The University of Mississippi eradicated the Confederate flag from their logo and imagery about 20 years ago. They replaced the Southern Cross with “Battle Ms,” a long time ago. Unfortunately, the state flag still has the confederate flag in upper left hand corner. What’s worse is the reason it’s there.
The cross of St. Andrews, otherwise known as the Confederate battle flag was added to Mississippi’s state flag in 1894; and it’s symbolic presence for the purposes of reclaiming the state after reconstruction ended in 1877.
The NCAA banned Mississippi and South Carolina in 2001 from hosting championship events because of the presence of the Confederate flag in each state’s capitol grounds. South Carolina’s ban was lifted after the flag was removed. So now Mississippi is up next. Ole Miss had banned the Confederate flag from the football stadium since the late 1990s.
Ole Miss Football Coach Hugh Freeze was asked about it the state flag, and the nickname “Rebels,” during his time at the SEC Media Days podium.
“In the late ’90s, our school made a move in a direction away from the (Confederate) flag, so our school has kind of made up its mind about where it’s at, and I’m a Mississippian, so no one understand the pride and the heritage of that state better than I do,” Freeze said
“While I’m not a political figure, that symbol has been hijacked somewhat by some groups that mean ill-will towards other people.”
“I think it’s time we move in a different direction with the state flag.”
“We can get into the name of the Rebels and everything and if that’s something that’s troublesome to others we can address that, but I haven’t heard that.”
Both South Carolina Coach Steve Spurrier and Alabama Coach Nick Saban strongly voiced their opposition to the Confederate flag and Confederate symbols during SEC Media Day.
“I applaud our Governor for setting the initiative to remove the flag,” Spurrier said. “Obviously, all of us in college sports, we know the importance of equality, race relations, everybody getting along.”
Added Saban: “My opinion is that any time we have a symbol that represents something that is mean-spirited or doesn’t represent equal rights for all people, I’m not for having that symbol represent anything we’re involved in.”
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports Digital. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. He also appears regularly on numerous sports talk radio stations all across the country.
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