For 30 years, the Governor of Mississippi has declared that the state should commemorate its Confederate Heritage during April.
Republican Gov. Kirk Fordice signed the first proclamation in December 1993, the same “year Mississippi formally began recognizing Martin Luther King Jr. Day.”
Why April? Because on April 12, 1861, Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter, S.C., making it the traditional date marking beginning of the Civil War. A Mississippi holiday, Confederate Memorial Day, remains state law according to the proclamation.
Mississippi news organizations widely reported that the current governor, Tate Reeves, signed the proclamation for 2023 earlier in April. However, Governor Tate, the fifth successive governor issue such a proclamation, has no record of it in his newsroom.
However, there’s a copy on Facebook:
Glorifying the Confederacy in a state that is 38% Black – the most of any state in the country – shows how entrenched bigotry, racism and White Supremacy remains.
In 2016, Mississippi Today noted that Mississippi was “the only state to recognize Confederate Heritage Month.” According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, that year seven states recognized Confederate Memorial Day.
Bill Kristol contextualizes the offensive nature of the proclamation by quoting from Mississippi’s 1861 declaration of secession:
"Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery…a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization."
— Mississippi Declaration of Secession, 1861https://t.co/7Uy6UfzV1A— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) April 10, 2023
Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery– the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has been long aimed at the institution, and was at the point of reaching its consummation. There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted to work out our ruin.
In response to the 2022 proclamation, the Southern Poverty Law Center noted:
It is unfortunate that the governor chooses to glorify the Confederacy—a traitorous government that fought against the United States for the right to enslave Blacks. Despite the historical vote to remove the Confederate battle emblem from the state flag in 2020, more than 150 Confederate memorials remain in Mississippi—including 72 roadways, 48 monuments, and eight schools. These memorials celebrate the injustices that people of color in the South suffered at the hands of Confederates who viewed Black people as subhuman and unworthy of the freedom to exist in this country.
Known for gnawing at complex questions like a terrier with a bone. Digital evangelist, writer, teacher. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles. @kegill (Twitter and Mastodon.social); wiredpen.com