I was born in the hill country of northeast Mississippi and grew up in the cotton farming country of the Mississippi Delta, not far from the Mississippi River. My hometown was 52% African American and 48% white at that time, yet I knew only one African American my age when we were in high school (we worked together bagging groceries at the Sunflower Food Store). I remember the white and colored drinking fountains and restrooms. It was full on segregation back then.
I moved away when I went off to college at 18 and have not lived in Mississippi since 1967. But whenever I encounter a list or ranking involving the states, in addition to checking out California and Massachusetts (I'm bi-coastal these days), I always look to see where Mississippi falls in these lists. Too often, my reaction is "poor ol' Mississippi."
So altho I've been gone from Mississippi and South for the majority of my life, I think I still have enough cred to say Mississippi needs to change its state flag.
So how should the new Mississippi state flag look? Well, obviously the Confederate battle flag has to go. The rest of the flag is certainly OK. So maybe all that needs doing is replacing that symbol of oppression. What to put there? How about this:
What do you think? Can you come up with something better than my hasty photoshop?