Mississippi leaders sound off on state flag after racism rally in Va.

Updated: With Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus' call for Gov. Phil Bryant to call a special session of the Legislature to address changing the state flag.

U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker on Monday condemned "the white supremacists and neo-Nazis that engaged in violence" in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend and reiterated his position that the Confederate battle emblem on the state flag needs to go.

At Charlottesville during Saturday's violence, an altered version of the Mississippi flag with a Ku Klux Klan message on it was waved in the streets, prompting renewed calls for changing the state's banner. But some state leaders say changing the flag is up to Mississippi voters, who chose to keep the banner in 2001.

"I hate to use a tragedy like this, a criminal act of murder, to advance policy," Republican Wicker said Monday before he spoke to the Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership. "But certainly they have no right to be using our state flag as a symbol of white supremacy ... It would be more unifying if we put this Mississippi flag in a museum and replaced it with something that was more unifying. That is still my position."

Republican U.S. Rep. Gregg Harper, who also attended the chamber meeting Monday, said the driver of a car accused of mowing down anti-white supremacy protesters and killing one woman "needs to be tried and convicted of murder ... and never see daylight again."

"It doesn't matter what someone's views are on any issue, this is absolutely unacceptable ... Any time any person says they are superior to someone else, that's not part of who our country is."

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But Harper deferred to state leaders on whether or when the state flag should be changed.

"But I will say this," Harper said. "We have a great governor, a great lieutenant governor and a great speaker of the House in Mississippi, and I trust them to make the right decisions for what we need to do and when we need to do it for Mississippi."

Republican Gov. Phil Bryant on Monday said: "Those who practice the extremist ideals of neo-Nazism or white supremacy have no place in Mississippi. I condemn these groups in the strongest possible terms."

As for the state flag, Bryant said his position has not changed: "Whatever the state flag is or is not should be decided by Mississippi voters."

Bryant said he has been in touch with state law enforcement leaders, "and they stand ready to protect our citizens from the type of cowardly terrorism we saw in Virginia."

Republican U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran on Monday said: "The loss of life and violence in Charlottesville is intolerable. The beliefs of white supremacists and extremists of all ilk run counter to what our nation requires as a free and civil society."

In his statement, Cochran reiterated his past comments that, "it is my personal hope that the state government will consider changing the state flag ... (We) should look for unity and not divisiveness in the symbols of our state."

Democratic U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson said the Mississippi flag's use in Charlottesville is "yet another reason the Confederate symbol should have no place on our state flag."

"This incident further illustrates that the Mississippi state flag carries a symbol of hate and bigotry and must be changed," Thompson said.

Republican U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo did not respond to requests for comments, although a spokeswoman said she was working on getting a response.

Republican state House Speaker Philip Gunn on Monday issued a statement that "bigotry, hatred and the promotion of racial superiority, like that of white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan, have no place in our society .,.. We should all pray for God to change the hearts of all those who believe and practice such evil."

Gunn, who in 2015 became the first state Republican elected official to publicly call for changing the state flag, said in a statement that he still stands by his statements in 2015 and that he voted to change it in 2001 and "I want to see the flag changed."

"But we must realize that changing our state flag, alone, is not going to solve the problem of bigotry, hatred or racial superiority," Gunn said. "Only changes in the hearts of men are going to solve these problems."

Gunn said that while not everyone who flies the state flag has hatred in their hearts, "It is obvious that the Confederate battle emblem continues to be associated with attitudes of bigotry, hatred and racial superiority."

"I believe this association will only continue to increase, therefore providing more reason to disassociate with this flag," Gunn said.

Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves said: "Hatred resides in a person's heart, and I doubt the presence of an altered flag makes someone more hateful than they would have been. Mississippians voted to keep the state flag in 2001. If voters want to revisit the issue, they can, but a Legislature or governor should not unilaterally override the vote of the people."

Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood said: "A large number of Mississippians think our present state flag alienates people. A symbol should unite, not divide. Nobody can take a symbol from an individual. Those who love the history of our flag may fly it on their property or person every day or view it in a museum.

"However, such a large group of citizens who do not support the flag should not be forced to fly it on public property," Hood said.

Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann issued a statement calling the events in Charlottesville "a disgusting reminder that we must be vigilant in opposing all hatred, neo-Nazism and white supremacy." But he did not respond to questions asking about the state flag.

State Democratic Party Chairman Bobby Moak on Monday said: "Feelings run deep on the flag" and called for a "conversation" on changing it.

"To see it used in this manner should commence a conversation in earnest, besides the 'voters have already voted' position," Moak said. "Even supporters of the current flag do not want it used in this way as it does not honor our state or what they believe the Mississippi flag stands for. When hate groups use your state symbol as a rally point, isn't it time to have a grown-up conversation?"

State Republican Party Chairman Joe Nosef said: "Any sincere, respectful debate about our official state flag is a completely different matter than the horrible, criminal acts committed by hate groups like the white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups in Virginia."

Republican State Treasurer Lynn Fitch said "violence and hatred have no place in civil discourse." She called for state lawmakers to change the state flag.

"I share the concerns of the Mississippi Economic Council," Fitch said, "that all our work to bring new businesses and people to our great state is hurt so long as our most visible state symbol is so highly volatile. It is a part of our history, and should be preserved, but the Legislature needs to take action to remove it and start Mississippi on a forward pathway."

Patrick Henry Tyler, adjunct commander of the Kosciusko division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, doesn't believe the state flag was used for hate at the Charlottesville rally. He said the Mississippi state flag's use at a rally against removing a Confederate statue was appropriate. He doesn't believe the people using the Mississippi flag were the same ones using swastikas or making a Nazi salute.

Tyler believes Mississippi needs to preserve the state flag and Confederate monuments.

"I don't understand the people that are offended by a cloth, a piece of material," he said. "If they’re going to do away with it, do away with all the black history. History is history, you can’t change it."

When asked if he saw a correlation between the Confederate emblem and slavery, Tyler said, "I do, but there’s not a person alive that’s a slave. They need to count it in history and move on."

Ray Shores, president of The Dixie Alliance, said he believes "certain hate groups have misappropriated the Confederate battle flag."

"Nazis have no connection to the principles for which the Confederate battle flag stands, because Nazis are Socialists," Shores said. "Hitler was a Socialist, and Nazi stands for the National Socialist Party. The principles of the Confederacy are wholly inconsistent with the principles of Socialists and hatred."

State Rep. Sonya Williams-Barnes, D-Gulfport, chairwoman of the state Legislative Black Caucus, said: "When I saw that (flag in Charlottesville) I saw no difference than what I see when I sit in the (House) Chamber, or what I see when I look at the flag that flies over the state Capitol or when I see the state flag anywhere in our state.

"I would hope our leaders in Mississippi make a decision to change our flag ... before Mississippi has to go through what South Carolina went through and what Charlottesville is currently going through," Williams-Barnes said. "I'd like for us to be proactive."

The caucus on Tuesday issued a press release calling for Bryant to call a special session of the Legislature "for the sole purpose of changing the state's flag."

"When there is a pending economic development deal that requires legislation, the governor declares a special session and calls representatives and senators back to Jackson to pass the required legislation," the caucus statement said. "Simply, there is no legislation that would do more to improve the image and economy of Mississippi than changing the flag."

Scott Waller, president of the Mississippi Economic Council — the state's chamber of commerce — condemned the actions of hate groups in Charlottesville and said, "there is no place for such conduct in America."

"On the flag, the Mississippi Economic Council continues to support changing the Mississippi state flag," Waller said. "All Mississippians should have a symbol they are proud of."

Lea Campbell, president of Mississippi Rising Coalition, said she has been personally threatened and harassed for her activism in trying to change the state flag. Activists are "increasingly becoming targets of intimidation and hate," she said.

"The tensions surrounding changing the state flag is only increasing," she said. "... I’m concerned for not only my personal safety but the safety of Mississippians. Somebody who is in the position of power and influence has got to step up and show some moral leadership on this issue. The time has come. There’s no equivocation on the flag."

Contact Geoff Pender at 601-961-7266 or gpender@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter. Contact Sarah Fowler at 601-961-7303 or sfowler@gannett.com. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.