{"id":84670,"date":"2019-09-20T14:23:27","date_gmt":"2019-09-20T19:23:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/?p=84670"},"modified":"2019-09-20T14:23:27","modified_gmt":"2019-09-20T19:23:27","slug":"laforge-cited-in-washington-times-article-on-protests-about-lowering-state-flag-at-southern-miss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/2019\/09\/laforge-cited-in-washington-times-article-on-protests-about-lowering-state-flag-at-southern-miss\/","title":{"rendered":"LaForge Cited in \u201cWashington Times\u201d Article on Protests about Lowering State Flag at Southern Miss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Delta State University President William N. LaForge was quoted in a Sept. 18, 2019, article in The Washington Times<\/em><\/a> about lingering protests at the University of Southern Mississippi that the Mississippi flag should fly again. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Referencing a small group that has gathered at the entry to Southern Miss for \u201c203 consecutive Sundays\u201d to urge that the institution resume flying the state flag, reporter James Varney references portions of President LaForge\u2019s November 2016 statement on why DSU lowered it.<\/p>\n

The relevant passage from article:<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a racist gunman killed nine black worshippers at a South Carolina church in 2015, flags with an \u2018X\u2019 pattern of stars that once marked the Confederate Army\u2019s fight for a slavery society were taken down.<\/p>\n

\u201cMississippi is the last holdout. Voters thought they had laid the issue to rest with a 2001 referendum, but calls to change the state flag came roaring back after the Charleston killings.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne by one, university presidents started rolling up the controversial banners. They said the Mississippi flag was incompatible with the diverse, inclusive community they hoped to establish on campus.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018This is a painful decision in many respects because this is a highly charged emotional issue for many people,\u2019 Delta State University President William N. LaForge said in November 2016 when his school became the last of the state\u2019s eight colleges to lower the Mississippi banner.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018But in the absence of state action, we are making a decision I believe is right and just on all levels,\u2019 he wrote. \u2018The objectionable portion of the state flag \u2014 the stars and bars \u2014 presents a polarizing symbol that is a barrier to progress and improved understanding of our state, our university, and our people.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The article cites a source that says the state flag \u201cflies over the capital in Jackson and state government buildings, but at least 30 cities and counties have joined the universities in furling the flag.\u201d<\/p>\n

The issue could become a topic for the November election of governor, the article observes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Delta State University President William N. LaForge was quoted in a Sept. 18, 2019, article in The Washington Times about lingering protests at the University of Southern Mississippi that the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":566,"featured_media":84671,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1913,108],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-delta-state-in-the-media","category-president"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/566"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84670"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84672,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84670\/revisions\/84672"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}