JACKSON, Miss. — Republican Governor Phil Bryant said he would not call Mississippi lawmakers back to the Capitol to consider removing a Confederate battle emblem from the state flag.
Bryant said Thursday that he only calls special sessions for legislators to respond to a natural disaster or to handle a large economic development project.
The head of the Legislative Black Caucus, Democratic Senator Kenny Wayne Jones, had called on Bryant earlier Thursday to set a special session to bring “true dialogue and full resolution” on redesigning a flag that many see as racially divisive.
Mississippi has had the Confederate symbol on its banner since 1894, and voters chose to keep it in 2001.
Debate about the symbol revived after last week’s massacre of nine worshipers at a church in South Carolina.
