Mississippians who are uncomfortable with the state recognizing Confederate Memorial Day as a holiday have options.
The state’s about 300 municipalities and 82 counties do not have to recognize the holiday. They can replace it with another holiday, such as the June 19 nationally observed Juneteenth, which commemorates the freedom of African Americans, or with a Mardi Gras holiday or with various other holidays.
The Mississippi legal code recognizes 10 holidays ranging from the traditional ones like Christmas, Thanksgiving and Veterans Day. The state honors Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert E. Lee on the same day in January. And baffling to many, the state has a Confederate Memorial Day holiday in April.
Efforts have been ongoing for years by many to replace Confederate Memorial Day, which by the definition of what the confederates were trying to accomplish commemorates slavery.
State leaders have rebuffed efforts to replace the holiday. Incumbent Gov. Tate Reeves and governors before him have taken the additional step of proclaiming April as Confederate Heritage Month.
But the state code surprisingly provides a reprieve for those wanting to be more inclusive or to at least not recognize Confederate Memorial Day. The law allows counties and municipalities to replace one of the state holidays, with the exception of Veterans Day and Martin Luther King Jr./Robert E. Lee Day, with one of their own.
Many cities do that. For instance, the city of Hattiesburg recognizes Good Friday instead of Confederate Memorial Day. The city of Greenville replaces Confederate Memorial Day with Juneteenth. Back in 2022, the Jackson City Council replaced Confederate Memorial Day with Juneteenth.
There are multiple issues surrounding a holiday. First of all, it is a day that most of the public offices recognizing the holiday are closed and many public employees are off.
The federal government, for example, recognizes Juneteenth as an official holiday, resulting in federal services being curtailed. That also is the case in Mississippi cities like Greenville and Jackson which recognize the holiday in lieu of Confederate Memorial Day.
Not surprisingly, the federal government does not recognize Confederate Memorial Day.
Besides a holiday being a day off for some, a holiday also is a symbol of what we believe as a society.
As state Sen. Derrick Simmons, D-Greenville, wrote in a recent Mississippi Today Ideas essay, “Holidays are public statements of our values. They are moments when a state, through official sanction, tells its citizens: ‘This is what we believe is worthy of honor.’”
Simmons has worked in the Mississippi Legislature to try to replace Confederate Memorial Day. He has been unsuccessful thus far.
But his twin brother, Errick Simmons, who is mayor of Greenville, was able to eliminate Confederate Memorial Day thanks to the state law giving cities and counties the option to replace one holiday.
Errick Simmons recently said, “The city of Greenville will never honor or celebrate Confederate Memorial Day — now or forever. As a city rooted in resilience, progress and unity, we categorically reject any celebration of a past rooted in oppression, division and racial injustice. As long as I am mayor of this great city, we will never honor or celebrate it.”
But the state of the Simmons brothers’ birth continues to do so.
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