Morgan Freeman and a ton of other Mississippi stars are calling for a new state flag

Mississippi state flag
(Image credit: Bill Colgin/Getty Images)

If you think Mississippi should keep the Confederate emblem on its state flag, you're going up against an all-star team including Morgan Freeman, Jimmy Buffet, and John Grisham.

Dozens of public figures who call Mississippi home took out a full-page ad in The Clarion-Ledger on Saturday to call for a new flag.

"It is simply not fair, or honorable, to ask black Mississippians to attend schools, compete in athletic events, work in the public sector, serve in the National Guard, and go about their normal lives with a state flag that glorifies a war fought to keep their ancestors enslaved," the letter read. "It's time for Mississippi to fly a flag for all its people."

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Mississippi is the last state with a Confederate symbol — considered racist by many — in its flag. Calls for Confederate flags around the country to come down were strengthened in June after a white man fatally shot nine black people in a historic Charleston, South Carolina, church. Soon after, the Confederate flag was removed from statehouse grounds.

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Julie Kliegman

Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.