Mississippi flag won't fly in Philly
Mississippi's state flag didn't last long on Broad Street in South Philadelphia. City workers on Monday removed the red, white, and blue banner - which has the Confederate flag in the top left corner - from a lighting standard near Passyunk Avenue after dozens of protesters and some local residents asked for it to be taken down, city officials said.
Mississippi's state flag didn't last long on Broad Street in South Philadelphia.
City workers on Monday removed the red, white, and blue banner - which has the Confederate flag in the top left corner - from a lighting standard near Passyunk Avenue after dozens of protesters and some local residents asked for it to be taken down, city officials said.
It had been put up about two weeks ago among a collection of state flags on South Broad. It won't be put up again, said Brian Abernathy, a deputy managing director for the city, who said, "The Confederate flag raises strong feelings in our city."
Posts on social media showed a raucous reception when a man in a cherry picker pulled the flag down Monday afternoon. Protesters, some of whom had gathered around the flag demanding its removal, chanted: "Whose streets? Our streets!"
If Mississippians were upset about the decision, they weren't easy to find in Philadelphia.
Ouida Meruvia, a spokeswoman for the Mississippi Democratic Party, said the state's delegation fully agreed with the city's decision. In fact, she said, the delegation had removed a flag placard designating where they sit on the convention floor for the same reasons.
"The Democratic Party in Mississippi does not advocate the Mississippi flag," she said. "A lot of delegates have come out against it."
Curley Clark, a Hillary Clinton delegate and president of the Jackson County, Miss., NAACP, said the flag was "an affront to the descendants of slaves" and "should be changed."
Meruvia said Monday's action by Philadelphia police and the Mayor's Office, "speaks to the national reaction about our flag and what we've been talking about."
215-854-2817 @cs_palmer
Staff writer Andrew Seidman contributed to this article.