June 23, 2015 at 2:54 PM
Former Mississippi governor Haley Barbour (R) noted Tuesday that Mississippi's state flag, which contains the Confederate battle cross, has been in place for more than 100 years and said that any attempt to change it should be up to residents of his state either -- through the state legislature or a ballot referendum.
"This is not something that was stimulated by the Civil Rights movement," Barbour said while appearing on an energy panel as part of the Washington Post's America Answers series. Some Southern states began flying the flag again in the 1960s in response to that movement. "It's been our state flag for 120 years."
Barbour, who earlier in the day said that neither the Mississippi flag or the Confederate one offended him -- although he knew they offended some -- added that there was an attempt in 2001 to change the state flag and remove the battle cross. It failed by a wide margin.
But Monday's announcement by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) that she believes the Confederate flag should be removed from the state capitol grounds has re-ignited the debate over the Mississippi flag. That debate grew louder Tuesday night when Philip Gunn, the Republican speaker of the Mississippi state House, tweeted out a statement suggesting it might be time to re-visit the appropriateness of the battle cross on the state flag.
And, soon after Gunn's tweet came this one from Henry Barbour, a Republican National Committeeman from Mississippi and the nephew of former governor Barbour.
Haley Barbour didn't go as far as his nephew, although he did say that "it doesn't concern me a bit for the legislature to" change the flag.
"The state legislature made this the state flag in 1894," he added. "So at least the legislature ought to undo it if there's not a referendum."