The following was delivered at a protest regarding the former Mississippi State Flag:

Symbols matter. Symbols can intimidate, induce anxiety, and instill a sense of inferiority. Symbols can create a narrative of subjugation and inappropriate consolidation of power. Conversely, however, symbols can be a source of hope, unity, and inspiration. We’re here to talk about a symbol that, sadly, does the former.

When we look at the most ubiquitous symbol of Mississippi, the state flag, we should see it as undeniably divisive; it flies contrary to the ideals we Mississippians hold most dear. As it stands today, it does not convey Southern Hospitality and inclusiveness, but quite the opposite. The Confederate Battle Emblem in the canton of the flag does not represent who we are or who we want to be. Regardless of what some folks think it stands for—heritage and history—its power is in how it is used as a symbol of hatred and repression. It represents a time when human beings were not seen as human beings, but as property, as if the life of one person was more important than another based on the color of their skin. A ludicrous proposition indeed.

And, even if the flag were about heritage, symbols can change. The increase in the popularity of the flag, along with the establishment of confederate monuments, coincides with moments of attempted subjugation. We can see a historical spike of the emblem’s popularity in the racial rhetoric around the establishment of Jim Crow laws and again during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Our current standard has been flown alongside the Nazi flag, a regime we fought because they believed in religious superiority, racial intolerance, and baseless hatred. The current symbol flies proudly in the hands of hate groups like the KKK, who chant “Jews will not replace us,” and “Seig Heil.” And this means that, as a symbol, our flag doesn't inspire hope, but it instead pours salt in the wounds of a false notion of racial supremacy, disenfranchisement and Jim Crow, the tears of split families, the pain of slavery, and the horror of unjust executions.

Supporters of the current flag say, “But we already voted on this issue.” That was decades ago, with a whole new generation whose voice could not yet be heard in that election. The defenders of the flag add, “The law is the law.” Yes, and legislation changes. The law of the land is not the infallible law of God. Look at how many of our fellow Southern states realized the need to remove the Confederate symbols from their state flags ages ago. They changed their laws because they knew that complacency on this issue means complicity. We are complicit in allowing, even promoting, the rhetoric of hate and divisive bigotry when we sit on our hands and leave the flag as it is.

Groups have been rightly calling for its discontinued use for years. The Central Conference of American Rabbis formally stated opposition in 2005. The Southern Baptist convention called for its removal in 2016.

Now in 2017, because of the Mississippi flag's obsolescent design, our fellow Americans think we live in 1964. To live and thrive in our contemporary times, we must immediately lower this banner of intolerance, and display it solely in history books and museums. Flags should unify, not divide us. Let us create a new flag, one of solidarity and mutual prosperity, one of which we can be proud because it reflects the deepest value of our Creator. And that value is “every human deserves the respect that comes with having a spark of the Divine Presence within them.”

We accept no more half-hearted and indefensible excuses. The flag does not represent state’s rights, or the Southern culture that we can love. We want a Mississippi we can all be proud of—from the citizens on the ground to the flag that flies in the air. Raising a new banner will serve as a symbolic message to all Mississippians, to all the world, that we are no longer the most hateful and hate-filled state in the Union. We are tired of revisiting the sins of our ancestors upon our children. And we can end this by remove the current flag and installing a new one.

We pray for an inclusive, loving, and righteous future for Mississippi.