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American Morning
Mississippi Votes Today on Confederate Flag Emblem
Aired April 17, 2001 - 09:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. Even as we speak, Mississippi voters are casting ballots that will determine whether the Confederate battle emblem will remain on their state flag. For some, this flag is a symbol of hate. But others see this as a symbol of heritage. We've heard that argument before.
CNN national correspondent Brian Cabell takes a look now at both sides.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sunday services at Anderson United Methodist Church in Jackson have been a time for singing, sermonizing and warning against apathy toward the Mississippi flag referendum.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To stay at home and not vote is casting a vote to say, "I don't mind."
CABELL: The current flag with the Confederate battle emblem is opposed by Governor Ronnie Musgrove and a coalition of civil rights, church and business groups.
REV. JEFF STALLWORTH, ANDERSON UNITED METHODIST CHURCH: If we would change flags, we would have a new day in Mississippi, and we would say not only to Mississippians but to the entire world that this is a different place.
CABELL: A different place, some say, that will attract more business, such as the Nissan plant that recently broke ground here.
Greg Stewart, a lawyer and a great-great-grandson of a Confederate soldier, rejects the idea that the Confederate emblem is a symbol of hate.
GREG STEWART, SONS OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS: I think we should embrace our history and not try to demonize or judge people from the past and find evil where it may not even exist.
CABELL (on camera): According to pre-election polls, most Mississippians, perhaps 60 percent or more, want to keep the old flag. That includes an overwhelming majority of whites and a sizable minority of blacks.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We would like you to us help to hang on to our heritage and our history.
CABELL (voice-over): The campaigns on both sides of the issue have been remarkably low-key. Telephone, leaflets and rallies are the most common way to get the word out. Still for many, the flag issue elicits strong emotions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I was boy growing up in Carroll county, Mississippi, I saw that flag, the present flag they call the state flag, passed by with the Ku Klux Klan that lynched people, my people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't believe that it's a sign of oppression, I believe it's a sign of the freedom that we do have today.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been fine for all these years, we should just leave it alone.
CABELL: For voters, the issue will be simple. Either a vote for the current flag with a Confederate emblem in the corner, or the new flag, with 20 white stars over a blue background in the corner. Mississippi was the 20th state to enter the union. The current flag has been flying in Mississippi since 1894.
Brian Cabell, CNN, Jackson, Mississippi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: The NAACP has been a leader in the push to change Mississippi's flag.
Joining us live now from Jackson, Mississippi, is Eugene Bryant. He is president of the Mississippi chapter of the NAACP.
Good morning, sir. Thank you for coming in and talking to us this morning.
What do you say...
EUGENE BRYANT, PRESIDENT, MISSISSIPPI NAACP: Good morning. How are you this morning?
HARRIS: I'm doing quite well. Thank you.
Now we have watching from our vantage point here this same debate play out in South Carolina and right here in Georgia, and there seems to be a difference between those two states and Mississippi. We don't see the large numbers or the majority of the population there in the state asking for this. Why is it coming up now at this time?
BRYANT: Well, at this time, we -- there is a coalition of both black and white, rich and poor who see that now is the time for Mississippi to make a change. Now is the time for Mississippi to step out of its racist past into a marvelous new future, a brighter day for the State of Mississippi.
Now is the time for Mississippi to change the perception of the world and become a state in which we all can settle down under one flag, one that represents all people.
HARRIS: Well, is it the time only because you've seen South Carolina pull this off or because you've seen Georgia go through this?
BRYANT: No, it's not that because we've been fighting this flag for a long time. Aaron E. Henry -- the late Aaron E. Henry, the president of the Mississippi State Conference, has fought this for a long time.
We filed a lawsuit to get this thing changed, and -- and years passed. The Supreme Court -- the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled that Mississippi does not have a -- an official flag.
So now is the time to get an official flag for the State of Mississippi, one that represents all people.
HARRIS: Well, you know, there is those who are critics of your particular point of view who say, "Look, not even all the blacks in Mississippi agree with that point of view." In fact, as I understand, the numbers don't show that there is really an overwhelming majority of blacks in Mississippi who think it should be changed.
BRYANT: I do not agree with that. I think there may be some people out there who are not educated to the fact of what this Confederate battle emblem stands for. It stood for slavery. It stood for hatred. It stood for all of those things that our people had to suffer under. So now is the time for us to change that.
HARRIS: Well, I want to let you listen to some -- some words that we got this morning from a guest who was on the other side of this particular issue.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
JOHN THOMAS CRIPPS, FREEMISSISSIPPI.ORG: This flag has been flying for 107 years, long before these things came about. This is part of our history. It's the only flag that any one alive in Mississippi today has ever known, and we just do not believe that eradicating this flag will solve the problems that we have in our society in Mississippi.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
HARRIS: How about those words by Mr. Cripps? These -- changing the flag is not going to change the reality for life of people there racially in Mississippi.
BRYANT: Well, I think it will be a step in the right direction. I think it will be a step towards racial reconciliation, and it not be a slap in the face of black people who look up and see the Confederate battle emblem flying with this flag.
You cannot separate the hatred that this flag engenders from the racist group in this world. You cannot separate that. We're not denying that it's history. We're not denying it's a part of their heritage. But what we're seeking is respect for own history and our own her heritage.
HARRIS: Before I let you go, I just want to ask you quickly -- has even a compromise flag or issue been considered? We saw that happen here in Georgia?
BRYANT: Well, this is a compromise. It's a compromise to the effect that the -- the present flag will be given a historical status, and that's the compromise.
HARRIS: OK. All right. We thank you for that. Mr. Eugene Bryant, president of the Mississippi NAACP. Thanks much.
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