Mississippi Edition

Lawmakers react to Sunday’s historic vote as the bill awaits the governor’s signature.

Then, the President and CEO of the NAACP weighs in on the flag and the role of other confederate iconography.

Plus, the part the Mississippi Arts Commission will play in presenting voters with a new flag.

Segment 1:

Lawmakers returned to the capitol yesterday - one day removed from a vote that drew headlines across the country, and ended the 126 year tenure of a state flag featuring the confederate battle emblem. The bi-partisan, super-majority vote in both chambers signified the state's legislative bodies were ready to make changes to the flag that, over the course of the last month, drew internal and external condemnation.

For House Minority Robert Leader Robert Johnson, a Democrat from Natchez, Sunday's vote was a long time in the making - the result of a steadfast resolve to end Mississippi's official association with the confederate flag. He tells our Ashley Norwood, it felt good to see the bill pass, but acknowledges there is still much more work to be done.

Segment 2:

 Derrick Johnson is a native of Detroit, Michigan but came to Jackson, Mississippi for his undergraduate studies at the historically black Tougaloo College - a primary center of activity in the metro region during the Civil Rights Era. Now President and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Johnson is helping lead a re-energized call to address the systemic racism rooted in the country's complex past. In part one of his conversation with MPB's Desare Frazier, Johnson reflects on the state flag and role of confederate statues and icons in a nation grappling with racial reconciliation and equality

Segment 3:

When Mississippi voters cast their ballots this November, they will have an up or down vote on a newly designed flag. The bill that removes the current state flag also establishes a nine-person commission tasked with presenting that design to the legislature. Three of those are appointments made by the Governor, but must include representation from three state organizations: The Mississippi Arts Commission, the Mississippi Economic Council, and the Department of Archives and History. In the first of a three part series, we talk with Malcolm White, the Executive Director of the Arts Commission, about the role his organization will play in presenting voters a new flag.