JACKSON, miss. – The Southeast Conference is considering banning league championship events in Mississippi unless the state changes the Confederate-based flag.
“It is time for changes to be made to the Mississippi State flag,” Commissioner Greg Sankey said in a statement Thursday. “Our students deserve the opportunity to learn and compete in an inclusive and friendly environment for all. In the event that there is no change, there will be consideration to prevent the Southeast Conference championship event from being held in the State of Mississippi until the flag is changed. “
The NCAA has said it will not schedule a post-season event in Mississippi because of the state flag.
National protests about racial injustice have renewed the debate about the symbol of the Confederacy. Mississippi has the last state flag that includes a battle symbol: a red field topped by a blue X with 13 white stars. White supremacy placed symbols on the flag in 1894 during a reaction to black political forces that developed during Reconstruction.
During the June 5 Black Lives Matter protest outside the Mississippi Governor’s Mansion in downtown Jackson, thousands of people cheered when 18-year-old organizer Maisie Brown called for the removal of all Confederate symbols in the state, including from the flag.
The coalition of Bipartisan state lawmakers has tried to build momentum to change the flag, but Republican Governor Tate Reeves has said repeatedly that if the banner will be redesigned, it must be done by state voters.
The people who voted in the 2001 election chose to guard the flag rather than replacing it with a design that did not include the Confederate symbol.
All Mississippi public universities and several cities and counties have stopped raising the state flag in recent years because of the emblem. The state has two SEC schools – Mississippi University and Mississippi State University.
Leaders at both universities said Thursday that the country must change its flag.
“Mississippi needs a flag that represents the quality of our country that unites us, not what still divides us,” Ole Miss Chancellor Glenn Boyce and athletic director Keith Carter said in a joint statement. “We support the SEC’s position to change the state flag of the Mississippi into a more friendly and inclusive image for everyone.”
Mississippi State President Mark E. Keenum said in a statement that he respected Sankey’s position. Keenum said that he wrote to the state’s elected officials on June 12 to inform them that students, teaching staff, and university administrators had been recorded supporting the change of flag since 2015.
“The letter says, in part, that our flag must unite, not the symbol that separates us,” said Keenum. “I emphasize that it is time for a respectful renewal on this issue.”
