Thread by @GanucheauAdam

Doing some processing this morning about how Mississippi lawmakers removed the state flag, the last in the nation featuring the Confederate battle emblem. It’s been a wild few days.

Here’s a thread.

June 6: Several young black activists organized a BLM protest in downtown Jackson. At least 3,000 attended, which many think is largest demonstration in Mississippi since the Civil Rights Movement.

Changing the state flag was one of their focal points.

mississippitoday.org/2020/06/06/if-…

I took this photo that day. This moment inspired me to write something.

June 8: Here’s the article, framed around comments from a BLM protest organizer.

mississippitoday.org/2020/06/08/mis…

June 9: I get a call from @MSRepChrisBell, who says he read my article and he was getting a bipartisan group of House members together to talk about the flag.

This article broke readership records on our site, and massive phone bank campaigns launched.

mississippitoday.org/2020/06/09/bip…

The reporting of that story deserves its own thread. Just know that inside our newsroom, we carefully strategized what it could do in that moment.

I submit that without that story, the #msleg ball never gets rolling.

Big shoutout to @MSRepChrisBell for trusting us.

June 11: The first major lobby publicly calls on lawmakers to change the state flag.

@MSEducators, the powerful teachers union feared by most lawmakers, asked its thousands of members to make calls.

mississippitoday.org/2020/06/11/rac…

The pressure’s slightly dialing up that week, but we’re quietly assured by #msleg leaders that there’s very little chance the flag moves in 2020. “Late in session, two-thirds rules suspension required, tough issue, etc.”

Hearing that really bothered me. So our politics team met.

June 12: Using 1980s @clarionledger coverage of Gov. Winter’s education reform as a template, we published a running whip count of where every #msleg member was.

The idea: Force them all to take public positions.

House: mississippitoday.org/2020/06/12/her…

Senate: mississippitoday.org/2020/06/12/her…

That weekend was long. Lawmakers went home and undoubtedly heard from rural district constituents, and we were still being assured nothing real would move in 2020. Still a little momentum, but it was a major long shot.

June 15: @BobbyHarrison9, @GeoffPender and I record a podcast about how difficult it would be.

We all but said on that podcast it wouldn’t happen in 2020.

mississippitoday.org/2020/06/15/ep-…

June 11: Several Senate Democrats filed a resolution that would suspend rules to consider a bill to change the flag. Initial reports from leadership indicated no real movement would come.

mississippitoday.org/2020/06/11/sen… #msleg

June 17: We confirm those conversations and report that Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann assigned that resolution to a committee where it would certainly die.

Hosemann and several senators caught a ton of public flak for this.

mississippitoday.org/2020/06/17/lt-…

That’s about when it started becoming real on the Senate side. The next day, we heard Hosemann and his staff had begun actively talking with senators and counting votes.

House had been counting votes all along — coming up well short, but still counting.

June 18: The day everything changed.

We got a tip that a group of current and former college athletes had asked the NCAA to ban the state from hosting college baseball regionals and other postseason events. College baseball is a religion in Mississippi.

mississippitoday.org/2020/06/18/ath…

June 18 evening: SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey releases statement that the conference will consider a ban on postseason events.

mississippitoday.org/2020/06/18/sec…

June 19 (Juneteenth, nonetheless):

The NCAA quickly responds to those athletes and announces the ban of all Mississippi postseason hosting, including college baseball.

mississippitoday.org/2020/06/19/nca…

June 19: By the end of the day, #msleg talks about addressing the flag were actively happening thanks to NCAA and SEC.

We report that two options on table: Adopt a second official state flag, or let voters decide fate of current flag on statewide ballot.

mississippitoday.org/2020/06/19/fac…

June 21: More businesses and associations called for a new flag, and cities/counties across the state were removing it.

We created a list of all those entities.

Started with about 50. Quickly ballooned into hundreds.

mississippitoday.org/2020/06/21/ful…

June 22: Five days before lawmakers’ planned finish off the 2020 session.

Despite growing pressure from virtually every direction, they’re still short of necessary votes.

mississippitoday.org/2020/06/22/leg…

June 23: A top CEO and GOP campaign donor tells us sending the issue to a ballot would be a massive mistake.

mississippitoday.org/2020/06/23/top…

June 23: Another top CEO and GOP campaign donor tells us Mississippi products would be boycotted if it goes to the ballot.

mississippitoday.org/2020/06/23/top…

June 23: Hosemann and Gunn still don’t have the votes, so they turn to religious leaders for help. As a result, the Mississippi Baptist Convention publicly calls for new flag. Huge moment.

mississippitoday.org/2020/06/23/lac…

June 24: Hosemann joins Gunn in publicly saying that lawmakers, not voters, should decide the issue. Clock’s ticking as scheduled #msleg departure is two days away.

mississippitoday.org/2020/06/24/as-…

June 25: Gov. Tate Reeves, who won’t take a position and is tight with several GOP senators, starts getting weird.

mississippitoday.org/2020/06/25/as-…

June 25: Lawmakers are getting very close to the necessary votes, but they still don’t have them. They leak that they’re going to stay in Jackson through the weekend.

mississippitoday.org/2020/06/25/law…

June 26: We break that lawmakers will vote to suspend rules on Saturday. Still one or two holdouts in Senate, but House had the votes. Everyone felt sure that if House moved first, Senate would get there.

mississippitoday.org/2020/06/26/law…

June 27: Lawmakers meet that two-thirds threshold to suspend rules. It wasn’t done done, but this made it all but official.

mississippitoday.org/2020/06/27/his…

June 28: It’s done. Lawmakers pass a bill to remove the flag. What looked impossible just a few days earlier happened.

mississippitoday.org/2020/06/28/mis…

Lots of lawmakers responsible for this happening. Here’s short list of most influential in process:

Speaker Philip Gunn
Rep. Robert Johnson
Rep. Trey Lamar
Rep. Chris Bell
Rep. Jason White
Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann
Sen. Derrick Simmons
Sen. Briggs Hopson
Sen. Angela Turner Ford

What was the tipping point? NCAA and SEC was huge, as was Baptist Convention.

Lots of Mississippi business pressure. Key CEOs spoke up at the right time. The MS Economic Council rallied all their members and boosted very well.

And key #msleg leaders stepped up.

But here’s the bottom line:

I’ve never seen Mississippians rally around something so passionately and effectively when it mattered most. This was a wholly democratic process. #msleg represented the will of the people. Don’t let anyone argue otherwise.

Many who deserve credit may never get it because of the work they did behind the scenes. It wasn’t one moment, one person, or one group.

It was a confluence of grassroots organizing, civic pressure, and political courage. It was so beautifully Mississippi. I’ll never forget it.