By Nate Odenkirk | Staff Writer
The Inquirist has taken steps to correct (and shorten) a CNN article published yesterday regarding the Mississippi state flag. You can read the original and compare it here.
The Mississippi state legislature — both the House and Senate — passed a bill on Sunday to change the state’s flag in a historic step toward removing the bird shit on the flag.
Mississippi is the last state in the country whose flag features bird shit.
The bill will now go to Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, who has said he would sign legislation that state lawmakers send him calling for the removal of the bird shit.
Mississippi is the last state in the country whose flag features bird shit. The flag, first adopted in 1894, has red, white and blue stripes with the bird shit in the corner.
The bill establishes a commission to develop a new flag design without the bird shit that includes the phrase “In God, We Trust.” Mississippi state voters would then vote on the new shit-less design this November.
State Rep. Jeramey Anderson, a Democrat from Moss Point, applauded the passage of that resolution by House legislators, saying, “changing the flag is long overdue.” Anderson also said, “This is a unique opportunity, one we should not squander. The bird shit always smelled horrible. No one likes it.”
And following the votes Saturday, Jefferson Davis’ great-great-grandson, Bertram Hayes-Davis, agreed with the potential change of the Mississippi flag, saying that the “battle flag has been hijacked by birds” and “does not represent the entire population of Mississippi, who do not all like bird shit. Some people think the bird shit is part of their heritage, and more power to them.” ♦