Mississippi flag with stars and bars missing from USA track championships
EUGENE, Ore. – The U.S. state flags that flutter atop poles stationed along the south end of Hayward Field speak to the many national competitions seen at this historic track venue, which will play host to its sixth national Olympic trials in 2016.
While there are poles in place for all 50 state flags, only 49 can be seen at this week's USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships.
In the wake of a national controversy over the Confederate flag, TrackTown USA, organizers of the event, has decided to remove the Mississippi state flag, which features the Confederate stars and bars in its upper left corner.
The Mississippi state flag, the design of which has been in use since 1894, is the only one in the U.S. to feature the divisive symbol. In a referendum passed in 2001, nearly two-thirds of Mississippi voters chose to keep the design on its state flag.
TrackTown USA President Vin Lananna, an associate athletic director at the University of Oregon and the former head track and field coach at Stanford University, deferred any comment on the decision until Sunday.
The organization's decision to not display the state flag is echoed in comments made Saturday by NASCAR President Brian France, who called the Confederate flag an "insensitive symbol," adding that the sport would attempt to distance itself from the flag at future events.
"We want to go as far as we can to eliminate the presence of that flag," France said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I personally find it an offensive symbol, so there is no daylight how we feel about it and our sensitivity to others who feel the same way."
Dale Earnhardt Jr., perhaps NASCAR's most popular driver, called the Confederate flag "offensive to an entire race" and said it should be removed from the grounds of the South Carolina state capitol.
"It does nothing for anybody to be there flying, so I don't see any reason," he said. "It belongs in the history books and that's about it."
The national dialogue over the Confederate flag's place in public areas was reignited following the mass murder of nine people in a church in Charleston on June 17. The shooter, Dylann Roof, was seen in photos posted on social media posing with the flag.
In the wake of the shooting, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley declared that the flag should be taken down from the state capitol, where some version of the Confederate symbol has been on display since 1961.
On Saturday morning, a woman, Charlotte, N.C., native Bree Newsome, shimmied the flagpole and removed the flag by hand. She was later arrested by state police on misdemeanor charges of defacing a monument.
"We removed the flag today because we can't wait any longer," Newsome said in the statement. "We can't continue like this another day. It's time for a new chapter where we are sincere about dismantling white supremacy and building toward true racial justice and equality."
On Thursday, Mississippi lawmakers chose to table a resolution that would have removed state flags from the U.S. capitol.