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Sports in Society

Mississippi Flag Removal Shows Sports' Ability To Spur Social Change

Mississippi's public universities and individual athletes have condemned the state flag and its symbolismGETTY IMAGES

Both chambers of Mississippi's legislature voted to take down the state flag and one should "make no mistake: Sports turned this from a debate to a reality," according to Nick Suss of the Jackson CLARION-LEDGER. The NCAA and SEC "put pressure on Mississippi, prohibiting postseason events in this state until the flag was changed or taken down." Mississippi's public universities "followed with condemnation after condemnation of the flag and its symbolism." Mississippi State RB Kylin Hill "increased the pressure, tweeting last week that he's no longer willing to represent any Mississippi institutions on the field if the flag isn't taken down." A number of his teammates "supported him, as did" coach Mike Leach. Then 46 coaches from eight different Mississippi universities "descended on the Capitol" to persuade lawmakers. Suss writes it is "important to note just how powerful a united message from the athletic community can be." Suss: "It doesn't feel like a coincidence that Sunday's votes happened 10 days after the SEC's announcement, nine days after the NCAA's announcement, six days after Hill's tweet and three days after nearly every prominent athletics employee in the state visited the Capitol" (Jackson CLARION-LEDGER, 6/29).

MAKING THEIR VOICES HEARD: THE ATHLETIC’s David Ubben writes of Hill, “The state’s biggest star in its favorite sport threatening to sit out is a new level of leverage.” The change to the flag is an “undeniable show of power by players, the latest in a run of many.” Players’ voices have “never been louder,” and “more people than ever are listening.” But with “newly realized power, players also must recognize when, where and how to use it.” The “quickest way to surrender power is to misuse it” (THEATHLETIC.com, 6/28). In Nashville, Emily Proud wrote under the header, "A Refusal To 'Stick To Sports’ Changed The Mississippi State Flag" (WKRN.com, 6/28). 

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