By Chelsey Sellars | June 29, 2020 at 7:16 AM CDT – Updated June 29 at 9:07 AM
“I love this flag. I believe it’s a good representation for the state of Mississippi whether you like it or not,” said David Flynt.
It’s with that love that Flynt and others defend their stance on the current state flag.
He and others drove for hours to Jackson to show support Sunday.
“…It shows us what we’ve been through but it also shows us all together, whether you like it or whether you don’t, this is the Mississippi flag,” said Flynt.
He believes the decision from the Capitol diminishes what his vote meant in 2001.
Tessa Collett feels the same way.
“My heart’s broken. I’m sad that they deemed it upon themselves to to take away our vote that we voted in 2001. I know younger people say that’s a long time ago and it really wasn’t. I lived here and I voted for this flag. So they absolutely nullified my vote along with the other 65 percent of Mississippi that voted at that time,” said Collett.
Near the same steps, Wanada Keahey stood by a friend to witness history.
“This is where Mississippi is making change. Mississippi is coming into the 21st century. Mississippi is under renovation right now, so I wanted to be here,” said Keahey.
She believes a new flag could bring Mississippi forward.
Paloma Wu held a Black Lives Matter flag most of the day and said the flag is just the beginning.
“It’s going to be the first of many, many, many more steps to come. First of a thousand. The first step is the most important; taking it down. The flag is finally, I think, the moment where everybody can say we are not going to tell stories about why things are the way they are or what we’ve done in the past and that’s first step to moving forward.”
Copyright 2020 WLBT. All rights reserved.