'Change is Hard' Mississippi Rep. Says of State's Confederate Flag Removal

Philip Gunn, the Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives, said changing the state flag is an opportunity to find one that unifies Mississippians.

Legislators are expected to start voting on Sunday to change the 126-year-old state flag—which features a Confederate battle emblem that has long been decried as racist.

Defenders of Mississippi's state flag have long resisted efforts to abandon it, but many have spoken out against it amid ongoing protests against racism sparked by the death of George Floyd across the U.S. in recent weeks.

Critics, including Mississippi-born singer Faith Hill, have urged legislators to ditch the flag that bears the charged symbol for one that better reflects the state's diverse population.

The state House and Senate met on Saturday and took a huge step forward by voting to suspend legislative deadlines so a bill to redesign the flag could be introduced.

Gunn, a Republican who has publicly supported changing the flag for years, said that passing the resolution was the right thing to do, according to the Mississippi Clarion-Ledger.

"Change is hard," he said. "People are going to resist initially, but I think over time it's going to be proven that this was the right decision. We're poised to reach our full potential now."

He added: "This is an opportunity for us to find a flag that's unifying for all Mississippians, and that's what we're going to do."

The bill proposes that the current flag be immediately removed and a commission be set up to design a new flag that cannot include the Confederate symbol and must feature the words "In God We Trust." The new design would then be put to a public vote in November.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves has said he will sign the flag bill into law if it passes this weekend.

"The argument over the 1894 flag has become as divisive as the flag itself and it's time to end it. If they send me a bill this weekend, I will sign it," he wrote in a Facebook post on Saturday.

But he added that the vote in the state Capitol is not the only thing that needs to be done to end divisiveness in the state.

"We should not be under any illusion that a vote in the Capitol is the end of what must be done—the job before us is to bring the state together and I intend to work night and day to do it," Reeves wrote.

"It will be harder than recovering from tornadoes, harder than historic floods, harder than agency corruption, or prison riots or the coming hurricane season—even harder than battling the Coronavirus.

"For economic prosperity and for a better future for my kids and yours, we must find a way to come together. To heal our wounds, to forgive, to resolve that the page has been turned, to trust each other. With God's help, we can."