Flag for All Mississippians Coalition to Host Rally Thurs. Feb. 18 @ 11AM at State Capitol Demanding Legislators Change State Flag

Special Guests will include, but are not limited to: Rev. Dr. Barron Banks, civil rights activist and professor; Douglas Lacey, actor and musician; Vicki Robinson-Slater, attorney, activist and 2016 Mississippi Gubernatorial candidate; Dr. Edilia J. Carthan, author, professor and businesswoman; Pastor Thomas Clark of Ascension Lutheran Church in Jackson, MS; Rip Daniels, host of “It’s a New Day” and owner of WJZD 94.5FM The People’s Station, Dr. Hightower the first VP of the NAACP, Joseph Campbell of the MLRC, Rev. Thomas Jenkins of New Dimensions Church

JACKSON, Miss.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Flag for All Mississippians Coalition will host a public rally at the Mississippi State Capitol on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016 from 11am - 1pm to call for the legislature to remove the Confederate emblem from the Mississippi state flag. Several special guests have been invited to speak and include cultural and religious leaders from across Mississippi representing the diversity of the coalition in support of changing the flag. The Coalition is chartering buses from different regions of the state to the capitol to enable citizens from across Mississippi to attend.

Director of the Flag for All Mississippians Coalition Sharon Brown says, “It’s time for Mississippi to embrace a new flag that represents unity and progress. We can’t achieve our social and economic potential as a state when we have a banner that includes a symbol associated with a civil war that was fought to keep our ancestors in slavery and the legacy of white supremacy and racism. The honorable and sensible things for Mississippi legislators to do is remove this emblem so that our great state can move forward and embrace our state motto, “The Hospitality State.”

WHAT:	Rally, One Flag for All Rally
WHEN:	Thursday, February 18^th 11am – 1pm
WHERE:	Mississippi State Capitol - 400 High St, Jackson, MS 39201
WHY:	Demanding legislators change Mississippi state flag so that it shall not contain or include any reference to the Confederate army’s battle flag or to the Confederacy.

Rally participants will have the opportunity to sign ballot initiative 55, the Flag for All Mississippians Act, which is sponsored by the Flag for All Mississippians Coalition. The coalition is alternatively supporting the adoption of SB2147 and HB1544, which would change the flag by a commission of the people, stating that the new flag would be unveiled at the 200th anniversary of MS statehood, which is 12/10/2017.

The Flag for All Mississippians Coalition is a diverse group of citizens who have come together to support the creation of a state flag that represents all Mississippians regardless of their race, religion, education, or socio-economic status. We believe it is time for Mississippi to end its era as the only state that has a tribute to the Confederacy as part of their state flag, for Mississippi to embrace unity, not division and to remove a symbol that has kept our state from exploring its true economic potential. It is time for Mississippi to do what is right and create a flag for all Mississippians.