There’s more. There’s more. Sports should not be the only way to get our governor and legislature to change our archaic flag. If that’s what it takes to change our archaic flag, then so be it. It’s time, Mississippi. It’s past time, more to the point. *** My loyal readers will know that I stand on the Mississippi flag issue. The fact is that I don’t want the flag to be changed because of what people outside the state think. It is right and I will change the flag. I signed a petition in 2015 in Clarion Ledger, together with many other state sports heroes, coaches and athletic directors, writers, performers and educators, asking for the flag to be changed. Archie Manning also signed it. So did Bailey Howell. Boo Ferriss, Jimmy Buffett and Morgan Freeman were also included. In the advertisement, a letter explained the history of both the Confederate battle banner and the Mississippi state flag. The Civil War: How the battle flew above Rebel forces. The Rebel flag was not meant to be flown over state capitals. It was a battle flag and was usually carried by the color sergeant at a regiment’s head. It was designed to be visible through the smoke of battle, and served as a rallying point. “…Thirty-years later, Mississippi redesigned the flag and included the Rebel emblem into its canton. Important to note that there was not a vote to change it back then. The Legislature approved a bill to alter the flag, and Gov. John Marshall Stone, a Confederate veteran signed it. It has remained so. Mississippi voters rejected the old flag in a referendum held in 2001. Before that referendum, I wrote a column outlining my thoughts about why we need a new flag. “Many flag-loving veterans talk about their heritage. Whose heritage is it? Take a look around. One in three of us is black (and it is more). My great grandfather was a Confederate soldier, but my Mississippi heritage is more about manners. It’s about how I treat people and not what they wear. “Anything that offends so few Mississippians offends my heart.” *** The old flag will be taken down, if not during this session of Congress, then soon. Because it is the right thing, it will happen eventually. I don’t know what the outcome of another referendum would be. However, I know that many people’s minds have changed in the past 19 years and that many of today’s voters weren’t born in 2001. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a referendum. It is possible for three men, Tate Reeves and Delbert Hoseman, to make it happen. All three men know that it is right and the state would benefit greatly from such a change. In 2020, the museum will be the only place that can display any Confederate battle flag. Robert E. Lee, Confederate commander, said to his soldiers in 1865 when he surrendered. “It’s now time to furl flag boys.”