Confederate Symbol Stays In Mississippi Flag: Supreme Court

An appeal by an African-American attorney, which challenged the use of a confederate emblem on the Mississippi state flag, was thrown out by the Supreme Court on Monday.

Carlos Moore, who is from Mississippi, argued that the emblem on his state’s flag represents "an official endorsement of white supremacy,” a claim that he presented before the Supreme Court after it was rejected by a lower court for lack of standing in April.

"The message in Mississippi's flag has always been one of racial hostility and insult and it is pervasive and unavoidable by both children and adults," Moore said in his appeal, the Hill reported.

"The state's continued expression of its message of racial disparagement sends a message to African-American citizens of Mississippi that they are second class citizens."

The case was appealed to the Supreme Court by Moore on the grounds that the federal appeals court had given the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause too narrow of an interpretation.

According to him, the decision to keep the emblem on the flag — which has been in use since 1894 — was hurting the economy of the state. He said the population of the state included around 38 percent black people, and the design of Mississippi flag hurt the sentiment of a significant portion of the society.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision, Moore accepted that it was a “long shot.” "We're hopeful that one day the flag will come down," Moore told NBC News.

"It seems that the public sentiment continues to change, and I am confident that it will come down in my lifetime and definitely in my daughter's."

The Supreme Court justices did not elaborate on their decision to decline Moore's appeal.

Attorneys for Republican Gov. Phil Bryant argued that while Moore “personally and deeply is offended by Mississippi's state flag — and the sincerity of those beliefs is not doubted,” he failed to prove “allegation of discriminatory treatment.”

This was not the first time that the controversial design of the Mississippi flag has been questioned in the court of law. Sixteen years ago, residents of the state voted on an April 2001 referendum and arrived at the decision to the keep the design of the flag as it is. But times are changing and confederate symbols have come under increased scrutiny since 2015.

In the wake of confederate statues being taken down, many cities and towns and all eight of Mississippi's public universities have stopped flying the state flag amid concerns that it promotes racial discrimination.

Reaction to Supreme Court refusing to alter their state’s flag was mixed. "That flag has been flying over this land for a long time, so why would they want to remove it?" Edward Young, an 85-year-old white resident said. "We don't have any race riots like they do elsewhere. We get along very well with people here, no matter what color your skin is."

On the other hand, Edgar Tice, a 48-year-old African-American resident of Mississippi, said: It's the Confederate battle flag, and what were they fighting for? Slavery. So, I'm against that.”