Mississippi flag minus rebel X on license plate

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi residents who want a state flag without the Confederate battle emblem now can display one on their license plate.

Gov. Phil Bryant signed a bill Tuesday authorizing the state to sell several new specialty license plates. One of them features a proposed state flag designed by Jackson artist Laurin Stennis.

Legislators have not changed the actual flag that’s the last in the U.S. with the Confederate emblem, although some have pushed for the “Stennis flag.”

Stennis says her design represents unity. It has red vertical bars on each side and a white center with large blue star encircled by 19 smaller ones, representing Mississippi as the 20th state.

She is the granddaughter of the late U.S. John C. Stennis, who served 41 years before retiring in 1989 and was a segregationist much of his career. He died in 1995.

Like most specialty license plates in Mississippi, this one will cost an extra $30 a year. Most of the money will go toward operation and maintenance of the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, which opened in 2017 in Jackson.

The Confederate emblem — a red field topped by a blue tilted cross and dotted by 13 white stars — has appeared on Mississippi’s flag since 1894. Critics say it’s racist; those who oppose removing it say it’s a historic symbol.

Mississippians voted to keep the flag in a 2001 statewide election. However, several Mississippi cities and counties and all eight of the state’s public universities have stopped flying it in recent years amid criticism that the battle emblem is a racist reminder of slavery and segregation.