Debates on whether to remove confederate statues and the confederate emblem from the state flag are continuing to dominate conversation across Mississippi.
Debates on whether to remove confederate statues and the confederate emblem from the state flag are continuing to dominate conversation across mississippi.
They are also hot topics with business leaders thinking about coming to the magnolia state.
Our quentin smith talks with a man who has been in some of those conversations over the years, and has more on where he thinks we need to go from here.
Nat dirt moving...and construction crews hard at work..... these are sights and sounds cities love to see, and it usually means a new business is coming to town.
But there's one image that could potentially affect those businesses from moving in..... " if you care and say you are pro business in mississippi, i don't see how you can support the present flag."
Jeffrey rupp served as mayor of columbus in the early 2000s and says even then, the state flag was a concern for businesses looking to locate in the magnolia state.
" i know when i was mayor and we were competing with other states for industry, they were described to our newspapers, they would go online and see what the tv station was reporting.
This stuff have an impact."
Rupp believes the confederate emblem impacts the states ability to attract new businesses and help with economic growth..
" i don't think that the flag itself is enough of a reason to keep someone from coming here, but economic development is such a competitive landscape and mississippi has so many disadvantages as far as small population, rural, not a lot of resources, why we we'd want to give ourselves any additional disadvantage is beyond me."
Now, rupp works in the college of business at mississippi state.
He works with entrepreneurs who want to start up new businesses.
One of msu's goals is to get business owners to stay in the state, but rupp understands how much of a challenge that's going to be moving forward.
" the flag doesn't make it any easier.
Two of our latest million dollar startups are minority owned companies.
How do you tell them oh, the flag is ok?
It matters."
That's why rupp believes adopting a new flag could help the state become more attractive economically, and would cast out what many are calling a negative shadow " the fact that we are talking about it today tells you that it's not going to go away.
It is not a matter of if the flag is going to change."
Two of the state's top economic development agencies have recently called for new flag due to the impact it'll have on economic development...
Economic developers say a new inclusive state flag could bring more business opportunity for cities throughout Mississippi.
