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American Morning

Mississippi Voting Whether to Change Its Flag Today

Aired April 17, 2001 - 11:05   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: The polls have been open in Mississippi a little more than three hours now. Voters there are deciding an emotional issue: whether or not to keep the current state flag with its Confederate battle emblem or adopt a new flag. That's an issue that has stirred passions all across the Magnolia State.

Joining us on the phone now from Clarksdale, Mississippi, is Jeffrey Gettleman. He's the Atlanta bureau chief for "The Los Angeles Times," and he covered the recent successful efforts to change Georgia's state flag.

Can you see any -- see any common themes here happening between Georgia and Mississippi in this case?

JEFFREY GETTLEMAN, "THE LOS ANGELES TIMES": Well, it basically brings up the same issues. Is this flag a symbol of heritage that a lot of people are proud of, or is it a symbol of hate and of oppression and of the Ku Klux Klan and slavery and many things people are trying to put behind them?

The difference here in Mississippi from any other state is that Mississippi has been the only state to actually ask voters to decide this directly.

HARRIS: And why do you think that happened that way?

GETTLEMAN: I don't think there was a political will here for the politicians to handle it. Mississippi has the reputation of being the deepest of the Deep South -- the poorest, the least educated, the most rural, the most obsessed with the past. William Faulkner, who the state takes great pride in for being from Mississippi, once said, "The past is never dead. It's not even past."

HARRIS: Yeah. I've heard that statement before. Any chance that this could actually get violent because we -- I know we heard -- we heard lots of angry, angry rhetoric when this came up in South Carolina, and many were afraid that it would lead to violence in that case? Do you see that as a possibility here in Mississippi?

GETTLEMAN: No, what I think is interesting is that the people who are for the Confederate flag are much more passionate than the people against it, and there has been many more rallies, meetings, and emotion on the side of the em who want to keep the flag than those who think it's offensive. So it seems to have energized one side much more than the other, and I don't think anybody's predicting any violence out of it.

HARRIS: Do you know -- and has there been much movement at all on this in the past few years? We had guest last -- I guess two hours ago this morning who said that this has come up a couple of times before. But have the numbers amongst the population moved at all to give anyone any confidence that there could be something done on this?

GETTLEMAN: Well, that's what's interesting about Mississippi. It doesn't have the culture of taking in outsiders and transplants like these other southern states. Georgia, for instance, has Atlanta, and that's drawn people from all across the country, people from the North, people from the East Coast. Mississippi has a much more pure sort of southern heritage culture, and it really hasn't changed. There isn't the industry or the tourism to dilute that. So I don't think opinions have changed all that much here.

HARRIS: And since you mentioned those things like industry and tourism, those were tools -- the tools that were used in South Carolina and Georgia. I think the NAACP was the first to establish the idea of using boycotts to move people on the flag issue in those states. You don't see that working in this case?

GETTLEMAN: Exactly. The boycott worked in South Carolina and Georgia because there was something to boycott. In Mississippi, there really isn't. They have the casino industry, and -- and a lot of people don't think that gamblers would be really moved by this to stay out of the -- stay away from the slots.

HARRIS: All right. Will all that being the case in -- and it sounds like you don't see this changing any -- the flag being changed by other's vote here. What does this do to race relations in Mississippi?

GETTLEMAN: Well, I think people are afraid it's going to set it back. It shows an insensitivity in part to the concerns that the flag still is a symbol of an era that a lot of people don't want to remember, and some people are afraid that, if the state embraces the flag, it's going to reinforce the perception of Mississippi as still sort of the Deep south, the one place that's refusing to sort of get with the times.

HARRIS: Jeffrey Gettleman, let -- would you let us call you tomorrow and see how this thing turns out and talk about it again?

GETTLEMAN: I -- I would be happy to.

HARRIS: Good deal. Perhaps there will be a surprise for us. We'll find out tomorrow. Jeffrey Gettleman who is the Atlanta bureau chief for "The Los Angeles Times." Thanks much.

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