Both houses of the Mississippi state congress agreed on Saturday to start the procedure for changing the state flag. Currently, it has the historical emblem of the confederate states, critics considered to be a symbol of racism and living off slaves.
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The decision of the Republican-led Mississippi congress came during protests of racism and police violence rolling through the US. Their igniter was the death of the black George Floyd during the intervention of officers in Minneapolis. Monuments to politicians and military men fighting on the confederate south during the Civil War have already been attacked by demonstrators in some regions of the US.
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Confederate symbols are commonly associated with racism due to the exploitation of slave labor by southern farmers. Mississippi is currently the only state that still has Confederate symbolism in its flag.
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Congress wants to change the flag
On Saturday local time, both houses of the congress were in favor of starting the procedure of changing the state flag. Politicians want to remove the confederate emblem from it – diagonally crossed navy stripes with stars on a red background.
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This decision was supported by 84 deputies in the House of Representatives of the State Congress, with 35 votes against. In the Senate, 36 senators voted for the changes, and 14 were against.
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