Fake News and False Information On Mississippi Scalawag Flag Proposal

WREG News Channel 3 (Memphis , Tennessee) is reporting:

Photo credit: WREG News 3

"Laurin Stennis’ flag design has gained so much popularity that even those who order the flag want her autograph. She matched the colors exactly to the United States flag.

“I think those are wonderful colors and the symbolism is meaningful, but also this is a strong standalone but when you pair it with the United States flag they make a handsome couple,” said Stennis.

Nineteen stars circle around a large star, which represents Mississippi as the 20th state to join the Union in 1817. The large star is called Bonnie Blue.

Stennis had some help producing the flags with Complete Flag Source. To date, well over 2,000 Stennis flags have been sold."

According to the report Stennis' asks:

"Is our logo doing it’s job? I would argue absolutely not because every time it comes up we fight about and we get tense.”

Okay, where to start?

WREG reports that the flag is already very popular. That is false. Yes two thousand flags is a respectable amount to be sold, however, when compared to recent polls, Mississippians don't want to replace their state flag.

An April 24, 2018 report published by the Biloxi Sun Herald states:

"Asked if they favor or oppose the removal of Confederate monuments and statues from public places, 65 percent of Mississippi respondents were strongly or somewhat opposed, compared to 61 percent of those polled in other Southern states."

It only stands to reason that these same people would oppose replacing the current Mississippi state flag with one that does not incorporate the Confederate battle flag.

Second, the large Blue star in the center of the proposed new flag is not the Bonnie Blue as Mrs. Stennis states. The Bonnie Blue flag is a lone white star on a plane blue field. A brief history of the Bonnie Blue Flag can be found on Wikipedia and reads as follows:

"The first recorded use of this flag (typically with a white star) was in 1810 when it was used to represent the Republic of West Florida, a republic of English speaking inhabitants of southern Alabama, Mississippi, and portions of Louisiana east of the Mississippi River who rebelled against the reign of Spanish government and overthrew Spain's provincial Governor de Lassus at Baton Rouge...When the state of Mississippi seceded from the Union in January 1861, a flag bearing a single white star on a blue field was flown from the capitol dome."

Third, despite incorrectly describing the large blue star on her newly designed flag, Stennis' inadvertently has revealed it is a tip of the hat, so to speak, to Mississippi's  Confederate past which means that when liberal voters learn of this fact, the newly designed flag will be labeled oppressive and racist (just as haters of history have labeled the current flag). Given this information it is a waste of time, money and resources.

Mississippi already has a state flag which pays homage to the common Confederate veteran soldier. The citizens of the state want to keep it that way.