In a press conference held Tuesday morning at Laurel City Hall, Mayor Johnny Magee, with Laurel Ford owner Jimmy Walker by his side, issued an executive order regarding guidelines for facilities owned and operated by the City of Laurel.
“I love this city,” began Magee. “I was born and raised here. I used to go downtown when it was really bustling downtown. There was a Woolworth and Kress downtown. I could buy anything I wanted in there. They had this long counter with stools at the counter.” Pausing to gather himself, an emotional Magee continued. “And, even though I could buy anything in the store, I couldn’t go to that counter and buy me a hamburger. If I wanted a hamburger, I had to go to Front Street, where the black businesses were. But I love this city.”
Magee said that in 1963 Martin Luther King received a letter from eight clergymen telling him that they didn’t appreciate the marching and protesting.
“They told him he just needed to wait,” said Magee. “And that’s where his letter from the Birmingham jail came from, telling them why he couldn’t wait. Fifty-seven years later, the State of Mississippi is still saying wait.”
Magee read his three-page executive order which states, “Whereas, while the ‘Confederate battle flag,’ which is believed to have never been adopted as an official flag of the Confederacy, was utilized on the battlefield during the Civil War and has stood for different things for different peoples through the ages, it has come to be understood and serves for many as a painful reminder of past days of transgressions in this State and has also been used by some as an image of hatred, divisiveness, and violence, none of which in any way represents the ideals and principles of our great Nation, our proud State, or our vibrant City.”
Immediately following the press conference, the Mississippi Flag in front of Laurel City Hall was removed. Photo/Linda Cranford
Through this executive order, Magee is petitioning the Legislature of the State to change the “State flag” previously adopted in 1894 and that it “should not be flown on public properties of the City of Laurel and should instead be respectfully retired to the Laurel-Jones County Library, located in the City of Laurel, or other agency that will accept it, for suitable exhibit within this facility’s collection of historical references.”
The order was signed by Mayor Magee and City Clerk Mary Ann Hess, effective immediately upon signing.
The executive order also states, “The City Clerk is to spread this Order on the minutes of the Laurel City Council, and to furnish copies to the State of Mississippi Legislature, including its Speaker of the House and Senate Pro Tem, as well as the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor of the State of Mississippi.”
Immediately following the press conference, the Mississippi flag in front of City Hall was removed by Victor with the Facility Maintenance Department and Elvin Ulmer, director of the Parks and Recreation Department. Ulmer and his department crews will remove all of the remaining Mississippi flags flying in the city.