A post-script [ pun intended :-) ]

Washington Post / Editorial

Mississippi votes to stick with the past

The Old South went head to head with the New South in Mississippi last week: Old Dixie won. The issue, posed in the form of a ballot referendum, allowed voters to choose whether to formally adopt the unofficial state flag that prominently sported the Confederate battle emblem or a new design without the racially divisive rebel symbol. By nearly a 2 to 1 margin, Mississippians decided their future is in their tortured past.

With the vote, Mississippi enshrined itself as the only state in the Union to still wave a banner that symbolizes in the minds of many Americans, especially African Americans, allegiance to a segregationist South. Other Deep South states, recognizing the Confederate battle flag as a hurtful and emotional reminder of slavery, Jim Crow, civil rights resistance and deep racial divisions, have elected to lessen the rebel cross as a source of contention. Since last July, the Confederate battle flag no longer flies atop South Carolina's statehouse. Georgia has relegated the Confederate emblem, once prominently featured in the state flag, to be part of a display of historic flags. Alabama struck the flag from the state capitol seven years ago. Earlier this year, Florida removed the Confederate flag from a display of several flags on the grounds of the state capitol. Mississippi, standing alone and against the tide, chose to march smartly to the rear.

Mississippi will be the poorer for it. We have no way of knowing how or even if retaining the Confederate flag - an emblem beloved by southern heritage buffs and white supremacist groups alike - will affect economic development in the state. In all likelihood, the racially polarized vote will reinforce Mississippi's negative image far beyond its borders.

Why cling to the rebel cross? The Civil War may never be over for Mississippi, said Marty Wiseman, political scientist at Mississippi State University. "I mean, we're talking about a war that lasted for four years - in the century before last - and here in Mississippi, in a sense, we're still fighting it." And, in a national sense, still losing.