Mississippi fails the test

Sometimes a legislature has to do more than hold its finger to the wind. That's the test of statesmanship, a test that the Mississippi legislature failed miserably.
Mississippi's flag, the last in the nation to contain the stars and bars of the Confederacy, became an open question last May, when the state Supreme Court found the banner had no official standing because its design had never been codified.
Missed chance: At that point the Mississippi legislature had the perfect opportunity to join the 21st century and remove from its flag a symbol of a war that was fought 140 years ago over the continuation of slavery in the South. It had an opportunity to announce that the Civil War was over and the state no longer needed a reminder of that war flying on flagpoles around the state.
All the legislators had to say was, "The buck stops here." Instead, they put the issue to a vote of the people, a vote that the legislature had to know would become divisive and would split largely along racial lines. And that's exactly what happened.
Those who fooled even themselves into thinking this vote was about Mississippi's history can celebrate their victory. Mississippi will go down in history as the last Confederate state.
Meanwhile, people like Richard Barrett of Jackson, Miss., the general counsel for the Nationalist Movement, one of the most outspoken supporters of the keeping the Confederate flag as part of Mississippi's banner, has moved on. He went straight to Cincinnati, the scene of racial unrest following the death of a young black man who was shot by a policeman.
Barrett felt it was necessary to share the wisdom of Jackson, Miss., with residents of the Queen City. Jackson, Barrett said, solved its riot problem by adopting a simple slogan, "You loot, we shoot." Most people in Cincinnati realize that the city's problems are a bit more complex than that. Of course the rioters were wrong, but most people know something else is wrong when 12 black men die at the hands of police in a little over three years.
False hope: But back to Mississippi. Following the vote, Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, who supported changing the flag, issued a statement saying: "It's important that we accept the majority vote and move forward with the business of bringing new jobs and better opportunities to all Mississippians."
That's easier said than done. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People used a boycott to force South Carolina, to remove the Confederate flag from atop the Statehouse dome, and a decision on whether to launch a boycott against Mississippi is expected in May.
All this is happening because Mississippi's elected officials couldn't summon the courage to do the right thing a year ago.