US Mississippi House passes bill to remove Confederate emblem from state flag

WASHINGTON -- The House of southern US state Mississippi on Sunday passed a bill to remove a Confederate battle emblem from its state flag, local media reported.

The House passed the bill in a vote of 91 to 23 with broad bipartisan support, said the reports.

The bill now sends to the state Senate and Republican Governor Tate Reeves has said he will sign it if passed.

A commission would design a new flag that cannot include the Confederate symbol broadly condemned as racist, said the reports, the new design would go before voters in November for approval.

The state flag, adopted in 1894, nearly 30 years after the end of the Civil War, is the last in the country to feature the Confederate battle emblem.

The move came in the wake of weeks of anti-racism protests and civil unrest following the death of black man George Floyd in police custody on May 25, renewing attention on symbols of the Confederacy across the country.

African American people make up 38 percent of the Mississippi population.