Governor Tate Reeves thanked Mississippians who protested across the state against racism and police brutality over the weekend for doing so peacefully. The killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis white police officer, along with the deaths of other blacks by white officers had led to protests across the country; some violent. Reeves says what happened to Floyd is inexcusable. But in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, he’s concerned some young protesters could now be infected.
“One of the things that I would recommend is if you were at a protest on Saturday in Mississippi, thank you, I congratulate you on doing it in a peaceful way. But I also want to encourage you not to visit with your grand mom or anyone else in Mississippi that is in that vulnerable population,” said Reeves.
A vulnerable population that includes people with chronic illnesses like high blood pressure and diabetes, along with weakened immune symptoms. And, as some Mississippians protest against racism and police brutality, there’s a renewed call to take down the state flag with the confederate emblem. Reeves was asked at yesterday’s news briefing several times his opinion on the flag. He referred to the 2001 referendum in which the majority of Mississippians voted to keep the current flag.
“That was a decision the people of Mississippi made. Now had they not done that then perhaps we could be having a different conversation. But the reality that is the vote that occurred in 2001. Every single Mississippian has the right to gather the signatures to put that back on the ballot,” said Reeves.
Reeves says it takes 120,000 signatures to put an initiative on the ballot. He says he doesn’t think legislators should change the flag--it should be the people of the state. Bills and initiatives to change the flag in the past have failed.
