‘I think it’s a slap in my face … to put that flag up’: Councilwoman’s tearful plea moves mayor to furl Mississippi flag
Tupelo Mayor Jason Shelton ordered this week for the Mississippi state flag to be removed from city police headquarters and replaced by the city’s flag, a decision he reached after listening to a city councilwoman’s impassioned plea.
“The controversy surrounding the current design of the state flag of Mississippi will never go away until it’s changed,” Shelton said during a Tuesday press conference. “Either our generation of leaders will deal with it, or we’ll leave it to our children. I think it’s incumbent on our generation of leaders to take a stand and adopt a flag that’s representative of all the citizens of Mississippi.”
According to the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, the flag had been a cause of “deep concern” for Councilwoman Nettie Davis, who Shelton said inspired him to take action against the flag after she recently opened up to colleagues regarding the flag.
“I think it’s a slap in my face, and I’m an African-American woman, to put that flag up. It has put a shadow over that police department,” Davis said, according to the Daily Journal. “That flag denotes hate.”
Shelton said he was compelled after seeing Davis moved to tears.
Read the full story: Tupelo mayor orders Mississippi flag be removed from police department headquarters