussion at City Hall. News 25’s Hank Davis brings us more.
The state flag discussion in Biloxi has seen another development as crowds continue to gather at City Council meetings. Although much of the community has closely monitored the city’s actions, there was no vote on the hot button topic at this week’s meeting.
In front of an overflow crowd, the City Council did vote to amend their agenda, officially introducing Councilman Deming’s ordinance to bring the state flag back to city buildings. “We are a political subdivision of Mississippi and all political subdivisions should fly the state flag. We should all be united under the state flag. In 2001, it went to a vote for the people to decide what the flag should be and the overwhelming majority chose this flag. Whatever the legitimate flag is, we should fly it,” said Deming.
Many attending city hall meetings agree with Deming. Resident Wallace Mason said, “It’s the official flag of Mississippi. It was voted on in 2001 and the mayor and Biloxi decided he will take it down.”
Joe Baricev is protesting the removal of the flag. He said, “Hawaii has the British Union Jack in the state flag because it’s just part of their heritage. As we know, the British union enslaved half of the world at one time. We had two wars with them for our independence. It’s just part of their heritage just like the Confederate flag and state flag is part of our heritage.”
Still others say the flag is divisive for those living in our state. Roger Mills wants to see a new state flag design. He said, “It was just their intention for the Confederacy to maintain, preserve, extend, and expand the institution of African slavery to new territories. I’d like to see the flag designed that would be capable of representing all Mississippians in an equitable fashion.”
The ordinance will be voted on in a coming City Council meeting, but for now no state flag is flying at City Hall.