During a speech a few weeks ago in support of Republican Chris McDaniel for Lt. Governor, State Senator Kathy Chism came up with an attack against the current Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann, because she holds him personally responsible for changing Mississippi's old Confederate-themed flag to something modern (i.e. not a symbol of racism and slavery - a quaint notion in the twenty-first century I'm sure). Three years on, Chism still hasn't forgiven Hosemann for the betrayal.
Source: Mississippi Free Press
Almost three years after both houses of the Mississippi Legislature overwhelmingly voted to retire the old Confederate-themed state flag, a state senator from Union County is calling for its return.
“That flag, a lot of our people fought and died under that flag,” Sen. Kathy Chism, R-New Albany, said during a political speech at the Belmont Political Rally in Tishomingo County on June 3. A reader shared a link to a video of her speech with the Mississippi Free Press.
The state did not adopt the flag—which featured three red, white and blue bars with a Confederate cross in the upper left-hand corner—until 1894, almost three decades after the end of the Civil War and several years after the end of Reconstruction. White supremacist lawmakers adopted the Confederate-themed flag in place of a prior magnolia flag as they worked to lock Black Mississippians out of politics with a slew of Jim Crow laws.
Following decades of efforts by Black lawmakers and Black activists, the Mississippi Legislature’s white Republican leaders finally agreed to vote on legislation to change the state flag on June 28, 2020. Chism was just one of 14 senators, all Republicans, who voted against retiring the old flag out of the 52-member body.
And what did Chism say about the Republican Lt. Governor?
“The Senate leadership, Delbert Hosemann, refused to pass the House (ballot initiative restoration) bill because he honestly doesn’t want the people to be successful using the ballot initiative which was what we tried to use to save our flag. Only a Democrat at heart would entertain the thought of pulling such a stunt that Delbert Hosemann had control of.”
In Chism's mind, calling someone a Democrat is probably the worst insult imaginable.
“Let’s not forget the fact that Delbert Hosemann worked really hard and succeeded in taking away your right to vote on the 1894 state flag,” the senator said. “He never gave you the opportunity to vote as he promised. His very words to me, ‘Senator, they will forget that flag vote in four years.’ I beg to differ. … I’m appalled at the audacity and arrogance of Delbert Hosemann to disregard your vote in 2001 overwhelmingly to keep the 1894 state flag. It is not just about the flag. It is about the fact that leadership took away your voice, your vote.”
Pretty sure that it's all about keeping the hate symbol, the old flag, for an overt white nationalist like Chism. And it's understandable that she would be a keen supporter of Chris McDaniel, a far-right candidate who nearly knocked off Thad Cochran in the Republican primary in 2014 (and screamed voter fraud afterward), and then ran again in 2018 before losing to Cindy Hyde-Smith in an open special election.
In his 2018 Senate campaign, McDaniel promised to preserve Mississippians' right to decide the flag of Mississippi, which at that time bore the Confederate flag. The flag features on McDaniel's campaign materials. McDaniel has spoken at conferences held by the Sons of Confederate Veterans. In 2006–2007, he made controversial statements on reparations for slavery, race, and women on his talk radio show.
I mean, these people aren't exactly shy about telling you who they are and what they stand for. And in Mississippi, there are still enough people around who support their toxic hate-filled ideology. At least among some republicans.
