US: Mississippi ends confederating with racist history

By Vakkas Dogantekin

ANKARA (AA) - Mississippi state legislature late Sunday passed a bill to remove Confederate symbol from the state flag in historic vote.

The state lawmakers have been weighing a change to their flag amid violent anti-racism protests across the country following the killing of unarmed black man George Floyd by a white police officer in Minnesota.

Mississippi is the only remaining state with a flag, first adopted in 1894, to feature the Confederate insignia.

The bill that cleared the state house in a 91-23 vote and senate with a 37-14 vote, will now go to Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican, who on Saturday said he would sign it into law.

The voters in the Deep South state will vote on the new design this November.

Following the attack on black parishioners by a white supremacist in a South Carolina church on June 17, 2015, all of Mississippi's public universities and many cities have stopped honoring the ensign.

The Charleston church massacre was a racially motivated mass shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, in which nine African Americans were killed by 21-year-old Dylann Roof during a Bible study at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

The church was known for its events and works on civil rights in the US. Roof, sentenced to death in 2016, posted photos on his website with emblems associated with white supremacy and with the Confederate battle flag.

The shooting ignited nationwide debate on modern display of the controversial Confederacy flag.