JACKSON, Miss. – About 200 people who want to keep the Confederate battle emblem on the Mississippi flag are rallying outside the state Capitol.
Some say removing the symbol would be akin to communists rewriting history.
Chuck McMichael of Shreveport, Louisiana, is a past national commander in chief for Sons of Confederate Veterans. He said Tuesday that those seeking to change the flag are pushing a "leftish, progressive agenda."
The public display of Confederate symbols has come under increased scrutiny since June, when nine black worshippers were massacred at a church in South Carolina. Within weeks, lawmakers removed a Confederate battle flag from the South Carolina Statehouse grounds.
The New Orleans City Council voted in December to remove Confederate monuments.
Mississippi has had the Confederate battle emblem on its flag since 1894.
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