Confederate emblem has staying power on Mississippi flag

Legislators have filed bills that propose to either change the flag that has been used since 1894 or punish schools, universities, local governments or state agencies that refuse to fly it.

The day after President Donald Trump was inaugurated, several people stood on an Interstate 55 bridge in Mississippi holding Trump banners, Mississippi flags and American flags, according to photos on the Facebook page of Delta Flaggers, a group that supports the state banner.

The public display of Confederate symbols has come under widespread debate since the June 2015 slaying of nine black worshippers in a church in a Charleston, South Carolina, by an avowed white supremacist who had posed for photos with the Confederate battle flag.

All eight of Mississippi's public universities, several schools and city and county governments have stopped flying the banner because of the Confederate emblem, and the Mississippi flag has also been removed from other places, including a display of state flags outside the Oregon Capitol.

House Rules Chairman Jason White, R-West, said without broad agreement on some sort of flag proposal, "I'm not willing to spend political capital on that."