Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill into law on Tuesday that will replace the current state flag bearing a Confederate emblem, a gesture triggered by support across the United States to dismantle symbols of slavery and racism. The removal of the flag, a long-simmering source of controversy in one of the breakaway states that fought in the American Civil War of the 1860s, follows the death in May of George Floyd, a Black man killed in police custody in Minnesota.
His death has sparked nationwide protests against racial injustice and police brutality, and revived demands for the removal of statues of Confederate leaders, Christopher Columbus and others considered symbols of racism and colonial oppression.
"I understand the need to commit the 1894 flag to history and find a banner that is a better emblem for all Mississippi," Reeves said in a televised speech. "We must understand that all who want change are not attempting to erase history."