A Republican senator from Mississippi came out in favor of replacing the state’s flag Wednesday, saying, “After reflection and prayer, I now believe our state flag should be put in a museum.”
U.S. Senator Roger Wicker said in a public statement that while he previously did not see the Confederate flag in the upper left corner of the state flag as offensive, his opinions have changed in light of the recent public backlash after a shooting in a historically black church in Charleston, S.C. last week. “It is clearer and clearer to me that many of my fellow citizens feel differently and that our state flag increasingly portrays a false impression of our state to others,” Wicker said.
When the Confederate Flag Seemed Like a Fad
University of Maryland students waving the Confederate flag.Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. Daughters of Confederacy show how the flag should be saluted.Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. Flag factories like this one in Washington are swamped with orders for flags from tiny ones for dime-store sale to 5-by-8 foot silk ones at $100 each.Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. Three make a blouse.Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesGirls wearing hats displaying the Confederate flag.Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images31st Division Band displaying the Confederate flag.Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. "I'm against Truman," explained Ed Tracy in buying flag in a shop in Westfield, N.J. One Washington store has sold 10,000 flags in the last year.Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. Dam Yankee's car would enrage Daughters of the Confederacy, who have spoken out bitterly against using flags like fox tails on cars' radiator caps.Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. Southern Senators' employes and visitors wear new Confederate tie. Reborn gag: "Save your Confederate money—the South will rise again."Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. University of Maryland students display 1864 flag, battle flags.Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
The statement marks a reversal from Wicker’s stance on Monday that he would leave the decision on Mississippi’s flag up to “the will of the people of Mississippi.” He is joined by House Speaker Philip Gunn, who called the state flag “a point of offense that needs to be removed.”
