TUPELO, Miss. — The Confederate-themed Mississippi flag is being removed from display outside a city’s police building.
Tupelo Mayor Jason Shelton issued an executive order Tuesday taking down the flag, which includes a Confederate battle emblem, about a week after it started flying.
Three flagpoles stand outside the police building in a predominantly black neighborhood. From the time the building opened in late 2016, one pole flew a state bicentennial banner, which does not include the Confederate symbol that critics see as racist.
The bicentennial was in 2017, and the state flag last week replaced the bicentennial banner outside the police headquarters. The two African-American members of the city council oppose the state flag.
Shelton, a white Democrat, said the flag “is not representative of all of the people of the state.”
