Thread by @ashtonpittman

Supporters of the #MSFlag argue that its Confederate imagery honors soldiers—not slavery & white supremacy.

But the week lawmakers adopted the flag in 1894, they refused to fund a home for ailing & homeless Confederate vets, citing other priorities. 👇🏻 1/ mississippifreepress.org/3710/you-white…

Quoting @clarionledger at the time: "The building of a soldier’s home was deferred on account of hard times bc all the money...will be needed for other & more pressing purposes, such as maintaining our excellent public school system & the establishment of a State prison farm." 2/

The prison farm, Parchman, came 6 years later as a black-only prison, where black prisoners worked the fields & picked cotton.

Gov. Vardaman said it was “like an efficient slave plantation” to give black men “proper discipline, work habits, & respect for white authority.” 3/

The fact that Mississippi lawmakers thought it was important to design a flag with a Confederate emblem, but considered building a prison run like a slavery-era plantation more "pressing" than caring for ailing, elderly Confederate vets should tell you all you need to know. 4/

By the way, guess who was speaker of the Mississippi House when the state created its flag?

J.K. Vardaman, the later governor who described Parchman as an "efficient slave plantation."

He was known as "The Great White Chief" for his staunch belief in white supremacy. 5/

Vardaman on Mississippi 1890 constitution overhaul: "Mississippi's constitutional convention was held for no other purpose than to eliminate the n**ger from politics. Not the ignorant—but the n**ger."

This was the mindset of MS's house leader when they adopted THIS flag. 6/

In fact, at that 1890 convention, one senator, J.H. McGehee, said he would vote for laws making it nigh impossible for black people to vote "even if it does sacrifice some of my white children, or my white neighbors or their children."

Other lawmakers applauded fiercely. 7/

Sen. McGehee: “I will agree that this is a government by the people and for the people, but what people? When this declaration was made by our forefathers, it was for the Anglo-Saxon people. That is what we are here for today—to secure the supremacy of the white race." 8/

The legacy of this era, in many ways, remains, not only on the flag, but in our prison system. Parchman Farm, where prisoners still labor in fields and factories, still emits horror stories for its awful conditions and large numbers of prison deaths. 9/ mississippifreepress.org/2890/pandemic-…

Knowing all of this history, it's absurd to claim the flag was adopted to honor Confederate soldiers & not to glorify & reinforce white supremacy.

When, in American history, have the people who said it was "about the troops" ever truly meant that? 10•
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PS: If you liked this thread, give @MSFreePress, editor @donnerkay, & yours truly a follow. This is the kind of historically contextualized journalism we specialize in. Because news and current events don't happen in a vacuum.