Country for PR: United States
Contributor: PR Newswire New York
Thursday, September 03 2020 - 06:31
AsiaNet
State Flag Commission Picks New Magnolia Flag for November Ballot
JACKSON, Mississippi, Sept. 3, 2020 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --

--Commission Votes to Officially Name the Flag "In God We Trust"

The Commission to Redesign the Mississippi State Flag met at the Two 
Mississippi Museums and selected the "New Magnolia Flag" to become the new 
state flag. The commissioners submitted the design to the governor and the 
legislature as instructed in House Bill 1796, which established the commission. 
Mississippians will vote whether to approve the flag design on November 3. 

Photo - 
https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1247996/Mississippi_new_In_God_We_Trust_Flag.jpg 

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1248034/MDAH_Logo.jpg 

The commission voted to brand the flag the "In God We Trust" flag.

The flag was designed by Rocky Vaughan, with design support provided by Sue 
Anna Joe, Kara Giles, and Dominique Pugh. The design features a white magnolia 
on a blue banner with red and gold bars on each end. The magnolia is encircled 
by twenty five-point stars, plus a star representing indigenous Native 
Americans, and the words "In God We Trust."

"Our flag should reflect the beauty and good in all of us. It should represent 
a state that deserves a positive image," said Vaughan. "The New Magnolia Flag 
represents the warmth and strength of the good people of Mississippi. Now is 
the time we show the world that we're from Mississippi, the Magnolia State."

Tribal Chief Cyrus Ben, Sherri Carr Bevis, Frank Bordeaux, Mary Graham, Betsey 
Hamilton, Robyn Tannehill, T.J. Taylor, and J. Mack Varner served on the 
commission. Judge Reuben Anderson chaired the commission.

"No one worked harder to change Mississippi's flag than Governor William 
Winter," said Anderson, who is also president of the Board of Trustees of the 
Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH). "I am thinking of him 
today as Mississippi takes this historic step toward selecting a state flag 
that will unify us and make us proud. I am grateful to our state leadership and 
my colleagues on the commission for their commitment to moving Mississippi 
forward."

"MDAH was proud to support the Flag Commission in its historic work," said MDAH 
director Katie Blount. "We were especially gratified to see the public engage 
so significantly in the process. The commissioners worked hard, listening to 
the experts and to the people, and they came up with a great design to present 
to voters on November 3."

On July 1, 2020, Mississippi retired the state's 1894 flag -- the last state 
flag in the nation to incorporate the Confederate battle flag. The legislature 
directed that the new design must not contain that flag but must include the 
words "In God We Trust."

All of the meetings were broadcast live on the MDAH Facebook page and placed on 
the MDAH YouTube Channel ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2906852-1&h=3379254665&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fuser%2FMDAHVideo&a=MDAH+YouTube+Channel 
) afterwards.

Media Availability:
The Honorable Reuben Anderson, chairman of the Commission to Redesign the 
Mississippi State Flag and president of the Mississippi Department of Archives 
& History Board of Trustees. Judge Anderson was the first African American to 
serve on the Mississippi Supreme Court.

Katie Blount, Director, Mississippi Department of Archives and History

For More information or to schedule interviews contact: 
Michael Morris, MDAH Director of Public Relations. mmorris@mdah.ms.gov or 
601.576.6822
Holly Lange, Lange Management, holly@langemanagement.com, or 601.906.8698

SOURCE: Mississippi Department of Archives & History 
Translations

Japanese