BILOXI, Miss. – With less than a week before Mississippi voters decide whether to remove the Confederate symbol from their state flag, supporters of the change have a huge fund-raising advantage, and both sides are pulling out the big guns.
Two former Mississippi governors told a convention Thursday that adopting a new state flag design won't bring new jobs or lead to racial reconciliation.
``We've got to stop somewhere, I mean we can't be bullied around by 10 percent of the population who take offense when there is no offense to be taken,'' said Democrat Bill Waller, governor from 1972 to 1976. He was joined by former Republican Gov. Kirk Fordice, 1992-2000.
Another former governor, Democrat William Winter, 1980-1984, urged the same group to support the new flag, saying replacing the old one would help Mississippi shed negative stereotypes by removing a symbol used by the Ku Klux Klan.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox